Getting Even (1989) User Reviews

obscure Roundtree flick (possible minor spoilers)

[sore_throat · 3/10 · 13 September 2007]

FBI agent Roundtree picks a fellow Vietnam vet acquaintance out of the gutter to help him catch another guy they both know from Vietnam to stop him from dealing arms.

This is obscure, and obscure for a reason, as it's not very good, and probably wouldn't be known or even still exist if it weren't for Roundtree. I like Roundtree but here he isn't very good, and doesn't seem to be getting the aid an actor requires from the director.

This Italian film (horribly dubbed) is pretty cheap, has stock footage, a little nudity, no violence you haven't seen before, and is sometimes quite poorly lit. It looks like it was made earlier, I'd say 1984.

I only suggest this for completists and buffs of obscure 80s B-films.

Getting Even

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 15 September 2022]

Roy Evans (Harrison Muller, She, Warrior of the Lost World, The Lonely Lady, 2020 Texas Gladiators, The Throne of Fire - that's what we call a career) was homeless, but has been called out of retirement by his former commanding officer Dundee (Richard Roundtree!) after he saves a woman from getting assaulted. Now, he must hunt down the man that betrayed him back in Vietnam and left him a POW for five years, the drug dealer Slisko (Michael Aronin, Cruising). Plus, there are some murders going down at the same time because why just have one story in your movie?

Agent Roberts (George Ardisson, who was Theseus in Hercules In the Haunted World) thinks that Slisko and the prostitute killer are the same person. After all, he killed a hooker back in Vietnam using a knife that makes the same stab wounds show up on all of these dead women now.

Muller and Roundtree were also in Miami Cops, which one assumes was probably made at the very same time as this, seeing how they both also have Aronin and Zombi zombie Ottaviano Dell'Acqua in the cast.

This was directed and written by Leandro Lucchetti, who also wrote Caged Women and directed La ragnatela del silenzio - A. I. D. S, an erotic thriller all about - you guessed it - A. I. D. S.

The best thing about this movie is the poster as well as the many bamboo buildings that get blown up real good.

Low Budget, Low Brow, Low Expectations

[TheFixer253 · 1/10 · 24 February 2010]

One of those movies that when you find yourself watching it the only entertainment is amusement at the tacky production values, abysmal acting, and laughable storyline. There should have been two silhouettes in the foreground making snarky remarks.

This must have been shot sometime in the late 70s because of the men's fashions, hairstyles and mustaches. It concerns an American veteran of the Vietnam War who was betrayed by his Army buddy and spent 5 years in a POW camp. He gets home and wants revenge on his old buddy. The police take him in because the old buddy is now running drugs out of Southeast Asia and is a very nasty character. Richard Roundtree buddies up with the betrayed veteran and they go hunting the bad guy all over Thailand. Lots of poorly staged martial arts fights. Ludicrous gun battles. Sets that must have cost all of $15 to construct.

This is an Italian movie that was made without an American military technical adviser and it shows. I'm trying to think of a reason why anyone would want to watch this movie but I can't think of one. Oh that's right, there's some gratuitous nudity.

Get Even with this classic tonight!

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 12 October 2010]

Roy Evans (Muller) is a Vietnam vet who spent five years in a prison camp. He has flashbacks of those dark times often, and he recalls a time when he tried to carry his wounded buddy to a chopper before it took off. Unfortunately, it was piloted by the sinister Slisko (Aronin), a man who you can tell is evil by his name. Slisko literally kicks them off the chopper and he takes off.

Now, in the present day, some psycho is roaming around NYC leaving a trail of dead prostitutes in his wake. And they all have a unique signature: the knife wounds are made by a curved knife called a "criss". Could it be the work of the nefarious Slisko? Evans and 'Nam buddy Dundee (Roundtree) want answers - and revenge. But they must answer to the mysterious FBI agent Roberts. So after tracking him all over the city, their quest leads them to Bangkok where they meet up with Pearl (Keith), a beautiful woman who's handy with a machine gun. They then learn Slisko is running weapons to the guerillas. So with machine guns a blazin' and huts a-explodin', the deadly trio get to the truth - in the most violent way possible, of course.

Of the two Richard Roundtree/Harrison Muller Jr. team-ups, this one is far better (than its counterpart, Miami Cops, 1989). This one is more of a pure action movie, with plenty of bullet hits and blow-ups, and quasi-Rambo stylings. Muller Jr. and Roundtree should be using a machine gun and a rocket launcher, respectively, not tooling around Detroit pretending it's Miami. Maybe that's a bit unfair, but what's interesting about Getting Even is that they must go back to Asia and defeat the baddies using the techniques they originally learned in 'Nam. Circle of life. Or death, more accurately. It even ends in the time-tested "final field fight". But what is the final twist? Of course, there is the prerequisite funny dubbing, and the funny dialogue they are dubbing with (in a Vietnam flashback, a character yells out "The Radio Shack is right up ahead!"...that's really funny), and, like Miami Cops, the film quality is not great. Speaking of funny things, you wouldn't think, of Muller Jr. and Roundtree, that Muller would have the thicker, fuller afro, but there it is.

This may seem weird, but in some of the actions of the characters, it resembles the NES game "Renegade". To add weird on top of weird, Muller's character drives a "Renegade" Jeep! Could that possibly be a coincidence? And in the "there were three Vietnam buddies but now one is evil and the other two have to deal with it" sweepstakes, Getting Even certainly gives American Eagle (1989) a run for its money.

So if you must see a team up of the charismatic Roundtree and the "why is he here?" Muller, see this one.

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