Wow... what can I say? I wasn't much a fan of Don Johnson and didn't really care for the TV series "Miami Vice" (give me "Magnum P.I" any day). However John Frankenheimer seemed to be on somewhat of a run through the 80s with "The Challenge", "52- Pick-up", "Holcroft Covenant"... ah scrap that one. I guess he wasn't on much a run, but "Dead-Bang" surprised me just how much fun this durable, if offbeat pulp was. Predictable, but bold and ultra-fun law enforcement thriller. This was mainly due to Johnson's hard-nosed performance. Looking bemused and rather scruffy with a very witty script to work with as there were some hilarious lines of banter. The highlight would have to be Johnson's vomit sequence on a suspect after an exhausting chase and the unorthodox methods in getting the job done. Jerry Beck is one burnt out L.A detective whose personal life is on the skids, so he lives for his job. Looking on a case involving the murder of a convenient store owner and cop, leads to something much bigger when he finds himself tailing a gang of murderous white supremacists to Colorado. In all; it's dumb, crude, snappy and loud while containing white supremacists using automatic weapons but like a good Frankenheimer feature the violently hard-hitting action was well-staged, well-framed with its camera angles and it moved at a fast clip. The story is taken from Beck's true-life exploits of his novel, where we are taken for one hell of a ride as Frankenheimer really pushes it to the brink. When it came to showing off the film's firepower, it's an outrageous assault and ballsy in its execution. William Forsythe can be just as amusing playing uptight, than say crazy (watch "Out for Justice" for that) as the FBI agent who gets on the wrong side of Beck. Penelope Ann Miller also seems to walk onto set; sweet talks Johnson and beds him to suddenly disappear. Was I missing something there? Quite an unnecessary sub-plot involving her character. Also making appearances are Bob Balaban, Tate Donovan, Mickey Jones, Brad Sullivan (the exchanges between him and Johnson were a treat "You don't need a gun chief. Just tell them who you are."), Tim Reid, William Taylor and Michael Jeter finding himself at the end of a Woody Allen joke. "F**k you Sheriff! And your french fries"

I never really got into "Miami Vice" nor do I really want to. However, this Don Johnson cop movie was rather good. Nothing special, for the most part your standard run of the mill cop movie, the only difference is that the cop in question is a really burned out cop. I know you are thinking "so are most cops in films such as these", but no he is really burnt out to the point of puking on a guy after chasing him down. He also has some wicked shouting matches with his ex-wife who from the sounds of it is a mega word that rhymes with witch. Still, it moves at a good pace, just a movie though that really kind of ticks you off. I mean the wife ticked me off though I never saw her, and that one agent did as well. Still, it was a good cop movie seeing him track down the person, or persons responsible. Don Johnson does a fairly good job in this one, he is not the smooth cop he was in "Miami Vice" which I rather like. He is more human here and seems like a guy going through a very rough patch in his life. Despite all of his character flaws his main goal throughout the movie is getting his man. Not great by any means, but like I said I found it rather enjoyable.

From World War 2 through the fall of the Soviet Union, communism has been a genuine threat, but two things made the threat seem like an absolute joke; 1)Bad "Red Scare" movies of the 1950's, and 2)One exploitive Senator named Joseph McCarthy. Since the 1960's, people have used these incidents to dismiss the threat and everything connected to America's effort to fighting it. DEAD-BANG is a reminder of the first of these problems, only this Don Johnson movie attacks the far-right instead of the far-left.Don Johnson plays Jerry Beck, a Los Angeles cop investigating a murder of both a black convenience store owner, and a cop who tried to stop the people who killed him. Soon enough, he finds that the people who killed them are much worse than a bunch of two-bit losers who dress in Nazi uniforms and paraphernalia in order to feel good about themselves. But what does Beck find when he investigates a murder with racial overtones? An uncooperative police department that thinks he's losing his marbles, an uptight Born-Again Christian FBI man(William Forsythe), a police psychiatrist(Michael Jeter) who he gets into a fight with over the fact that he looked like Woody Allen, a rural Oklahoma sheriff's(William Traylor) depot that hasn't changed since 1965, a local church that's a disguised version of the World Church of the Creator, with ties to a military compound that's obviously a disguised version of the Aryan Nations.The fact that this movie slams white supremacy, yet almost all the black cops get killed fighting the right-wing militia, doesn't really say much for it. Another thing that bothers me is that Johnson's character frequently refers to the car driven by the neo-Nazis as a "maroon Ford station wagon." Perhaps if he tried looking for a maroon PONTIAC station wagon, which was the actual make of the car, he might improve his chance of finding the culprits. I can't recommend it entirely, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have something going for it.

John Frankenheimer really outdid himself when he directed this film. What an accomplishment from the director of Birdman Of Alcatraz, The Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days In May, The Train and Black Sunday. Imagine a scene showing the films hero throwing up all over someone! What innovative filmaking. Seriously this is a typical cop thriller. Without the foul words it could have been an episode of Miami Vice. Don Johnson plays an alcoholic, down on his luck, loose cannon on the deck cop chasing white supremists through the Southwest. Johnson is an intense hero even if he isn't likeable in some ways. Theres a wonderful scene where he throws a fit after talking to his ex-wife. Theres a good foot chase involving several car accidents as well. My favorite part though is the one where he threatens the police shrink he compares to Woody Allen. I can understand why they never made Dead Bang 2 but this film is still worth your time if you like cop thrillers.