Bullet Points: American Rampage
Apparently I was out of the loop where 1989’s American Rampage was concerned. Until it popped up on YouTube a few weeks back, I had no idea the movie even existed. I certainly didn’t know it received a Blu-ray release back in 2019 (yet, Iron Eagle still isn’t on Blu).
American Rampage may be old hat to some, but it was new to me and it also the subject of this edition of Bullet Points…
- Isn’t That Convenient?: American Rampage opens up with two thugs robbing a convenience store. One guy watches the door, while the other (referred to as Jack) holds a gun on the cashier and demands he fill a paper bag with the money from the cash register. And that’s about the time two plain clothes cops pull up and all hell is about to break loose. The cops are Samantha “Sam” Rork and Ryan Hayes. Guns are quickly drawn and New York Seltzer bottles are caught in the crossfire! Jack’s accomplice is blown away by Sam, while Jack takes off out the back door and to his waiting getaway car. It doesn’t take long for a black and white to spot Jack and the chase is on. When the cops hit the noise and cherries, Jack pulls out a red siren of his own and pops it on the roof of his ride, which was the first unexpected thing to happen in this chase. The second was that Jack actually gets away. Wonder if we will see him later?!?
- Partners: We learn that Sam was a vice cop in San Francisco, but she moved to L,A. to investigate former “company man” turned drug lord, Matt Palmer. For Sam this isn’t just professional, it’s personal. During his CIA days, Palmer had dealings with Sam’s Marine father and apparently he was a shady bastard even back then. Ryan, who reminded me of a 1980’s version of L.A. Knight (YEAH!), is the classic maverick cop we’ve grown to love in action movies over the years. Ryan has a bunch of connections on the streets of Los Angeles, which makes him a valuable resource and partner for Sam, who is relatively new in town. When Sam and Ryan are doing their thing people usually end up dead (as was evident with the opening scene) and as a result their poor Captain has an ulcer. The Captain has some relief when the feds step in and take over the Palmer case and Sam and Ryan are benched for a few days.
- Lovers: Working so closely together, Sam and Ryan are becoming more than co-workers… we get to see them get their freak on after Sam is “forced” to shack up with Ryan while her place is being remodeled. Using their time off to his advantage, Ryan even takes Sam with him to a barbecue that Ryan’s brother Jack (not to be confused with Jack the convenient store robber from earlier in the movie) and Ryan’s sister-in-law Janey are hosting. Jack and Janey are so happy to see Ryan with a special lady in his life. Later that evening, Ryan and Jack hit up one of Ryan’s favorite strip clubs (old habits die hard) and Ryan is killed while taking a piss.
- Welcome to Los Angeles: A woman named Elizabeth MacIntosh (Linnea Quigley, Savage Streets) arrives in Los Angeles from Paris. She checks into her shitty hotel, makes a phone call and the strips down for a shower… this isn’t the first instance of nudity in the movie either. I did not mention the Matt Palmer estate and all the topless beauties that were tanning themselves poolside, while Palmer was holding a meeting with his heroin distribution network earlier in the film… anyway, while Elizabeth was showering a masked man entered her hotel room, hid in the closet and then shot the hell out of her after she was done applying some post shower lotion. I wondered if this had anything to do with the rest of the movie or if it was just an excuse to work in some more nudity.
- Another One Bites the Dust: Ryan may be dead, but Sam needs to get back to work and this time she is paired up with Bart North. While they may not be on the big Palmer case anymore, there’s still plenty of crime to go around in Los Angeles. Sam and Bart check out some low level dealers and it is there that Bart is shot and killed. Sam manages to kill both guys, because that’s what Sam does… but losing two partners back-to-back has to be some sort of record.
- And Johnny Makes Three: Sam is then partnered with a homicide detective named Johnny, who has been assigned the Elizabeth MacIntosh case. A homicide cop and a vice cop working together?! That’s what the Captain wants… and while the two get off to a bit of a rough start, it’s not long before they are slamming down beers together and Sam is giving Johnny some Palmer backstory.
- Jacked Up: Remember Ryan’s brother, Jack Hayes? Sam may not, but I did. Jack has decided that he’s going to track down his brother’s murderer (who was also Elizbeth MacIntosh’s murderer). So Jack begins to tail the murderer, who happens to be the other Jack from the convenience store robbery at the beginning of the movie. Jack follows Jack to the mall, where he makes an exchange. Then Jack follows Jack to a junkyard for another deal. And that’s where bad Jack and good Jack get into a fight, that ends with bad Jack shooting good Jack dead. But bad Jack’s not done yet…
- Wrap It Up: We then see Johnny returning home after a hard day’s work, Johnny grabs a beer out of his fridge, cracks it open and heads for his bathroom so he can shower…. and much like he did earlier with Elizabeth, bad Jack uses the shower time to get the drop on his prey. But Jack doesn’t kill Johnny, he kidnaps him and take him to a ranch owned by Matt Palmer… Palmer is going to use Johnny to lure Sam in… so it makes total sense when Palmer, Jack and all the other baddies at the ranch are completely taken by surprise by Sam. Sam kills ’em all, rescues Johnny and the movie ends.
If this review didn’t make any sense, I’d like to apologize. Although I doubt anyone who has ever seen American Rampage ever received an apology from Director David DeCoteau or any of the producers of the movie. The story in American Rampage wasn’t breaking any new ground, but there should have been enough meat on the bone to make a full movie. Some how and some way, there wasn’t so there were scenes like Elizabeth MacIntosh arriving from Paris and Jack versus Jack that seemed to exist merely to pad the runtime (Me talking about those scenes definitely padded the word count of this post). There was some entertaining stuff through out the film, but the storytelling lacked focus so it ended up being what I would call a potluck movie.
If you are a fan of bad movies that are still watchable, then American Rampage is the movie for you.
If you are a fans of Bonus Bullet Points, keep scrolling…
- Familiar Faces: Robert Axelrod (Death Wish 4: The Crackdown and Murphy’s Law) plays the coroner at the scene of Elizabeth’s murder… Troy Donahue (Hollywood Cop and Deadly Prey) plays the police psychiatrist who is helping Sam work through her grief. At this time I’d like to remind everyone that Troy Donahue was in one of the greatest films ever made, The Godfather Part II.
- Bastard Count: There were a total of three “bastards”, two of which were Sam talking about Palmer.
- Not the Chopping Mall: I knew the mall in American Rampage was not the famous Sherman Oaks Galleria that had been used in numerous films, including two of my favorites, Commando and Chopping Mall. So what mall was it?!? It appears it was the Galleria at South Bay (aka South Bay Galleria).
