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Released by: BCI
Released on: 2/14/2006
Director: Andy Sidaris/Christian Drew Sidaris/Andy Sidaris
Cast: Donna Spier, Hope Marie Carlton, Bruce Penhall, Mark Barriere, Julie Strain,
Years: 1989/1993/1998
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The Movies:
Andy Sidaris makes movies (usually in Hawaii) that focus on three things - bullets, bombs and babes. That's the key to his success, and the man makes no false claims about his work or his intent behind it. These are fun movies that work on a base level. They're entertainment through and through, nothing more, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. If you like healthy doses of sex and violence and aren't so much worried about original storylines or award winning performances, Andy's films might be just what you're looking for and this collection compiles three of his better known works, two of which truly deserve 'classic status.'
SAVAGE BEACH (1988)
One of Sidaris' finest cinematic achievements finds Donna (Donna Spier) and Taryn (Hope Marie Carlton), two hot secret agents fighting the forces of evil and busting drug lords left, right and center. After another successful day of busting narcotics peddlers, they get assigned to fly an important medical vaccine from one Hawaiian island to another Hawaiian island but a nasty storm comes up while they are en route and they have to make an emergency landing.
Meanwhile, a bad guy is out to find a stash of gold that has mysteriously gone missing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean after the Japanese sunk the ship that was carrying it during the Second World War. Using satellite surveillance systems he and his nefarious evildoer companions eventually track the booty to a location known as Savage Beach (hence, the title), which just so happens to be where Donna and Taryn have landed their plane. When Donna and Taryn find out that the no-goodniks are out to steal the gold, they take it upon themselves to make sure it gets back to its rightful owner and stop them all dead in their tracks, clothing is optional. To complicate matters, an old Japanese soldier (Michael Mikasa), who has been stranded on the island for the last four decades or so is running around doing his thing as well.
Sidaris has worked with Spier and Carlton a few times, and it always makes for good entertainment. Having seen the results of their collaborative efforts in Hard Ticket To Hawaii in 1987 and Picasso Trigger in 1988, it's no wonder he teamed up with the lovely former Playboy Playmates for a third round. These girls are really good at running around in little to no clothing and shooting bad guys and in Sidaris' world, those are star qualities. Savage Beach manages to outdo both of their earlier efforts in both the sex and violence departments and the results are spectacular in that the movie is a non-stop barrage of explosions, shoot outs, and nudity - in short, it's the stuff that exploitation movie dreams are made of.
That being said, like most of Sidaris' films, Savage Beach does have some very solid production values. The movie looks very good, there's been some obvious care and effort put into the production values and sets, and the explosions, of which there are many, are all really well executed. The stunts, while not of vintage Jackie Chan caliber, are also pretty exciting and the man knows how to cut the fat off of his films as this is one lean and mean movie from start to finish.
ENEMY GOLD (1993)
A trio of secret agents - Becky Midnite (the gorgeous Suzi Simpson), Chris Cannon (Bruce Penhall of ChiPS, who shows up in a ton of other Sidaris films) and Mark Austin (Mark Barriere of Enemy Gold) are out on the job busting dope dealers and things get a little out of hand and they have to get rough. This results in some repercussions from the higher ups and our three heroes find themselves kicked off the force for going too far, even if it was all in the line of duty.
In order to relax after the rather stressful events that they've just gone through, they decide to kick back and head out on a camping trip, and, while they're out there, see if they can dig up some gold that was stashed during the Civil War by the Confederate Army. This all sounds well and good but what our three heroes don't realize is that a dastardly drug dealing nudie bar owner named Santiago (Sidaris regular Rodrigo Obregon) wants that gold for himself and he's not above hiring a lethal assassin named Jewel Panther (yep, that's right, Jewel Panther, played here by Julie Strain) to kill them if he has to in order to get his greedy paws on the treasure.
This entry, directed by Sidaris' son Drew, stays very close to the tried and true Sidaris formula - copious amounts of lovely naked ladies, shoot outs, gratuitous violence and explosions - and that's a good thing. While the plot might be completely disposable the movie definitely delivers the exploitative goods and allows Julie Strain to make the most of her role as Jewel Panther and dominates the scenes that she's in. Sidaris' penchant for casting Playmates is present in this one as well, with both Suzi Simpson and Kym Malin having spread for the Heff in the late eighties, and this time there's a Penthouse Pet thrown into the mix as well.
A few stand out set pieces from the film include some gratuitous and completely unnecessary but wholly welcome hot tub action, Suzi Simpson running around in a tube top and short-shorts firing explosive arrows out of a crossbow, and a few fantastic backwoods kill scenes that kind of add a weird survivalist horror element to what is otherwise an out and out action movie.
