L.A. Heat

My review was written in January 1989 after watching the film on Raedon video cassette.

Jim Brown fans will be happy to see him back in straight-ahead fashion -after the self-spoofing of "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" -in "L. A. Heat", an okay made-for-video feature.

Pic benefits from an earnest performance by Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs as cop Jon Chance, who's having plenty of trouble with his captain (Brown) over a drug case.

Actually Chance dreams of being a Wild West gunfighter (illustrated in fantasy inserts), but Brown keeps giving him deadlines to catch the violent dealer (Kevin Benton) who's making fools out of the L. A. police.

Trademark exploding blood-packs (by Judy YHonemoto) punctuate Joseph Merhi's B-picture. Tech credits are acceptable, though the sound recording is a bit rough and ready.

Oof! Check out the norks on this crapfest! This early PM film suffers from some of the worst editing I've ever laid my eyes on…which of course just adds to the enjoyment.

Some cop guy who dreams he's a cowboy is after a drug dealer who just loves killing cops. This dealer guy then gets kidnapped by another guy while the mafia are trying to waste everyone involved in the drug deal as dead cops are bad news. Meanwhile, back at the cop shop, big Jim Brown is on the cop's case due to the aforementioned dead cops (mostly this guy's partners), and there's some business about the guy's wife and maybe kids. I can't remember even though I just watched it last night.

What will really grab your attention is how half-arsed this film is. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of second takes. The story kind of lurches along, and the cowboy thing is just another layer in the crap-cake this film is. The best bit is either that terrible editing (people starting lines in one shot only to start them again in another), or the constant shouts of 'cut' and stage direction from the man in charge. I'm no editor by trade by I have edited short films together – it's not hard to cut out that stuff or even add on a new audio channel. Weird man.

This is one of those truly bad films that litter the late eighties and early nineties, and there's loads of them about! Fearless Tiger! Shotgun! Anything Godfrey Ho made!

L. A Heat. (1988) Joseph Merhi.

PM Entertainment's low-budget, bullet-shredded, late 80s shoot 'em up, L. A Heat is greatly elevated by the charismatic presence of big Jim Brown. LA Cops go hard after a violently gunhappy drug dealer which affords bargain bucket action impresario Merhi plentiful opportunities for softboiled B-Movie badinage and righteous amounts of slo-mo squibage! The skeezy downtown L. A setting is grungily atmospheric, and there's a boisterously old school Blaxsploitation vibe throughout that I really dug. Straight-shooting detective Lt. Chance (Lawrence Hilton Jacob ) is a tough, likeable good guy, and psycho copkiller Clarence ( Kevin Benton ) makes for a convincingly malign street thug.

Ill keep this short; writing about stuff like this really makes me realise to what extent the English language is limited.

From concept to post-production, this film is flawless. The direction and, specifically, the editing of the piece show years of creative experience in the field. Laurence Hilton-Jacobs returns to the screen with a proto-naturalistic approach to the portrayal of a broken man living in a world which does not appreciate him. The beauty of this is that it seems to reflect the life of Merhi so far. His unique style when directing his works has not always been accepted by an audience of which the majority are used to much more mainstream, commercial films.

The overall 'feel' of the film is of perfection and finesse. It maintains this finish while keeping its art-house status and evading the glossy overcoat which is becoming more and more popularly associated with the industry in America. Over the years I've familiarised myself with the abstract writing style of Kanganis, and it has become a little habit of mine to expect these little surprises that he has for us with each release. The reflection mentioned above seems to have come about naturally; the troubled mind of Merhi and artistic aptitude of Kanganis come together to bring the film together with a fine-tuned taste, but not pretentiousness, and to end it with such a gritty climax as it does.

Merhi is an overwrought genius whose presentation, when grouped with the textual gold of Kanganis' script and the on screen presence of Hilton-Jacobs of such charm and without antecedence is, frankly, magical.

In 1989 to 1990, Lawrence Hiton-Jacobs starred in three movies as detective Jon Chance: CHANCE, L.A. VICE, and L.A. HEAT. All three of these movies were also early efforts by the studio PM Entertainment. If you've seen any of the other Jon Chance movies - or any PM Entertainment movies made during this same period - I think you'll have a good idea what to expect with this movie. The production values are unbelievably low - it looks like they shot on videotape and transferred it to film. A lot of dialogue was obviously looped in post-production. The script and direction are awful; scenes end abruptly before the viewers get all the information they need, the dream sequences are goofy in nature, and for the longest time the story comes to a complete halt and the characters do nothing important at all. There is an occasional chuckle from the utter lameness, but for the most part the movie is painful to watch. If you do decide to watch the movie, beware of the DVD - the DVD manufacturer used a TV print of the movie, which not only results with all the foul language being bleeped out, but with some video glitches. Obviously, quality control was not a high priority for the DVD manufacturer, though seeing the movie one can understand why.