Hangfire

Released by: MGM Limited Edition Collection
Released on: June 28, 2012.
Director: Peter Maris
Cast: Brad Davis, Kim Delaney, Ken Foree, Jan-Michael Vincent, Lou Ferrigno
Year: 1991
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The Movie:

From director Peter Maris comes this early nineties action films that stars Brad Davis as Sheriff Ike Slayton. When the film begins, Ike and his fellow officer of the law and former 'Nam army pal, Billy (Ken Foree), are rolling into the office after Ike's recent wedding. They're feeling a little rough and not at all in the mood to deal with a gang of escaped convicts (made of up Lou Ferrigno and Lyle Azzado, among others) lead by Kuttner (Lee De Broux) and Patch (James Tolkan) who have just busted out of a jail run by Warden E. Barles (George Kennedy). The first thing these bad ass convicts do is descend upon the town that Ike and Billy are sworn to protect and take themselves some hostages, one of whom just happens to be Ike's wife, Maria Montoya Slayton (Kim Delaney).

Ike and Billy decide to arm themselves to the teeth and wage a two-man war on these thugs but they don't count on the warden calling in the military to deal with the situation. Before you know it Colonel Johnson (Jan-Michael Vincent) is on the scene with tanks and weapons aplenty just itching to let his men in there to wipe out the thugs. Ike and Billy are going to go about it their own way, however, as there are too many innocent lives at stake.

Hangfire is fairly terrible but is not without its entertainment value thanks primarily to the bizarre cast assembled for the film. While some will be disappointed to learn that Kim Delaney keeps her clothes on and that Jan-Michael Vincent appears to be marginally intoxicated, others will be delighted to see Lyle Azzado and Lou Ferrigno hanging out in blue prison jumpsuits and others still be will even more delighted to hear Ken Foree refer to Brad Davis as Cochese after learning of his Native American heritage. George Kennedy is underused and in the movie for less than five minutes while Yapphet Kotto shows up, sporting weird hair, for even less time playing a police chief of some sort. Really though, this one is all about Foree and Davis. They get infinitely more screen time than anyone else in the film and actually make for a likably dopey pair.

The action scenes are frequent and of decent quality and the movie does a decent job of building to a satisfying, if completely predictable conclusion. There are some decent explosions, a few good shoot outs, a couple of bloody kill scenes and some enjoyably sinister villains ensure that we're always cheering for the good guys. The premise isn't particularly original and there aren't really any surprises here but Lee De Broux is solid enough as the head bad guy that you wonder why he didn't get more roles like this. Maybe he didn't want to get typecast as a psychopathic rapist. At one point JMV offers up his sage advice for taking care of the situation: “I think we should march right in there and kick them in the balls!” It's that kind of movie. The kind of movie where Jan-Michael Vincent gets drunk, drives a tank, and wants to kick people in the balls. Look for B-52's front man Fred Schneider in a small role as a lawyer. The movie won't change your life but it's painless and occasionally quite fun.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Hangfire looks just fine on DVD by way of MGM's 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer which seems to preserve the movie's original aspect ratio. Grain is moderate throughout but it adds to the atmosphere of the film and isn't ever a problem. Only minor print damage shows up here and there in the form of the occasional speck and that's mostly in the first five minutes or so, outside of that there's nothing serious to note in that regard. Skin tones look nice and natural, black levels are strong and there are no compression artifacts or edge enhancement problems to complain about. Not a transfer that will melt your eyeballs but certainly a more than respectable presentation.

The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track sounds just fine, offering up clear dialogue without any noticeable background hiss or noise. The levels are well balanced, the score sounds good and if it's a bit limited in range, that stems back to the source. No problems here.

Extras are limited to static menus and chapter stops set up at ten minute intervals.

The Final Word:

It's highly unlikely that anyone involved in Hangfire is going to consider it a career highlight but as far as brainless action movies go, you could do a lot worse and the cast has enough goofy cult appeal that for fans of B-grade action films, it's worth a look.