Discovered, restored and released by Alamo Drafthouse, Action USA is a late 1980s low budget stunt fest that screened as part of this year’s Monster Fest. While not matching the giddy heights of a previous Drafthouse hidden VHS gem like Miami Connection, this is still a fun ride. Right from the opening scene of a souped up sports car driven by a dude drinking a beer with a sexy lady next to him while a Judas Priest soundalike track is hard chugging on the soundtrack, this is an action movie cliche fest with a semblance of a plot about the hunt for missing diamonds. A buddy cop duo of FBI agents Osborn and McKinnon (Gregory Scott Cummins and William Hubbard Knight; clearly patterned after Lethal Weapon) must protect a witness Carmen (Barri Murphy) to a murder from assassins while driving through Texas, which means the film naturally includes a bar fight sequence (that clearly rips off 48 HRs though not as good). Directed by a stunt man named John Stewart, this low budget independent production throws every stunt that can stick at the screen with its stop-start on-going chase where feds and crooks keep catching up with each other. Shout out to the background extras of Texas townspeople gawking up at whatever madcap stunt – like a dude hanging off a low flying helicopter – is happening in the middle of a city street. Everything explodes at the slightest touch and big stunts like a guy diving out of a building window are given multiple takes from different angles. There’s also that certain charge with a low budget stunt where even if you can see the strings and wires, it still looks downright dangerous! Weird dialogue and character moments are thrown out there, such as the weirdo assassin (Ross Hagen) talking about his mother or how the world is a mud prison. Older pros are roped into a couple of scenes such as Cameron Mitchell as a mob boss who yells in his three scenes and William Smith (whose throaty voice rumbles the bass levels) as the tough guy fed director. At a 90 minute length, it doesn’t out stay its welcome and throws in a wild stunt or explosion every ten minutes to keep you entertained alongside its wacky dialogue and thin plot. Also amazing to see something that would have languished in exrental video tape limbo on a big screen in remastered HD quality. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 