Killpoint (1984) User Reviews

"These guys, they play for real"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 23 September 2020]

There are a lot of poor things in this film but here are some of things that I liked. 1. Cameron Mitchell as the unhinged villain Joe Marks. 2. Stack Pierce as the more hinged villain Nighthawk. 3. Some nice helicopter shots. 4. Danene Pyant as the striking lady chauffeur. 5. Sparky the Poodle 6. The end credits song 'Living On The Inside' performed by Ramona Gibbons.

Apart from that it was disjointed and unexciting.

Worst editing I've seen in a film

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 12 December 2015]

An awful sub-par thriller from Crown International Pictures, much along the lines of their follow-up LOW BLOW. It's hard to know what's worse: the quality of the martial arts fights (in which the blows are the softest ever and barely hit the opponent half of the time), or the acting from a cast slumming it throughout. The plot, in a nutshell, is about a criminal gang armed with stolen weapons who go on a killing spree through the city, leaving one tough cop to track them down.

Actually, I think the worst thing about this film is the quality of the editing. It's incredible - worse than in an Ed Wood film, for instance. One shot will have a character coming up to somebody from the left, then the next shot will see them randomly standing to the right of that person. It makes for a disconcerting viewing experience to say the least.

The production values are very poor, although at least the outdoor locations are sunny. Leo Fong gives an appalling performance in the lead role, just as he did in LOW BLOW; throughout the movie I couldn't work out what was worse, his acting or his wig. Cameron Mitchell seems drunk in his turn as the villain, and only Richard Roundtree and Stack Pierce in support give anything approaching halfway decent performances. Yes, there's some quite graphic violence in KILLPOINT and a storyline that just about passes muster, but the execution is so poor that it's a real chore to sit through.

Rough 'n' ready actioner

[Red-Barracuda · 5/10 · 5 May 2015]

Killpoint is a standard violent action flick from the 80's. It's about a criminal gang who steal weaponry from the National Armoury and then sell it on to various hoods, while still finding time themselves to go around annihilating a variety of unfortunate people. A Chinese cop is put on the case to track them down.

This is an entertaining actioner which is somewhat rough around the edges it has to be said. It's poorly edited throughout in a manner that often doesn't make it too clear what is happening in certain scenes. But it has enough bloody violence and martial art fighting to ensure it's never boring. B movie stalwart Cameron Mitchell plays the gang lord who is combines his crime boss role with a penchant for sadistically killing women, while lovingly fawning over a small pet poodle. Richard Roundtree's name is prominent on the poster but he's hardly in it, it's more Leo Fong's movie - I hadn't even heard of him – and he puts in a stony-faced and decidedly uncharismatic performance while sporting an impressive pudding bowl haircut throughout. But best of all is Stack Pierce who plays the menacing character Nighthawk, who is Mitchell's sidekick/enforcer – he is a convincing bad ass and his performance is very committed.

On the whole this is quite middling fair though. Certainly entertaining enough but just don't expect too much.

Tries for Charles Bronson, ends up more like Charlie Callas

[lemon_magic · 5 August 2011]

"Killpoint" was actually the best movie I've seen so far out of Crown International's recent "Explosive Action" DVD collection, but that's not saying much, considering the competition was snore-fests such as "9 Deaths Of The Ninja","Scorpion" and "Top Cop".

The movie's plot is a standard grim-and-gritty grind-house exploitation piece, with gangs of street criminals staging massacres for no apparent reason that I can see (pros never kill unless they have to because of all the heat it would bring), so the plot has no surprises to speak of - 10 minutes in, you can pretty much predict 90% of the screenplay and 70% of the dialog. So it's up to the actors to make it work.

Acting? Well,there's some aggressively amateurish acting going on with some of the supporting actors in minor roles, but the director keeps things moving along so they don't stink up the joint too much. Even when the dialog falls flat, the pacing is snappy enough that you don't have too much time to worry about it.

The real star of this movie is Stack Pierce and his permanent sardonic sneer. That sneer pretty much carries the picture, and I think the director used it as much as he possibly could. Pierce's character is an utter cipher, (exactly what is he supposed to get out turning simple robberies into massacres?) but he pretty much embodies an attitude that pervades the film.

