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Released by: Scorpion Releasing
Released on: July 7th, 2020.
Director: Larry Gross
Cast: Adam Baldwin, Deborah Foreman, Rene Auberjonois, Bradford Bancroft, Wendy Barry, Danny De La Paz
Year: 1986
Purchase From Roninflix
3:15 - Movie Review:
Lincoln High School in Los Angeles is the home base of a gang called the Cobras - the roughest, toughest gang of them all! One night, when out a local burger joint, one of its members, Cinco (Danny De La Paz), goes too far when roughing up a rival gang member. He and Jeff Hannah (Adam Baldwin) get into it, and Jeff winds up quitting the gang.
A year later, and things at the school have gone from bad to worse. Oh sure, Jeff may have cleaned up his act, ditching Cobrette Lora (Wendy Barry) in favor of good girl Sherry(Deborah Foreman), and he might have a decent shot at a basketball scholarship if he keeps things up, but The Cobras are running rampant and peddling dope all over the campus. The principal, Draper (Wayne Crawford), has even called in the L.A.P.D., led by Moran (Ed Lauter), to make a big afterschool bust and get things cleaned up. When Cinco gets chased by the fuzz through the changing room just as Jeff's getting cleaned up after practice, he tries to get his former gang member to take the fall for him. Jeff isn't having any of it and tosses the bag of smack right back at Cinco, who winds up doing a stint in jail while the rest of The Cobras are let out the next day.
It's then that rumors start spreading - Cinco has it out for Jeff, he's going to kill him for what he did and to make matters worse, he's going to kill poor Sherry as well. Jeff and his pals debate whether or not they should stand up to the gang, go to the cops or what. Jeff makes it pretty clear that he's going to deal with this his way, which leads to the inevitable, and violent, showdown that you know was coming fifteen-minutes into this movie.
“Jeff Hanna didn't ask for trouble, but when they challenged him and attacked his girl... he took them all on. On their terms. On their turf.â€
Directed by Larry Gross and released in 1986, 3:15 doesn't reinvent the wheel, in fact it offers up pretty much exactly what you'd want out of a movie like this. If you dig 'bad teenger' movies with doses of 'punksploitation' then the odds are pretty good that this one will scratch a few itches for you. It might be a bit on the predictable side (you know exactly who is going to come to Hannah's defense as the finale approaches) it doesn't really wind up mattering much, simply because the film offers a whole lot of entertainment value.
Performances are pretty fun throughout the movie. Ed Lauter basically plays the same character here he always plays, he's a bit of a smart ass but tough in the way that his characters are tough. There's no stretching as an actor here, but he's good in his part. Wayne Crawford, who shares the most screen time with Lauter, is pretty decent as the weaselish principal and Deborah Foreman just fine as the female lead. The show really belongs to Baldwin and De La Paz, however. Baldwin is pretty solid as the conflicted hero of the story, likeable but rough around the edges, he handles the material with ease. De La Paz only has one setting here, and it's 'over the top' but he brings a really strong energy to the performance and the movie as a whole. Sure, he overdoes it, it's hard to argue that, but he's a blast to watch here.
The movie also has some pretty cool parts in it for younger actors who would see some pretty substantial success in Hollywood in the years to come, the most obvious examples being Gina Gershon and Mario Van Peebles. Oh, and Wings Hauser shows up in this! How cool is that?
3:15 - Blu-ray Review:
Scorpion Releasing brings 3:15 to Blu-ray from a “new HD master†framed at 1.78.1 widescreen in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. Taking up just over 21GBs of space on the 25GB disc, the picture quality here is more than solid. Colors are reproduced very nicely, which is important as this is a very garish, colorful looking film with lots of bright, brash eighties fashions on display. Black levels look good and we get very nice detail levels and depth here as well. Skin tones also look fine. The transfer is free of any problematic compression artifacts and is, thankfully, devoid of any noticeable noise reduction or edge enhancement. Print damage is never an issue while the picture retains the excepted amount of natural looking film grain. All in all, this looks very good.
The English language 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo track. No problems here. The audio is properly balanced and it sounds fine. The very eighties-sounding score has some decent range and depth, dialogue stays clean and clear and there are no problems with any hiss, distortion or sibilance to gripe about. Optional subtitles are provided in English only.
The main extra on the disc is a new interview with actor Danny De La Paz that clocks in at twelve-minutes. In this interview he covers getting cast as Cinco, getting his start in Boulevard Nights for Warner Brothers, moving from film to TV for a while, going back to acting class and learning the 'Sandy Meisner Method' of acting, acting alongside Deborah Foreman who was in his class at the time, his thoughts on playing a member of an interracial gang, the aesthetic of the movie, how he feels in hindsight he went way over the top in his performance in the film, how he feels about the punk feel of the film, having Gina Gershon, Mario Van Peebles and Ed Lauter appear in the film and more.
Rounding out the extras are a trailer for the feature as well as bonus trailers for King Of The Mountain, Who'll Stop The Rain, Delta Force, P.O.W. The Escape, Opposing Force (as Hell Camp) and Dogs Of War. Menus and chapter selection are also provided. Scorpion also offers up a nice reversible cover sleeve with this release.
3:15 - The Final Word Review:
3:15 is a blast, a really entertaining slice of eighties action and exploitation with some memorable and colorful characters, some cool cast members and a quick pace. Scorpion Releasing has done a fine job bringing this to Blu-ray with a nice presentation and a really enjoyable interview with one of its main actors. Recommended!
Click on the images below for full sized 3:15 Blu-ray screen caps!
