Bullet Points: Fist of Honor
Have you ever imagined an alternate universe where The Godfather was produced by PM Entertainment?
Ok probably not, but in 1993 PM Entertainment told their own mafia tale in Fist of Honor…
- Keeping the Peace: The Malucci Family and The Diamond Family are the two biggest crime families in Los Angeles and after years of bad blood, they are looking to bury the hatchet and split the city right down the middle so both families can prosper. This truce is nearly ended before it even started when Tommy Bones of the Diamond Family kills Johnny Malucci when he catches Johnny boinking his wife. Not wanting to spoil their new business arrangement, the head of the Diamond Family, Dino Diamond (Harry Guardino, Dirty Harry) has Tommy shot right in front of the head of The Malucci Family, Victor Malucci (played by the one and only Abe Vigoda). Victor accepts this unique apology and the two families come together. And that’s about the time Dino throws out a “friendly challenge”….
- Underground Fighting: Dino bets Victor that his best fighter can defeat Victor’s best fighter. Dino’s fighter is a former Golden Gloves boxer nicknamed Fist (Sam J. Jones, Fists of Iron). In addition to representing the Diamond family in underground fights, Fist does some collection work for Diamond and is romantically involved with the singer at Dino’s club, Gina (Joey House). Gina grew up around the Diamond Family, and we eventually learn that she had an inappropriate relationship with Dino when she was only 15… more on that later. Fist ends up defeating Malucci’s fighter much to the delight of Dino and the disappointment of Gina, who hates that all of Fist’s jobs involve him getting punched in the face.
- It’s Collection Time: A good chunk of the action in Fist of Honor revolves around Fist collecting for Dino. Since seemingly none of the people who owe Dino the money are willing to pay, Fist finds himself getting into one fist fight after the other with everybody from a trailer park kickboxer to a football player dispatched by his behind on his payments coach to a welder at his place of employment.
- Back Stabbers: Two members of Victor Malucci’s family, Freddie Pop (Frank Sivero who played Genco in The Godfather Part II) and Eddie the Zipper, approach Dino Diamond with an interesting business proposal. It seems Freddie and Eddie aren’t thrilled with their boss and they offer to take him out in exchange they will control a third of the Los Angeles underworld and Dino can control the other two thirds. On the surface this a good deal since 2/3 > 1/2. Dino agrees to this underhanded deal, but what Freddie and Eddie don’t know is Dino Diamond wants all of Los Angeles to himself and they’ve just handed it to him on a silver platter. After Freddie and Eddie kill Victor Malucci, they are the victims of one of the many car bombs featured in the film.
- The Fall Guy: You can’t kill a high profile mobster like Victor Malucci and not expect the authorities to get involved. Detective Johnson (Bubba Smith, Drifting School), who is in Dino Diamond’s pocket, advises Dino to pick a fall guy for the murder so there will be no interruption to Dino’s various businesses. Dino, who obviously still has a thing for Gina, decides throwing Fist under the bus for the murder will keep the cops happy and allow him to claim Gina for himself. Dino sends his number one stooge, Tucchi (played by the totally unlikable Nicholas Worth of Action Jackson fame) to plant the gun that killed Victor Malucci in Fist’s apartment… unfortunately for Gina she comes home to catch Tucchi in the act and he ends up beating Gina to death with a pair of brass knuckles… somehow making his character even more despised. At this point I could not wait for Tucchi to get his comeuppance and he gets a bit of it when he informs Dino of what he had to do to Gina and ends up with a broken jaw… but Fist avenging Gina’s death is going to be difficult, because when Fist arrives home the place is swarming with cops and he is arrested for the murders of Victor, Freddie, Eddie and Gina!
- Get Yourself Connected: What Dino did not count on was the fact that Victor Malucci’s son Sammy wasn’t going to take the murder of his father lying down and he steps in and arranges for Fist to be bailed out. This can only spell trouble for Dino Diamond and that piece of human trash, Tucchi!
Mafia themed movies have been popular with movie lovers for decades, so it makes sense that PM Entertainment would test those waters.
But the problem with Fist of Honor was, with the exception of the casting of Abe Vigoda, there wasn’t enough of the elements needed to make it work as an entertaining mafia film. And Fist of Honor didn’t have enough of the elements that made PM Entertainment films so much fun, resulting in a final product that felt less than and in this case less was not more.
Speaking of more, I have some Bonus Bullet Points to wrap things up…
- Familiar Face: After a hard day of collecting, Fist is assaulted by three thugs on the street. One of the thugs was played by none other than Vince Murdocco of L.A. Wars and To Be the Best fame.
- AKA: Fist of Honor was released in Japan as Raging Fist.
- Hollywood Chic: The football coach that owes Dino Diamond money, was the coach of the Hollywood Sheiks. I can’t imagine the Hollywood Sheiks in the movie were meant to be the actual Hollywood Sheiks, aka Hollywood High School’s football team, especially since two mafia hitmen open fire on the coach and the team during a practice. Some of the notable graduates of Hollywood High School include Laurence Fishburne (John Wick: Chapter 2) and Robert Carradine (Number One with a Bullet).
- Meta Moment: Abe Vigoda’s Victor Malucci is having dinner with Freddie and Eddie prior to his death. Eddie mentions he needs to use the bathroom. Victor jokes that Eddie is going to return to the table with a gun and shoot him… describing possibly the most famous scene from The Godfather, which Abe Vigoda’s Tessio played an important part in.