Richard Roundtree is in this, and he's always a pleasure to watch, but the movie basically wastes him in a secondary role and kills off his character before the final showdown. I'm thinking he was in here for marquee value, but they couldn't afford to keep him around for the entire shoot, which is too bad.

Cameron Mitchell is usually the best actor in a bad movie, but in this case, Roundtree is smoother and more charismatic...and poor Cameron has to do 90% of his acting from behind huge sunglasses, plus he plays a loathsome psychopath. Still most of his scenes with Stack Pierce are pretty good...his inanity and randomness bounces off Pierce's permanent sneer in an entertaining way.

Leo Fong is pretty glum and subdued here, but he gets the job done and he's believably tough looking and can deliver his lines without messing them up. Also he can handle fight choreography with no problem. He's not really leading-man material (most serious martial artists are too stone faced and self absorbed to radiate the charisma the camera needs), but he doesn't drag the movie down.

I saw a few martial artist cameos in here that added some enjoyment - Bill Wallace kicks the cameraman into submission for a few minutes, for instance.

Worth your time if you had a good time watching Bronson's "Messenger of Death" and "The Stone Killer", but not as tight and well made as those movies.

Sparky is a friend of mine

[nogodnomasters · 2/10 · 24 September 2017]

After an armory gets robbed, Nighthawk (Stack Pierce) and Joe Marx (Cameron Mitchell) set themselves up as Riverside, California's sole gun dealer, wiping out a Chinese restaurant. Soon grocery stores are getting shot up with automatic weapons. ATF agent Bill Bryant (Richard Roundtree) is called in and works with Detective Long (Leo Fong) who has his own issues.

Cameron Mitchell gives us an unusual character, a so bad it's good character as he wears an ascot and pampers a poodle while being the bad guy. There is some martial art fighting. 1 F-word and Brief dancer nudity. Available on multi-packs and U-tube.

Perhaps the action movie with the worst hero (and the worst villain!) of the 80's.

[gridoon · 3/10 · 6 July 2002]

Essentially plotless action film has two good guys (Fong and Roundtree) pitted against two bad guys (Mitchell and Pierce). Fong is perhaps the most uncharismatic action lead of the 80s, Roundtree's small part is a far cry from his "Shaft" days, and Cameron Mitchell adds another shameful role to his career, one to sit right next to his laughable turn in "The Toolbox Murders" (this man was a respected actor once, now he has come down to wearing flowers in his hair and complaining about people bleeding on his carpet). Only Stack Pierce acts with some dignity. As for the violence, don't worry: most of it is too badly done to offend anyone. (*1/2)

Pretty cheesy action film

[k_man · 4/10 · 23 April 2002]

This movie is very violent, yet exciting with original dialog and cool characters. It has one of the most moving stories and is very true to life. The movie start off with action star Leo Fong as a down and out cop who is approaching the end of his career, when he stumbles on to a big case that involves corruption, black mail and murder. This is where the killings start. From start finish Fong delivers in this must see action caper. This movie also co-stars Richard Roundtree.

I really enjoyed this film as a child but as I got older I realized that this film is pretty cheesy and not very good. I would not recommend this film and the action is very, very bad.

This flick is just pathetic and sad!!!!

[T-man357 · 1/10 · 24 January 2010]

I had to write a review for this movie based on the ones that are saying gory, non stop action, great movie..

These people were obviously watching a different movie. Killpoint honestly sucked from the word go!! I kept waiting and waiting for this film to get better and it was to no avail. Some said this movie was brutal and others said gory but I can't find either of those adjectives actually showing up in this, I mean hell there are so many scenes with people getting shot and there being no blood at all it's not even funny!! I guess the best way to sum this up is it probably should've been rated PG by 1984 standards and now in the year 2010 there is no doubt this would be PG!! Bad, BAD not in the fun cheesy "B" variety movie!!

