Bullet Points: Back in Business (1997)
I am by no means a Brian Bosworth expert, but I thought I was well versed with Boz’s action movie career. But thinking was apparently my first mistake because up until a few days ago I had less than no idea that Brian Bosworth starred in a Lethal Weapon inspired action comedy with Joe Torry called Back in Business…
- Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs: Brian Bosworth plays Joe Elkhart, former cop/current grease monkey who spends his days working on cars and listening to radio psychotherapist Dr. Brody. But Joe isn’t just a listener, he’s a frequent caller and credits Dr. Brody with helping him with his anger issues. After Joe manages to channel his hostility where a pompous customer is concerned, Joe excitedly calls Dr. Brody using his usual pseudonym Mr. Blue Wrench and Dr. Brody advises him that after this breakthrough, Joe is ready to make things right with his former partner Tony and his ex-wife, so Joe takes some time off work and follow the good doctor’s orders.
- Undercover: When Joe meets up with Tony (Joe Torry) he can’t help but notice that Tony has a much more lavish lifestyle than he ever had before… a convertible, a swanky bachelor pad, a freaking yacht.. The new lifstyle is easily explained as Tony is working undercover trying to bust heroin dealer/classic car enthusiast David Ashby (Alan Scarfe, Double Impact). But Ashby isn’t the only bad guy Joe and Tony have to deal with, there are also a couple of dirty cops involved Emery Ryker (Brion James, Showdown) and Hank Berdsall. How dirty are they? Ryker and Berdsall are in cahoots with Ashby and they blow up Tony’s yacht, presumably killing off one half of the buddy cop duo halfway through the movie… we also learn that the reason that Joe Elkhart lost his badge is because he tried to bring Ryker down for some other dirty shit he had been up to… but unfortunately for Joe nobody else in the department was willing to risk their job to back him up on his Ryker accusations (including Tony, hence the rift between the two). Needless to say when Ryker sees Joe back in the picture, he has a thing or two to say about it.
- Auction Packed: Spoiler Alert… Tony didn’t die on his yacht as he apparently jumped in the nick of time. Now all roads lead to a classic car auction where David Ashby is looking to purchase the very first Shelby Cobra. An expensive car on its own (it sold at a 2016 auction for $13.75 million) made even more valuable since it is filled with heroin. I am not sure exactly who filled the Cobra with heroin and I just watched this movie last night, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter. Ashby wants the car and Tony, in a sheik disguise, is among those driving the price up, but ultimately Ashby does win the car so I am not really sure what was accomplished here… yeah, Ashby may have had to pay more, but he’s a powerful drug lord… money is really no object to them.
- Pack Your Bags: Now Ashby is set to load up the heroin filled Cobra on a plane and get the hell out of the country… but Ryker proves to be even dirtier than expected and double crosses Ashby! Ryker wasn’t counting on Joe and Tony to show up to disrupt his nefarious plans however. Ryker attempts to escape via Cobra, which leads to a high speed chase and lets just say it is the last high speed chase that ol’ Emery Ryker will ever be involved in… and the second ever Cobra also goes up in value as a result.
There is a good reason that despite the fact that Back in Business was released 25 years ago that I never heard of the movie. There is a good reason that despite interacting with fellow action fanatics on a pretty regular basis for almost 8 years now that none of them have ever recommended that I watch Back in Business… and that’s because Back in Business just isn’t that good of a movie.
Back in Business had a lot going for it… the buddy cop thing is a proven formula, Brion James is a more than capable villain, they gave Joe Elkhart a hot love interest, fellow mechanic Natalie Walker (Dara Tomanovich, Perfect Target)… but most importantly it starred The Boz! Joe Elkhart was unlike any character The Boz had played before. I found Joe’s goofy charm to be the most entertaining part of the movie. I also found The Boz to be funnier than Joe Torry, the guy with the comedic background although the writing is likely to blame there. The writing is also likely to blame for not enough of the elements clicking and the overall lackluster feel of the movie.
There’s nothing lackluster about these Bonus Bullet Points…
- If You Ever: …wanted to see The Boz play basketball in his drawers, then Back in Business is the movie for you.
- Familiar Faces: Ron Glass, of Barney Miller fame, played FBI Agent Allen Smith. Smith was working with Tony and even ends up offering Joe a job with the FBI at the end of the movie… Michael Clarke Duncan, of Armageddon and The Scorpion King fame, was credited as Huge Guard because he played one of Ashby’s huge guards… and last but not least Guy Torry, the younger brother of Joe Torry, who played Little Train, an informant of Tony’s that gets offed early on in the movie.
- Famous Faces: You can add Back in Business to the list of movies where the bad guys wear masks depicting United States Presidents.
- Favorite Quote: “We’re back in business!” – Joe Elkhart
