Bullet Points: Firecracker

Jillian Kesner as Susanne Carter is a real firecracker in the 1981 movie Firecracker. Is it ok today to call a woman (or any person) a firecracker? I don’t know but it is a descriptive term and it fits. Firecracker is also from New World Pictures and was made in the Philippines so anything goes. What I do know is that it takes the revenge for a dead sibling genre and peppers in some scenes you generally don’t see. Will Firecracker be something that you want to see? Keep your pants on, I am getting there.

• Dirty White Boy – Firecracker opens right away to some fighting in an extremely dirty ring somewhere in the Philippines. We meet Chuck Donner (Darby Hinton, whom I recognized from a small role in Black Oak Conspiracy) as he is dispatching three overmatched opponents. I say it is a dirty ring not only because it is a no holds barred fight to the death, but also the ring is covered in a layer of dirt which sticks to everyone when getting knocked down. We also see a woman getting kidnapped from the audience. Who could she be?

• Bra Brawl – Susanne Carter (Jillian Kesner, Raw Force) comes to the Philippines to look for her sister Bonny that has gone missing. If you put together that the woman kidnapped from the fight is Bonny then give yourself a pat on the back. Did I mention that Susanne is a black belt? Susanne is immediately tailed when she arrives and this leads to her first of many fights in Firecracker and also her first fight wearing just her underwear which seems to have provided excellent range of motion.
• Bar Brawl – Susanne starts her search for her sister at the bar where Bonny was renting a room at and is introduced to the bartender Pete (Pete Cooper, The One Armed Executioner) and his friend Rey (Rey Malonzo, The Hunt for Eagle One) who agree to help Susanne and also are both good in a fight. We quickly learn that because the three of them are in a bar and it is an action movie. Pete is a larger brawler and Rey has the martial arts skills but Susanne kicks the most ass.

• We Don’t Talk About Bruno – Pete tells Susanne the skinny on Chuck, and how is into drugs, prostitution, gambling, or basically all the fun vices. Susanne goes undercover at The Arena, a club where Chuck works for Erik (Ken Metcalfe, TNT Jackson) the head of the criminal organization. The club is the front for the crimes but still has no holds barred fighting for the patrons to enjoy. Where are these legitimate clubs where you can watch fights while enjoying a few cocktails? They never seem to be in the towns I live in. Susanne has an audition to join the fight game, all she has to do is last 5 minutes with Bruno. How does it turn out? We don’t talk about Bruno.
• Attack City – The police are also after the crime syndicate and they don’t want Susanne to get in the way which leads to another fight. This time she was fully clothed but wearing a shirt that looked better on Thomas Magnum. She then gets attacked by Grip, the overripe kumquat that runs the drugs for Erik, because he got robbed and thinks Susanne was involved. She was again clothed but the fight involves a Philippine cobra as a way to get Susanne to talk. And yes, it is snake and nothing sexual, but she still kicks the snake’s ass along with everyone else in the room.

• The Fight You Have Been Waiting For – Susanne is attacked once again on the way home one evening by some men on the street and slowly loses her clothing throughout the fight thanks to a fence and a sickle until she only has her bottoms on for protection. It also the bloodiest fight in Firecracker with an pretty vicious impaling getting overshadowed by a chop saw murder that leaves blood mixing with the sawdust.
• The Man in the Mirror – Susanne gets close to Chuck to find out about her sister and Chuck falls hard for Susanne. When Susanne finds out that Bonny is dead, she runs to Chuck’s house for the most erotic clothing being cut off by knives love making scene in a marital arts movie. Both partners take turns with the knives and the mirrors on the ceiling make sure every angle is visible. Of course this was before Susanne learned that Chuck was involved in Bonny’s death, but she looked to be having a good time.

Firecracker has a common revenge plot, which is probably why it is less than 80 minutes as it just gets right to the point. Having a female hero getting revenge for her sister is a nice touch and there is a ton of fighting and I appreciate Arnis being singled out. I won’t say that the fights are all good but there are some unique ones (even if they have been done before… see Bonus Bullet Points for more). Did Susanne ever get her revenge and does Firecracker have a happy ending? That is for you to find out but I will let you know that Firecracker has an eye popping ending and the Firecracker Bullet Points has a Firecracker Bonus Bullet Points ending and that makes me happy.

• Bonus Points – Firecracker gets bonus points for having firecrackers going off when the Firecracker title is on screen.
• Lion’s Mane – Chuck Donner gets bonus points for having a themed wardrobe with a lion on several of his outfits including his gi, denim and leather shirt and tracksuit.
• A Youthful Porpoise – Bonus points for Grip for continually trying to say purpose but saying porpoise.
• Copycats – Cirio Santiago directed and Ken Metcalfe wrote Firecracker, however they lose bonus points because they did the same for TNT Jackson which sees a female lead trying to get revenge for a dead sibling while also having a topless fight scene.
• Bonus Quote – “A true fighter fights to kill, otherwise it is only a game.”