Killpoint may just turn you off movies for life

[PeterMitchell-506-564364 · 3/10 · 19 March 2013]

Killpoint is another film that earns it's place in the sick category, or like a film, whose story lost it's way, like Hollywood Cop. In that Cameron Mitchell was a cranky cop (a good guy). In this, animal lover that I am, he's one sick, unhinged, son of a bitch, who deals in stolen arms. One senseless scene has his black partner shoot up a room of people. A separate incident, where an Asian cop's wife and child were killed, the same gun was used in that massacre. The wife was initially raped, and being a cop (Leo Fong) we know it's personal. Working with an another L.A. cop, (Richard Roundtree, before his Seven days) wasted in this amateur scripted dribble, they soon find the source of the heavy artillery and begin to close in on these bad as...s. Again as reference to Hollywood cop, some written scenes, are so amateurish, and lazy, it seems as the dialogue was written as it went along. Fong is the most calm and collected cop, while still maintaining a coolness. He's also the most unresponsive. Could it be that he's just a bad actor. Killpoint is a movie I hesitate to watch again, one that leaves me double minded, cause I know it won't leave me feeling really good at the end of it. Much is the blame on Cameron Mitchell's loathe character, and his actions.

Fong Vs. Cam!

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 11 January 2011]

When a cache of guns is stolen from a local armory, and street thugs are running wild shooting everyone in sight, there's only one man tough enough to stop the madness: Lt. James "Jim" Long (Fong)! But he's been feeling depressed lately as his wife had been raped and killed earlier that year. So he teams up with ATF agent Bryant (Roundtree) and the entire Riverside, CA police department to track down the baddies responsible. Luckily for Long's revenge scheme, the same evildoers are behind the attack on his wife as well as the stolen guns: crimelord and all-around kingpin bad guy Joe Marks (Mitchell) and his murderous assistant Nighthawk (Pierce). Will Long and Bryant bring the culprits to justice, and, more importantly, will local TV station KHUD report the story accurately? The stars of Revenge of the Bushido Blade (1980) reunite for this amateurish, haphazard effort that, while certainly imperfect, has its entertaining qualities and would have been ideal for undiscerning drive-in audiences of the day. For example, the editing is choppy: one minute we're seeing Cam Mitchell having a grand old time as Marks, the next we get a several-minute training sequence with Fong in a gym with absolutely no setup or dialogue, then we're back at the police station with Roundtree, etc. Add to that the use of mumbling non-actors in a semi-documentary style (members of the Riverside police department are named extensively in the credits), and the hilariously wooden anti-acting (read: clearly reading from a written source) of Michael Farrell (not the guy from MASH) as Long's Captain, Skidmore, and you get a few yuks, but nothing substantial.

Fong as Long is as perfectly wooden as he usually is, and his hair is charmingly Ramones-ish this time around. But the star of the show once again is the immortal Cam Mitchell. He looks like he's having a ball as the nefarious Marks, and hams it to the max, but in the best way imaginable. Marks/Mitchell is the type of villain whose main activities include wearing sunglasses and an ascot to bed, and teaching his dog (Sparky) to smoke, as well as boring stuff like killing prostitutes and enabling the L.A. area to go into martial law. God bless Cameron Mitchell. We'll never see another like him.

Stack Pierce, besides having an awesome name, is suitably menacing as Marks' consigliere, and looks like what would happen if Bill Cosby turned evil. The great Richard Roundtree is under-utilized and should have done much more. After teaming up with Leo Fong, he'll probably go back to teaming up with Harrison Muller, Jr. Either that or Ernest Borgnine.

So yes, it does have some of the trappings of low-budget filmmaking such as poor audio and a weird pace, but it was director Frank Harris' first directorial film. Unfortunately, his mediocrity seems ingrained, as his next two features, Low Blow (1986) and The Patriot (1986) seem to prove. In the action department, it's pretty much shootings and training sequences and not much else, although Fong does give one unlucky suspect an interrogation he'll never forget.

Starring Sparky the dog as himself (as his credit goes) in a movie-stealing performance, though he can't quite top Mitchell, they work well together. Killpoint was released by Crown International, and then put out on VHS in the U.S. by Vestron. Featuring the catchy closing song "Livin' on the Inside" by Ramona Gibbons, Killpoint isn't really a great movie, but its personalities like the repeat-offender crew of Fong, Pierce and Mitchell make it reasonably worthwhile.

For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Cameron Mitchell must have been paid in liquor.

