Bullet Points: The Devastator
Everyone knows Arnold Schwarzenegger was The Terminator. Action fanatics know Robert Ginty was The Exterminator. But up until recently I had no idea that Rick Hill was The Devastator…
- Bad News: The Devastator begins with a sleeping Deacon “Deke” Porter (Rick Hill, Deathstalker) experiencing some Vietnam flashbacks or possibly remembering scenes from other movies directed by Cirio H. Santiago, I’m not really sure. But bad dreams are about to be the least of Deke’s problems… shortly after beginning his day Deke receives a phone call that his friend/commanding officer Marty has died in a car wreck, at least that’s what the authorities are saying. But Marty’s wife Elaine, who made the call to Deke, thinks differently… Deke drops his non-existent plans and immediately takes the drive from Los Angeles to Northern California to visit Elaine in her time of need.
- Welcome to King’s Ransom: Deke rolls into King’s Ransom, California and stops at the local gas station and encounters the proprietor, Audrey (Katt Shea, Barbarian Queen). At first Audrey mistakes Deke for another one of John Carey’s employees and treats him like shit… but when she finds out he is actually a friend of Elaine, she changes her tune and ends up making plans to see Deke socially later that evening before pointing him the the direction of The 49ers Bar & Grill owned and operated by Elaine. I should point out that John Carey (Crofton Hardester) and his illegal cannabis operation have run roughshod all over the sleepy town and he has the law in his back pocket… which explains how Carey can grow marijuana and his security force can kill trespassers and it all gets swept under the rug.
- Guy Walks Into a Bar: Deke shows up the The 49ers and has a chat with Elaine and also has a chance to meet Sherriff Marsh (Kaz Garas) who makes it clear that King’s Ransom doesn’t take too kindly to outsiders… later that night while Deke is waiting for Audrey to meet him at The 49ers he is talking to some of the other locals and some of Carey’s goons start roughing up the guy that Deke was talking to… Deke steps in and before we get the obligatory bar fight, Deke gets Sherriff Marsh involved and requests he take the goon in and that he’ll be down later to press charges and just like that Deke Porter is on the bad side of John Carey.
- That Escalated Quickly: The next day Deke and Audrey go out for a drive and it isn’t long before they are being followed by Carey and company, eventually forcing Deke to stop and that is where he has to deal with 3 on 1 odds… it may have been the end of Deke too if Carey didn’t give in to Audrey’s pleas for mercy… Undeterred, a less than 100% Deke visits Sherriff Marsh and demands to see the coroner’s report for Marty’s case. Marsh does not comply, Deke says he’ll be back with a court order, which prompts Marsh to let Carey know that Deke is snooping around and could be trouble… so Carey has his boys go over to the 49ers Bar & Grill after hours and burn the place down! Elaine is burned alive, Deke narrowly escapes and spots Carey’s guys driving off, so he hops in his car and chases them down… but Deke ends up being forced off the road and his car blows up!!
- Up In Smoke: Carey and his men assume that Deke is dead… but as luck would have it, Deke managed to survive and made his way back to Los Angeles where he regroups and reconnects with his Nam buddies Spencer, Bartlett and the madman known as Ox and they are prepared to bring the fight to Carey’s operation. And the movie, which was probably at an action level of 8 or 9 at this point, goes all the way up to action level 11 when Deke and his strike force arrive in King’s Ransom… they hit Carey’s cannabis convoy, they burn down his crops and they get to avenge the death of their commanding officer Marty… they even get some help from a guilt ridden Sherriff Marsh.
If you are looking for some classic 1980s mindless action entertainment, then 1986’s The Devastator is just what the doctor ordered. I thoroughly enjoyed my recent viewing experience and I would rank it highly among all the Cirio H. Santiago films I have seen over the years.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Rick Hill run out of Yuban coffee, then The Devastator is the movie for you.
- AKA: The Devastator is also known as The Destroyers.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see a guy jump into the passenger side of his best friend’s ride head first, while his ass was hanging out of his shorts, then The Devastator is the movie for you.
- Boobs Alert: When Deke returns to King’s Ransom, he pays Audrey a surprise visit and we get some moonlit boobs and a slow motion love scene between Deke and Audrey… which is probably what Carey was hoping he’d get when he showed up at Audrey’s door with some flowers following Deke’s “death” but was greeted by a shotgun holding Audrey instead.
