Bullet Points: Street Hunter

1990’s Street Hunter spent many years on my movie wish list.

For those unfamiliar with the film, Street Hunter was released by Menahem Golan’s 21st Century Film Corporation and featured Steve James in a rare leading man role. James is probably best know for his supporting roles in movies like Avenging Force, P.O.W. the Escape and The Delta Force but in Street Hunter it was Steve James who got to be the hero… he got the girl… he saved the day. Steve James finally got to claim his rightful place as THE MAN in an action movie. And it bothered me that I had never seen it.

Not wanting to invest in a VHS copy that could be of either questionable quality or in some cases questionable price, I waited and hoped for years that somebody, somewhere would release this gem on Blu-ray or DVD. But it never happened. So I had to do what physical media lovers everywhere dread… I had to buy the digital copy.

• Logan Blade: Steve James plays a former cop turned bounty hunter in New York City named Logan Blade. Blade left the NYPD after his name was dragged through the mud, and even though he was cleared of any wrong doing, he quit the force out of principle. Now Blade lives in a van with his dog and hunts down bad guys. Something that doesn’t sit well with his lady Denise (Valarie Pettiford).

• El Diablo: John Leguizamo (Spawn) plays the head of a street gang known as the Diablos. Angel has big plans for the Diablos and these plans aren’t sitting well with the reigning kings of the New York underworld, the Romanos. As the movie opens, Angel has a face to face confrontation with Louis Romano, the heir apparent to the Romano throne, at a cemetery. Louis Romano finds out the hard way just how serious Angel is about taking over New York when Angel’s secret weapon, Col. Walsh (Reb Brown, Cage) orchestrates an attack that wipes out Louis’ men and allows Angel to personally take out his rival.

• Bounty Hunter: Unfortunately for Angel, he doesn’t follow Walsh’s orders to the letter and after Walsh returns to Camp Diablo, Angel ends up getting taken in by Logan Blade. Blade played it smart, lurking in the shadows of the cemetery watching the conflict between the bad guys and then swooped in at the opportune moment. But Logan Blade, the NYPD and the New York underworld is about to find out just how dangerous Col. Walsh can be after Walsh orchestrates a precision strike rescue mission as Angel is being transported from the precinct to city jail .

• Action Star: But Col. Walsh soon finds out that Logan Blade is a worthy adversary. Walsh is so impressed with Logan Blade he tries to recruit him for his cause… which appears to be creating a war to fight since he was still salty about not being “allowed to win” back in Vietnam. This leads to the inevitable Logan Blade vs. Col. Walsh final battle but not before we get a red herring, a dirty cop, a mafia massacre and poor Denise getting dragged into the danger.

Street Hunter proved two things to me… Steve James should have been the star of more action movies and Reb Brown made one helluva bad guy.

Logan Blade gave us everything we already knew about Steve James …he could kick some major ass, he was a smooth operator and he oozed cool, but Logan Blade also wrapped all that up in a memorable presentation with the look, the van and having man’s best friend as his sidekick

I don’t believe it is too far fetched to say that Col. Walsh was Reb Brown at his best. Brown was convincing as the super soldier who was also a demented military historian… Col. Walsh was a General Patton who went too far and there was no turning back.

There’s no turning back for you either, you’ve made it this far you may as well scroll down and check out the Bonus Bullet Points…

• Ring-A-Ding-Ding Quote: “C’mon Logan Blade, street hunter… hunt this!”
• On Brand: It only takes about 15 seconds after he first appears on screen for Reb Brown to start screaming.
• The Name Game: The Michael Dudikoff/Stephen Dorff film Rescue Me was released under the title Street Hunter in Germany.
• Impossible Quote: “You must be alert 25 hours a day.” – Walsh
• Familiar Face: Street Hunter did a solid bit of casting when they chose Frank Vincent (Chicago Overcoat) to play the part of Don Mario Romano, head of the Romano crime family. Street Hunter was released the same year as Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas which featured Vincent in what was arguably his most famous role.