Bullet Points: Three Kinds of Heat
For years I was operating under the assumption that Robert Ginty’s Cannon career began and ended with 1984’s Exterminator 2. Then while reading my copy of Austin Trunick’s The Cannon Film Guide Volume II, I learned of another Ginty/Cannon film… 1987’s Three Kinds of Heat.
- JFK: Robert Ginty plays Elliot Cromwell, an employee of the United States Department of State (or State Department for those in the know. We first meet Elliot as he is waiting to go through customs at JFK International Airport. It is there that Cromwell finds himself caught in the crossfire as some gangsters are looking to take out another gangster, Harry Prim. Prim escapes and Cromwell then finds himself in the middle of two police women… one from Hong Kong, Major Shan (Shakti Chen, The Golden Child) and Terry O’Shea (Victoria Barrett, America 3000) from the airport police.
- Hold Up: Cromwell doesn’t just work for the State Department, he is also working with Interpol. Cromwell’s Interpol superiors task him with an urgent mission… find Harry Prim. Prim is the key to finding out the identity of the leader of the Black Lion crime organization. Cromwell then asks for some more agents to help… a reasonable request considering an international crime organization would be taken down… but Interpol inexplicably says there’s no time for that. So Cromwell gets a sly smile across his face and decides to recruit his own help… Major Shan and Terry O’Shea. I can tell you the kind of heat that Elliot Cromwell was in.
- Three’s Company: After reeling Shan in after she goes into business for herself in Harlem, our three crime fighters get on the same page with Cromwell serving as the commanding officer on what has been dubbed Operation Fireworks (which would explain the firework themed opening credits). Prim is still MIA but his associate Angelica has been spotted, so the plan becomes get to Angelica, to get to Prim, to get to the leader of the Black Lion. They catch up with Angelica at the airport where they find out she has booked a flight to London… so Cromwell gets himself, Shan and O’Shea on the same flight.
- Heathrow: When the trio land in London, Cromwell is approached by fellow Interpol Agent Norris who takes Cromwell to see their superiors. Shan and O’Shea keep tabs on Angelica, while Cromwell has a meeting with Interpol brass. I will remind you that Interpol did not provide Cromwell with any support when he requested it, are not happy that he chose two women to assist him on the case and the decision has been made to replace Cromwell with Norris. It probably would have made more sense to replace Shan and O’Shea with Norris, since they didn’t actually work for Interpol or just assign Norris to the case when Cromwell asked for help in the first place… but I have probably already put more thought into this than writer/director Leslie Stevens ever did, so I am going to stop now.
- Resignation: After being taken off the case, Cromwell resigns right then and there… but that’s not going to stop him from supervising Shan and O’Shea from afar as they watch Angelica go evening gown shopping all day. It felt like I was watching Cromwell watching Shan and O’Shea watching Angelica shop forever. Cromwell eventually reunites with Shan and O’Shea when all three crash a fashion show… this is also the time we learn that Norris is dirty and is on Black Lion payroll. That twist did not counteract my waning interest in this movie and I was contemplating turning in my resignation… Norris is eventually exposed as an Interpol mole, which gets Cromwell reinstated. Then the trio of Cromwell, O’Shea and Major Shan head back to New York where they finally catch up with Prim and Operation Fireworks conveniently wraps up at fireworks factory.
After watching Three Kinds of Heat, I know why I had never heard of Three Kinds of Heat until last year. It is a Cannon movie without any of the Cannon magic. I don’t think an army of breakdancing ninjas could have made this one interesting.
If you haven’t seen this one, you’ll probably want to keep it that way. If you have seen it, you probably forgot about it until you read this review. So my apologies for bringing up a bad memory and please accept these Bonus Bullet Points as a peace offering…
- Favorite Quote: “I’m asking you mama fucker!” – Major Shan
- Familiar Face: Samantha Fox of “I Wanna Have Some Fun” and “Naughty Girls Need Love Too” fame plays Charleen in Three Kinds of Heat and some how I completely missed her.
- 1 Things I Didn’t Know: From reading the aforementioned The Cannon Film Guide Volume II, I learned that Three Kinds of Heat served as a guinea pig of sorts. Cannon had purchased Thorn EMI in the spring of 1986. Among the assets that they acquired in the purchase was the famed Elstree Studios and before they shot their fist big budget movie there, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, they decided to do a test run of sorts with the much more modestly budgeted Three Kinds of Heat… if only I remembered Austin’s less than flattering review of the movie.