[Coolestmovies · 2/10 · 30 April 2010]

KILLPOINT (1984) pits "dangerous" police detective Fong and ATF agent Richard Roundtree against gangster Cameron Mitchell and his stone-faced second-in-command Stack Pierce, who've stolen a load of weapons from a nearby military depot for resale to the city's gangs, who in turn use them to shoot up restaurants and supermarkets for kicks. The "high" point of the picture (or low point, depending on your POV) is Mitchell's performance, which is so detached and dazed that it's tough to tell if he's acting or just really, really plastered for much of his screen time, which is spent passively-aggressively canoodling with his pet poodle and killing those who irritate him in even the most perceived of ways, and giving Pierce plenty of reason to suspect that his boss is turning gay. Even on autopilot, Roundtree proves to be the consummate professional, delivering a solid performance that outshines virtually everyone around him.

See it for Sparky the Poodle!

[udar55 · 8/10 · 9 July 2006]

A great philosopher once wrote, "Cameron Mitchell never made a bad movie." Or was that, "Cameron Mitchell made lots of bad movies"? Either way, we all win! Criminal Joe Marks (Mitchell) and his associate Nighthawk (Stack Pierce) steals a bunch of guns from a military depot. Lt. James Long (Leo Fong) and ATF agent Bill Bryant (Richard Roundtree) are on the case. End of plot. The main reason to see this film is Mitchell's completely unhinged performance. As a vicious crime boss, he sure spends a lot of time cuddling up to his poodle Sparky! He has it in bed (where he tries to get it to smoke), in a jacuzzi (where the tries to get it to swim) and even has rambling monologues about the dog when it is no longer on this earth. Fong was in his mid-50s when this was made and he doesn't look a day over 60. Roundtree appears to have only been paid for a few days as he is killed about an hour in. The film is filled with hilarious dialogue, my favorite being the following exchange:

Police Chief: "Okay, I'm assigning Lt. James Long to the case."

ATF agent: "Long? Isn't he the one whose wife and child were raped and killed?"

Police Chief: "Yeah."

ATF agent: "Do you think he is mentally able to handle this?"

Police Chief: "Hell no he's not able to handle it. But he'll get the job done."

OK Good action from the Leo Fong stable , weird and violent !

[move-7 · 6/10 · 30 May 2005]

Leo Fong as Lt. James Long is slightly subdued in his role but he still makes good in his scenes. There are some good fights here and a good 80's type of soundtrack. The song by Ramona Gibbons ... "Living On The Inside" is great for the ending of this movie.

Well the plot isn't brilliant and some of the actors are a little bit wooden. Michael Farrell as Captain Skidmore and Larry Lunsford as Agent Crawford are the sort of characters that would have appeared in the TV series of Mission Impossible in the sixties.

But this in its own way works for this movie. Still other actors make up for it. You'll notice a few actors here that Leo Fong uses in his other films. Stack Pierce , Hope Holliday and Cameron Mitchell and a couple of the extras too.

Stack Pierce as Nighthawk is great and very menacing. He is one of the most under appreciated actors around. Its hard to believe that he hasn't greater status as an actor.

Leo Fong well he gives an OK performance as LT Long and he is a pretty tough looking guy. And of course quite handy with his fists.

Cameron Mitchell who's was a very good actor seems to be the most weird perverted psychopathic creature around. This has to be seen to be believed !

Richard Rowntree is also in this movie which makes it worthwhile.

I could see what could nearly have happened if the film was directed in a different way or more avenues explored. There were some hints at excellence in different parts of this movie ,nearly there but just not quite ! The movie was probably made on a reasonable budget and there is good entertainment value in it. The shortcomings of this movie are out-weighed by its positive aspect. The thing about this movie is the memory of it isn't good as the actual watching. Seeing it again and then I think ..... mm that was quite good !

A Big Disappointment

[briangetmail-70510 · 2/10 · 10 August 2019]

Some good fight scenes and stunts. The big disappointment is we only see Bill Wallace for maybe 30 sec on screen sparring with the main character. Bill W. was a legend, a karate guy back in the 80's. The movie is very slow until the end when they bust the bad guys. I'm a big fan of B movies but this is one belongs in the dollar discount bin at the local rental store.It's a pity they didn't have Bill Wallace go up against the bad guys, he's a great martial artist.

