Bullet Points: Street Law (1995)

In the mid-1990’s, Jeff Wincott would find himself returning to his Canadian roots and starring in a series of films produced in his native country under the direction of Damian Lee.

The first Wincott/Lee collaboration is the subject of this edition of Bullet Points, 1995’s Street Law…

• Cash Flow Problems: Jeff Wincott plays John Ryan, a motorcycle riding, kickboxing lawyer with a heart of gold and an equal amount of book smarts and street smarts. John finds himself in a bit of a financial bind after doing too much pro bono work. Fortunately for John he has a friend who loaned him $78,000… unfortunately for John that friend is a loan shark. Even more unfortunate is when John’s debt is bought by local drug kingpin Luis Calderone (Paco Christian Prieto, Only the Strong).

• Little Rascals: John and Luis are no strangers to one another… in fact they grew up together on the streets. One day, the juvenile delinquents robbed a store… the cops gave chase, John was able to outrun them, but Luis was not as lucky. Luis’ would get two years in juvenile hall (or juvie for those in the know) and that would turn into another 14 years in the big house for Luis. Meanwhile, John would start taking the straight and narrow path… enlisting in the Marines and then eventually going to law school. Luis’ motivation for getting back into John’s life felt twofold. On one hand, there was some definite bitterness on Luis’ part, but here he is on top of the underworld while his old friend is struggling. On the other hand, I got the feeling that Luis was hoping for a chance to get into some trouble with his old buddy John again. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.

• Forced to Fight: Luis goes full on puppet master as he orchestrates John’s descent from the light into the criminal underworld. First step is getting John fired from his job… which leads to John being evicted from his apartment… which leads to all of his assets being frozen and then bing, bang, boom… John finds himself kickboxing at the behest of his old buddy Luis in order to pay off his $78,000 debt. And from there John only finds himself getting deeper and deeper into Luis’ world… and into Luis’ girlfriend Kelly (Christina Cox, The Donor) for that matter. As Luis continues to try to push John into the drug business, a place John doesn’t want to go… John responds by pushing back just as hard. This battle of wills sets up for a violent confrontation between the former best friends… a confrontation that will alter both of their lives forever.

The Jeff Wincott/Damian Lee era of Wincott’s career felt like a step down from the work Wincott had been doing with companies like PM Entertainment and Image Organization in the United States.

The Canadian produced films all boasted strong performances from Jeff Wincott, but none of them had the big action pieces of their American predecessors… which to me made them feel less than.

Here at Bulletproof Action we try to be more than, so with that said here are some Bonus Bullet Points…

• AKA: Street Law is also known as Law of the Jungle. In Germany, it was released as Jungle Law.
• Disturbing Quote: “My piece is a little dirty. Why don’t you suck it clean?”
• Rated R for Nudity: Street Law has a fair amount of nudity, including the topless ring card girls that are a part of the Luis promoted kickboxing fights.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see Jeff Wincott running around the Canadian wilderness playing “Indian War Games” and wearing nothing but a loin cloth, then Street Law is the movie for you.
• Unsafe Sex Quote: “Rubbers are for tires, not dicks.”
• The Name Game: This should not be confused with the 1974 Franco Nero vigilante flick, Street Law.
• Familiar Face: Hayden Christensen plays the Young John Ryan during the flashback sequence.