Bullet Points: Blood Street (1988)
Whenever possible, I make it a point to review a Richard Norton movie on his birthday. And I definitely couldn’t skip on the tradition this year as Richard celebrates his milestone 75th birthday!
The Richard Norton movie I have selected for this year, is 1988’s Blood Street, one for the villainous side of Norton’s filmography…
- Where’s Aldo?: Joe Wong (Leo Fong, Low Blow) is a former cop turned private detective. But Joe Wong is not just any detective, at one point he is described as a combination of Columbo, Phillip Marlowe, Bruce Lee, and a Catholic priest?!?! Joe is hired by the voluptuous Vanna MacDonald (played by Playboy’s Playmate of the Month for May of 1987 – Kim Paige) to help find her missing husband, Aldo MacDonald. While Vanna does give Joe the heads up that her husband had some questionable business partners, Joe has no idea when he accepts the job that Aldo has strong armed his way into the San Francisco narcotics game, disrupting the business of Australia’s own, Malcolm Boyd (Richard Norton, Black Thunder)… yep, Joe Wong is now in the middle of a drug war… if only it were Malcolm who was in the middle!
- Hitting the Streets: Joe begins his investigation at a penthouse crime scene… a couple of party crashers decided to disrupt the good times of Aldo MacDonald and some of his associates. Aldo managed to get out unscathed, but his friends weren’t as lucky. The cops can’t help but wonder what Joe is doing at their crime scene… but the detective in charge is nice enough to allow Joe to relieve himself. And it’s after Joe takes a piss that he finds a clue in the bathroom… a clue that leads him to a bar. Joe goes to the bar, looking for am associate of Aldo’s named Solomon. Joe not only finds Solomon (Stack Pierce, Good Guys Wear Black), he also finds Solomon’s son, Bones (Chuck Jeffreys, Bloodmoon), and he also finds trouble in the form of the obligatory action movie bar fight!
- Party All the Time: Joe’s next move is to attend a big party being thrown by Malcolm Boyd, complete with cage fights! Joe poses as Mr. Chan from Taipei, with Vanna posing as Mr. Chan’s assistant, Vanessa Smith… how they got an invite to this party is anyone’s guess. At the party Joe does some snooping and finds out about a big shipment that Malcolm is expecting! But Joe isn’t the only one who knows about this… Bones swoops in and gets the shipment before Malcolm can and this drug war just escalated! I wish Bones would have done the Eddie Murphy laugh as he was driving away. Joe tails Bones and he finally comes face to face with Aldo. But then something unexpected happens…
- Backstory: We get a flashback to four years earlier in El Paso, Texas. Joe Wong is still a cop at this point, but he’s about to throw that out the window, when he tracks down down the man who killed his daughter, Roscoe Williams! Joe finds Williams in Juarez, Mexico (definitely out of his jurisdiction). This whole flashback sequence felt like runtime padding, but it included a scene where Joe knocks out EVERYBODY at a bar, so it was actually pretty essential in my opinion! Now back to our regularly scheduled movie…
- The Big Finale: The third act of the movie features the attempted assassination of Aldo MacDonald at a nightclub, Malcolm Boyd’s hot tub fun being interrupted, Joe Wong getting arrested thanks to a dirty cop, Vanna revealing her true colors, Joe getting bailed out by a nerd, the debut of an ex-Green Beret who backs up Joe as he looks to take down ALL the bad guys… and last but not least, the best death in the movie… all I will say is it takes place in an elevator!
To some, the movies of Leo Fong are among the worst of the worst… to others, Fong can do no wrong! You can put me in the latter category as I thoroughly enjoyed my Blood Street experience, flaws and all! There’s bad audio, plot holes, and an unlikely leading man… but to paraphrase the great Rick Hunter, it worked for me!
Allow me to extend this Blood Street review experience with some Bonus Bullet Points…
- Interesting Choice: In another example of padding the runtime, Blood Street features Predator style end credits, but in addition to the name of the actor, their respective hometowns are also listed.
- Familiar Face: I recognized George Chung, from the absolutely amazing Hawkeye, as Malcolm Boyd’s sparring partner and later Malcolm Boyd’s hitman. Chung was also one of the directors of the film.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Leo Fong throw a dart right between a guy’s eyes, then Blood Street is the movie for you.
- Bastard Count: There were a total of two “bastards” in Blood Street.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Richard Norton wear a pair of bold striped pants, then Blood Street is the movie for you.
- AKA: Blood Street is also known as Bloodstreet: Eyes of the Dragon 2.
- Out of Context Quote: “You’re not getting this dick cheap.” – Joe Wong