Best action movie of the 20th century

[lucretius-sa · 27 February 2014]

What an amazing movie this is ... a true classic masterpiece! Inspiring dialogues and amazing martial arts techniques will take your breath away ... Highly recommended! I really look forward to see a remake of this movie with the original cast (if they're still alive and well) . Many action movies that are more popular and well-known are more or less based on the plot of Kill Point ... the plot is one of a kind;originality is one of the qualities of this movie that is clear to see. Let us hope that this movie company will produce more brilliant products like these and enjoy other great movies featuring Leo Fong in the meantime ... Last but not least I would like to propose the concept of a sitcom based on this movie;that would be truly amazing ...

Mindless action-perfect for a slow Saturday night

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 18 August 2009]

Perpetual second tier renter from my days back at the video store this film has Leo Fong and Richard Roundtree teaming up to battle a gang that has stolen a cache of weapons from the military. Good action mixes with procedural sequences that have a certain amount of realism (which seems to slow everything down). The film itself is far from realistic, but at the same time it's a good distracting bit of action. When I was working at a video store back in the VHS days this film was constantly coming and going simply because it was the sort of action film that entertains in ways that many bigger budgeted films fail to do. Is it the be all and end all? Absolutely not, the film is little more than a low budget shoot 'em up, but at the same time it does what it does and then gets off. Worth a look on a slow night.

An absolute cruddy riot

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 31 May 2007]

Rugged, drippy Los Angeles Lt. James Long (drab, pudgy chopsocky movie star Leo Fong) and smooth FBI Agent Bill Bryant (the always cool Richard Roundtree of "Shaft" fame) join forces to thwart irritable, racist sicko illegal arms dealer Joe Marks (a deliciously hammy over-the-top performance by the ubiquitous Cameron Mitchell) and his vicious henchman Nighthawk (a pleasingly nasty turn by Stack Pierce). Meanwhile, a heavily armed gang of ferocious hoodlums runs amok on the streets of the city, blithely blowing away scores of innocent bystanders in such public places as restaurants and supermarkets. Written, directed, edited and photographed with astounding hamfistedness by Frank Harris, with copious amounts of excessive violence, rank amateurish acting by a no-name supporting cast, a cheesy rockin' synthesizer score, a nonstop quick pace, a few badly staged martial arts fight scenes, a smidgen of nudity, a terrible ending credits theme song, and an extremely high body count, this laughably lousy mid 80's action schlock gut-buster provides a wondrous wealth of unintentional laughs. Hope Holiday, who also co-starred with Mitchell in "Raw Force" and "Texas Lightning," briefly pops up as an ill-fated whorehouse madam. A total tacky hoot.

Stoic police pic -for action trade

[lor_ · 6 February 2023]

My review was written in March 1984 after a Times Square screening.

"Killpoint" is a perfunctory police picture made in asemi-documentary fashion that reduces audience involvement. Prospects on the action circuit are okay.

Filmmaker Frank Harris (who takes five credits on the pic) has sought to out-do Louis de Rochemont and Jack Webb in low-key realism, but the result is dull. Dozens of members of the Riverside, California police department plus the local coroner's office and people off the street fill most of the "acting" roles, and several lead players are so ice-cold in their performances that the film seems remote instead of exciting.

Leo Fong, a Chinese-American martial arts expert, toplines as Lt. James Long, a cop troubled by his wife's rape and murder, who is assigned to work with government agent Bill Bryant (Richard Roundtree) in catching the killers who have stolen automatic weapons from a National Guard armory and are creating mayhem by selling them to local criminals and gangs. Stack Pierce portrays Nighthawk, the key gunrunner whose boss, played behind dark glasses by Cameron Mitchell, is a nut who gets his jollies torturing and killing women.

Fong, whose immoblie but strong featured visage suggests an Oriental counterpart to Woody Strode, is unimpressive, a totally unemotional nonactor. Pierce's one-note "Mr. Cool" is counter-productive, Mitchell is silly and guest star Roundtree tarnishes his "Shaft" superhero image by getting blown away in routine fashion. Technically merely adequate, "Killpoint" delivers none of the fun that once made B-features so enjoyable.