RETURN TO SAVAGE BEACH (1998)
Also known as L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies: Return To Savage Beach, this one hits DVD for the first time (the others have been released as single discs and/or in The Andy Sidaris Collection Volume 1 boxed set).
The members of L.E.T.H.A.L. (Legion to Enforce Total Harmony And Law) are undercover agents who spend their days pretending to run a radio station known as KSXY, but are in reality fighting the forces of evil day in, day out. Made up of Willow Black (Julie Strain), Cobra (Julie K. Smith) and Tiger (Shae Marks), they soon find themselves tasked with tracking down a floppy disk that contains information that will lead to the whereabouts of a fortune in missing gold.
Unfortunately for them, Rodrigo Martinez (Rodrigo Obregon again) and his lady friend Sofia (Carrie Westscott) have got their minds set on finding that very same disk as they, too, would like to get their mitts on the treasure. Of course, it all leads to plenty of shootouts, explosions, and nudity as both sides race against time and each other to get there first and take home the prize.
Highlights? Hot blonde on roller blades, an ultra violent sea-doo battle the likes of which you've never seen before, and a bad guy who wears a Phantom of the Opera mask, and a scene in which one of the actresses tries to insert the floppy disk into the computer upside down. Throw in some strippers, make the Phantom of the Opera guy dress up like Zorro and then get it on with a hot chick for a scene, blow more stuff up, and bingo, you're placed firmly in Sidaris country and will likely be grinning ear to ear. Sure the movie follows more or less the same plot as the other two films in this set (good guys fight bad guys to get to treasure and lots of people get naked and/or die and/or explode) but it's a whole lot of fun especially when the ninjas show up and there's plenty of dialogue like when one of the guys claims he was 'born for water sports' (which is really funny when taken out of context). Interestingly enough, Marcus Bagwell shows up here, playing The Warrior.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The open matte 1.33.1 transfers on all three of these DVDs are taken from the original negatives and look pretty close to perfect, all things considered. A bit of speckling occurs and there is the odd scratch here and there, but for the most part, these look really, really nice, likely because it's the oldest of the three movies in this set. The only big flaw that needs to be noted is that the transfer are not properly flagged for playback on progressive scan hardware, so you'll want to adjust your setup to avoid those nasty jaggies. Having only ever seen these on worn out VHS tapes prior to this release, I must say it's a world of difference and I never thought I'd see these movies look so good. Color definition is quite nice, black levels are strong and deep, and while there is some grain present in a few scenes it really isn't anything that shouldn't be there. Edge enhancement and mpeg compression artifacts aren't a big deal even when they do show up and each of the three movies looks fine.
The Dolby Digital Stereo tracks for the films are decent enough. There's some hiss and occasionally it helps to turn the volume up here and there, but overall, it's a satisfactory mix. Don't go looking for alternate language tracks, subtitles or closed captioning options cause you're not going to find them here but the mixes that are supplied get the job done and don't ask any questions. Dialogue is clean and clear and the lovely scores come though just fine. The shootouts and explosions have enough power behind them that they work, and while these aren't state of the art surround mixes, they do the trick.
These discs are more stacked than Andy Sidaris' starlets and a mammoth selection of big and bouncy extras awaits the Sidaris fan on each of these DVDs!
Arlene and Andy Sidaris provide intelligent and humorous commentaries on all three DVDs which prove to be both informative and amusing and are very much worth listening to. The couple has a refreshing sense of humor about what they do, and they really seem to have a good time doing it.
Each of the films also feature optional introductions from Andy and the continuously naked Julie Strain. They're funny enough and accurately set the movies up quite nicely, as they provide some basic background information on the movie and do so with a nice sense of humor.
All three DVDs also have a great feature called 'Andy Sidaris Film School' where the cheese master himself shows you the viewer how he makes it all happen as he teaches
you not only how to direct an action scene, but also one of his infamous 'sexy' scenes as well. It's a lot of fun, even if it is repeated on each of the three discs in the exact same manner.
Moving right along, we also find a nice selection of trailers for each of the features and other Andy Sidaris films available on home video. Each of the three DVDs in this set also features a still gallery of behind the scenes photos and more.
The Final Word:
Two bonafide classics and one genuinely entertaining one make Triple B Collection - The Films Of Andy Sidaris Volume 3 an essential and mandatory purchase for fans of fun, trashy action films. The price is right, the movies look and sound really nice, and the extras make for a nice cherry on top of this delicious cinematic sundae.