10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Bad Pack
At the start of 2022, I didn’t even know 1997’s The Bad Pack was a thing until my Bulletproof Action colleague, Chad Cruise, reviewed The Bad Pack after discovering it on Tubi. How did I miss a movie starring Robert Davi (Wild Thing), Roddy Piper (They Live), Ralf Moeller (Best of the Best II), Larry B. Scott (Iron Eagle) and Marshall R. Teague (Fists of Iron)?!?
After doing some research on The Bad Pack following Chad’s review, I saw that Massacre Video was releasing this hidden gem on Blu-ray with a 4K restoration from the original print. Not only that, but the Blu-ray was also going to include a commentary track with Director Brent Huff (who I knew as an actor from movies like 9 Deaths of the Ninja and Strike Commando 2, but had no idea he ever directed anything), Writer Douglas L. Walton and Producers Terence M. O’Keefe amongst the special features.
As much as I love Tubi, I was going to save watching The Bad Pack until my Blu-ray arrived and I have to say it was worth the additional wait. I enjoyed The Bad Pack so much, that I recently rewatched the movie again, but this time with the aforementioned commentary track on so I could learn even more about a movie that earlier this year I didn’t even know existed….
1. The opening scene featuring the militia training was not included in the original script and came about when the Executive Producer felt that there was not enough action in the movie. The militia members in that opening scene were not actors and instead were friends doing Director Brent Huff a solid. But the “militia men” weren’t the only non-actors in the movie… the men who play the local farmers and guys putting up the barbed wire fence were actually day laborers that were hired out of a Home Depot parking lot.
2. Clifton Collins Jr. auditioned for one of the roles intended for an older actor presumably one of the Chavez Brothers who travel from their small border town in Texas to Los Angeles to hire The Bad Pack to fight with the Sons of Texas militia that has terrorized their town for far too long. Collins did not get that role but impressed everyone so much at the audition that the casting agent got Clifton a small role as one of the townspeople in the movie.
3. The establishing shots in Los Angeles were “stolen shots” that Director Brent Huff and his DP Richard Jones managed to get guerilla style since they did not have all the necessary permits to be filming in downtown Los Angeles. Run and gun baby!
4. It was Robert Davi’s insistence that his character McQue wear a hat straight out of the Civil War. The script also originally called for McQue to run an auto body shop, but Davi wanted to change it to a motorcycle repair shop and they made it happen. Brent Huff mentioned that he had run into Davi shortly before the commentary track was recorded and Davi brought up the hat and the fact that he still had it to this day.
5. Roddy Piper, who played The Bad Pack’s wheel man Dash Simms, also had one request of the filmmakers… he asked that his character not cuss. Which might seem odd for a man most famous for being one of professional wrestling’s greatest bad guys, but totally on brand for Roddy Piper the family man. A quick side note… Huff, Walton and O’Keefe were highly complimentary of Roddy and what a wonderful human being he is. We all miss you Hot Rod!
6. Speaking of Piper and his character Dash Simms, the old Chevy truck that Dash drives to pick up the weapons (including nitro glycerin) that The Bad Pack is going to need to complete their mission was purchased off of Craigslist for $200. The day before they were set to shoot the truck scenes (inspired by the William Friedkin classic, Sorcerer) the engine went out, but it was DP Richard Jones to the rescue! Jones managed to rebuild the engine and get the truck operational again in time for the shoot… The production also saved money on the Mercedes that Larry B. Scott’s Jeremy Britt drives since it was Brent Huff’s car at the time.
7. The Sons of Texas headquarters, where Marshall R. Teague’s Lamont Sperry commanded his militia, was actually an old tuna factory located in Southern California. The building was so run down and dilapidated that it was torn down not too long after The Bad Pack was done filming.
8. Longtime friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sven-Ole Thorsen (The Running Man) played Sperry’s right hand man conveniently named Sven. One day there were rumors going around the set that Arnold was planning on visiting his buddy Sven and Brent Huff was prepared to beg Arnold to do a cameo in the movie and even wrote him a couple of lines. Arnold never did show up.
9. There was only one minor injury on the set of The Bad Pack, despite all the big action sequences and stunt work in the movie. The injury occurred when Vernon Wells, who had a small role in the film as a biker, fell off his motorcycle.
10. The guy that sniper Remi Sykes (played by Shawn Huff, the real life wife of Brent Huff) shoots from her rooftop perch and then has one of the worst movie deaths in history was played by Doug Walton, who co-wrote the movie with Brent Huff. Walton said he was very careful how he fell because he was wearing a brand new suit and didn’t want to ruin it. Walton and Brent Huff actually went to high school together back in Springfield, MO.
