Bullet Points: Personal Vendetta
With ambitions to be more than just a professional wrestler, Mimi Lesseos (aka The Magnificent Mimi) embarked on an acting career in the 1990’s. Lesseos even wrote, produced and starred in a quadrilogy of films starting with 1992’s Pushed to the Limit, then 1993’s Beyond Fear, followed by 1994’s Streets of Rage and wrapping it up with the subject of this edition of Bullet Points, 1995’s Personal Vendetta…
- Unhappily Ever After: Bonnie Blackwell (Mimi Lesseos, Final Impact) and Zach Blackwell (Timothy Bottoms, Mortal Challenge) would not be classified as the perfect couple. Zach, an importer by trade and an asshole by nature, is both verbally and physically abusive to Bonnie. Zach goes off the deep end one night, after he believes Bonnie was shit talking him at a party the two threw at their home. Zach slaps Bonnie and throws her around their bedroom. Bonnie locks herself in the bathroom and when she thinks the time is right, makes a run for the garage, where she hops in her car… but Zach is waiting for her and he tries to stop her, by reaching inside the car and bashing her head repeatedly against the steering wheel. Bonnie manages to get the car started and puts it in drive… driving through the garage door with Zach hanging on the side of the car. The police show up and Bonnie immediately presses charges and Zach is eventually sentenced to two years in prison.
- Police Academy: One of the cops on the scene that night, Sgt. Bill Starr, befriends Bonnie. Bonnie’s story hits close to home for him, since his daughter was in a similar situation with an abusive husband. Bill is matter of fact with Bonnie and says when Zach gets out, he’s going to come looking for her and the odds are good that the abuse will start all over again if she allows it. Bill suggests Bonnie consider joining the police academy and even gives her a tour… it doesn’t take long before Bonnie decides to join the police academy and we even get some jaunty Police Academy style music (which seemed out of place in a movie that dealt with the very serious subject of spousal abuse). It is a rough road for Bonnie, but when it is all said and done Bonnie ends up graduating at the top of her class and is partnered with superstar cop John Beaudet.
- Rude Awakening: The real world of policing the streets of Los Angeles is much different than the police academy, something Bonnie finds out the hard way when she gets into it with a male perp on the run… when things get physical and he starts throwing hands, Bonnie chokes and reverts back to the scared and abused wife. But it is not just on the job where her past comes back to haunt her… despite sparks flying between Bonnie and her partner John, Bonnie gets freaked out when John tries to ramp up the romance between the two. Bonnie eventually musters up the courage to go visit her husband in prison where she drops the bombshell that she has filed for divorce. Zach has a meltdown and Bonnie has seemingly exorcised her demons. This leads to a night of passion between Bonnie and John, but things are about to take a turn…
- Full Circle: The next morning, still in the afterglow of their lovemaking from the night before, Bonnie and John get a call on their radio that an officer needs assistance… they speed over to find out that officer was Bill Starr… and sadly they are too late. Bill was shot and killed by a masked man. But things get even worse… after Bill’s funeral, a distraught Bonnie, decides to go home alone to decompress and is nearly killed by Zach, who broke into Bonnie’s house and grabbed her service revolver with intentions of shooting her dead. Apparently Zach got out two months earlier than expected on “good behavior”. Bonnie is able to fight Zach off before he flees… but now with Zach back on the outside and Bonnie now armed and dangerous, it is the perfect time for her to settle her personal vendetta!
I am not sure where Personal Vendetta aired at the time of its original release, but with a strong female lead and the theme of the film, it feels like it could have been on a double bill with Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich story on Lifetime. And at no time while watching Personal Vendetta did I think I was watching anything but a made for TV movie with a limited action budget.
Without the razzle dazzle of explosions and big action set pieces, Personal Vendetta was going to have to be character driven. As the two central characters of the story, Mimi Lesseos and Timothy Bottoms were expected to do most of the heavy lifting and both achieved that goal in their own ways. With Lesseos’ athletic background and badass reputation, you could tell she was putting forth a great deal of effort to portray the Bonnie character as vulnerable for a good chunk of the film. Meanwhile, veteran actor Timothy Bottoms seemed to play Zach the abusive asshole almost effortlessly.
How much effort was put into collecting these Bonus Bullet Points? Read ’em and find out…
- Homage: The self-defense instructor at the police academy (who is described as a side of beef with attitude) was named Geno Lebell, an homage to a man who was quite influential in Mimi’s life and career, “Judo” Gene LeBell.
- Disturbing Quote: “You think you piss perfume?” – Zach
- Green with Envy: There’s a scene where a very pissed off Bonnie storms into a parole hearing and confronts the parole board asking why she was not informed her abusive husband was being released early. She gives the parole board what for and then FLIPS THEIR TABLE! Being in a situation where I can flip a table over is still a bucket list item of mine.
