Bullet Points: Cold Harvest
One film studio that can claim to have Cannon blood running through its veins, is Nu Image. Avi Lerner, one of the Nu Image founders, executive produced some true Cannon classics like Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, American Ninja 2: The Confrontation and Platoon Leader.
Lerner took much of what he learned from his time working with Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus (both what to do and maybe more importantly what NOT to do) and applied that to Nu Image. Nu Image immediately began producing the type of action movies that catered to the Cannon crowd and that tradition continues to this day.
In this edition of Bullet Points, I’ll be taking a look at 1999’s Cold Harvest…
- Double Impact: Gary Daniels plays Roland Chaney… a karate kicking, gun toting, dune buggy riding bounty hunter on an Earth that is not like the Earth we know and love. After a comet hit the planet, the survivors find themselves living in perpetual darkness as a dust cloud in the atmosphere has blocked out all sunlight. To compound Earth’s problems, there is also a plague wiping out the survivors of the comet disaster. But there is a glimmer of hope, government scientists have found six people with anti-bodies in their blood that can cure the plague. Oliver Chaney one of those six people… Oliver Chaney is the estranged twin brother of Roland Chaney which means his character was also played by Gary Daniels… HOLY CRAP! This is going to be the Gary Daniels version of Double Impact …
- Ain’t That A Shot In The Head: …not so fast! Oliver, who was traveling in a military escorted convoy along with his wife Christine (Barbara Crampton, Chopping Mall) and the other five anti-body having citizens, find themselves the victim of an attack ordered by public enemy #1 in this new sunless world, Little Ray (Bryan Genesse, Street Justice). Oliver and Christine manage to survive the initial attack, but as they make a run for it Oliver is shot in the leg and Little Ray and his army of miscreants are hot on the couple’s heels. The spectacled and hobbled Oliver tells Christine to go on without him and he’ll catch up with her… Oliver would never catch up with her. We learn that Little Ray and the Brothers Chaney have known each other since they were kids and there is bad blood… so it is really no surprise when Little Ray shoots Oliver in the head. I guess this isn’t the Gary Daniels version of Double Impact after all.
- Little Ray Don’t Play: There was one other person who survived the attack on the convoy other than Mr. and Mrs. Chaney… a sniveling lab tech named Victor, who to save his own ass tips off Little Ray that there’s a way to track Christine. This intrigues Little Ray so he keeps Victor around… another thing that intrigues Little Ray, the news that his old nemesis Roland Chaney is alive and well and back in town. This is probably a good time to stop and give some kudos to Bryan Genesse, who really shines as Little Ray. To me this is Genesse’s most memorable role, he does a fantastic job as the power hungry, slightly unhinged crime boss who keeps everyone on their toes.
- In-Laws: Roland Chaney and Christine Chaney meet for the first time at the Chaney’s childhood home… Christine went there for sanctuary, Roland went there after he buried his brother’s body next to his parents’ grave site. It is an awkward meeting and the awkwardness between the two would continue as the movie went on (be sure to check out the Bonus Bullet Points). But with Little Ray’s goon squad after both of them, they find themselves working together to survive and it was a nice surprise when Christine proved she could handle herself quite well and was not just a damsel in distress. A quality that comes in handy as all out war erupts between our heroes and Little Ray’s army.
Isaac Florentine’s Cold Harvest has a lot of the same qualities as U.S. Seals 2 (another film helmed by Florentine for Nu Image)… A great mixture of martial arts and explosive action, with some vehicular mayhem thrown in for good measure… A more than capable hero with a strong female sidekick to support him and a charismatic villain to square off with… And the backdrop for all of this is a unique world that is equal parts post apocalyptic and wild west.
- AKA: Cold Harvest was released as Disaster Zone in Germany.
- Odd Fetish: Little Ray’s right hand man, T-Bone, has a thing for women’s noses.
- Not a Euphemism: Remember earlier when I talked about the awkwardness between Roland and Christine? At one point the two get a room in a saloon so Christine can get some rest and wash up while the duo wait for the saloon owner to arrange them transportation to “the safe zone”. Roland turns his back giving Christine some privacy while she takes her partial whore’s bath… problem is he is checking out her naked back in the mirror and stroking his gun while doing it, then he utters this…
- Creepy Quote: “You have a beautiful back.” – Roland Chaney
- One Complaint: The cheap looking “exposed brick” stickers used on many of the sets probably distracted me more than it should have.
