Bullet Points: Back in Action

There was an undeniable chemistry between Billy Blanks and Roddy Piper. The same sort of magic that made the Lethal Weapon series so popular was in the air whenever Blanks and Piper got together. Some actors just click and Blanks and Piper clicked.

• Mama I’m In Love Wit a Gangsta: Back in Action opens up with a drug deal in a cemetery gone haywire. On one side you have the drug dealing gangsters represented by Chakka, a high ranking soldier in the criminal organization ruled by Kasajian. On the other side you have undercover cop, Frank Rossi (Roddy Piper, They Live). What neither side expected was that former Green Beret Billy (Billy Blanks, Showdown) would show up looking for his sister Tara. Tara was there so she could spend time with her gangster boyfriend Gantry (nice name)… because what is more romantic than a drug deal at a cemetery?

• Tombstone: Billy is able to subdue a lot of the gangsters that are stationed around the perimeter of the exchange point completely undetected. But when Billy tries to drag his sister out of the car she is in, while her boyfriend Gantry and his gangster friends are trying to conduct business a few yards away… Billy finds himself approached by another gangster henchman wondering who the hell he is… Billy takes him out, but not before the guy fires a few rounds… this causes panic and sparks a huge shootout between the undercover cops and the gangsters. This turns out to be good for Billy, who is able to use the chaos to get his sister the hell out of there but bad for our hero Frank Rossi, who ends up losing the money, the drugs and most importantly his partner.

• Crossing Paths: Billy and Frank would have a memorable encounter at a bar later that day. Frank was there drowning his sorrows and Billy was there looking for his rebellious sister, who managed to take off on him yet again. This led to the obligatory action movie bar fight between the two! With Tara missing in action and Billy believing that Kasajian has kidnapped her and Frank still trying to take down Kasajian’s criminal empire… Vigilante Billy and Cop Frank continue to cross paths. The final straw comes after Billy does some major damage at a chop shop run by Kasajian (and one Frank was staking out)… it is here that Frank confronts Billy and tells him he is obligated to take Billy in. Billy said Frank has three options… he can let Billy go so he can continue his search for Tara, he can shoot him dead OR they can team up. Thankfully Frank went with the team up option and business is really about to pick up.

• This Just In: Bobbie Phillips (Lion Strike) plays TV news reporter and Frank’s love interest, Helen Lewinsky. She manages to use her Lois Lane like powers to track down Tara… something Billy and the bad guys could not do. Helen conducts an interview with Tara and Gantry, who tell the world they are in love and just want to be left alone and in the process makes herself a target for Kasajian. Gantry ends up dead, while Tara and Helen are held captive on a ship that Kasajian is using as a drug lab… and all the elements are in place for our heroes Frank and Billy to make the save!

Much like Blanks and Piper’s second outing as a duo in Tough and Deadly, Back in Action’s biggest weakness was the bad guys. Kasajian and Chakka were largely forgettable, generic bad guys. I would have loved to have seen someone like Patrick Kilpatrick or Robert Davi as the main villain to really take Back in Action to another level.

But as I said at the top, the chemistry between the two leads was undeniable and it made 1993’s Back in Action a fun one to watch. Now how about a few fun Bonus Bullet Points to read…

• Produced By: Back in Action was a Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment production. Other notable SGE productions include One Man Force, Shakedown and Red Scorpion.
• Reunited: Billy Blanks and Bobbie Phillips also appeared together in 1993’s TC 2000.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see Roddy Piper deliver a vicious clothesline to Billy Blanks, then Back in Action is the movie for you.