KILLPOINT (1984) **
Leo Fong is the “star” of this 80’s action flick, but the real reason to check it out is to see exploitation vets Richard Roundtree and Cameron Mitchell doing what they do best.
Mitchell plays a slimy crime kingpin that specializes in running guns who is fond of leaving no witnesses at the scene of a crime. This means if he sends in his goons to kill a rival who is eating at a Chinese restaurant; they also have to wipe out every single customer in the joint. He also gets his kicks by slapping around hookers, killing them and tossing their bodies into the river. Fong is the cop whose trying to bring Mitchell to justice and Roundtree is the fed who helps out.
Mitchell hams it up like only he can. Wearing an ascot and women’s sunglasses, Mitchell shoots TV’s that gives him bad press and bitches at his woman when her poodle shits on the floor. There’s also a disturbing scene where he murders a waitress just because her baby was crying too loud. (In his defense, the little brat DID shut up after his mama croaked.) In short; classic Cameron Mitchell. Stack Pierce is also excellent as Nighthawk, Mitchell’s cold-blooded right hand man.
The rest of the movie leaves something to be desired. The action is sparse and Fong isn’t much of a leading man. He kinda looks like an elderly basset hound with his droopy face and baggy eyes and doesn’t have much charisma. His fight scenes are sloppily tossed together and indifferently filmed. It also doesn’t help that his kung fu prowess is about the same as mine. Roundtree is good, but it seems like he and Fong are starring is separate movies and they don’t have much screen time together.
Nighthawk gets the best line of the movie when he tells an underling: “You mess this up, he’ll kill you, your mamma, your daddy, your sister AND your brother!”
Fong, Pierce and Mitchell all returned two years later for Low Blow.