I saw the VHS edition of Stand Alone several times in video stores back in the 80's. Part of me was interested, and another, bigger part, thought, "Charles Durning? As an action hero???". I never took the bait.
Now it's years, decades, later. I had the opportunity to obtain the Blu-ray of Stand Alone. For under ten bucks I took the chance.
I saw Stand Alone with my old drive-in buddy. He and I watched many, many movies at the various outdoor theaters in our area, We almost always liked what we saw. There is no doubt we would have had a great time with Stand Alone.
Just as we did last night, watching it on Blu-ray.
Certainly, obviously, no classic, Stand Alone is a reasonably entertaining hour-and-a-half of Reagan-era exploitation fun. If you can get over portly Charles Durning as the hero of an action movie.
In a plot that would please Donald Trump, Durning plays a WW 2 veteran who witnesses a gangland execution slaughter by some violent drug-dealing undocumented aliens from below the border. Pressured to identify the murderers by detective James Keach (who surely must still be wincing over playing second fiddle to Durning in a low rent film of this nature; it must have been during his coke years), our ungainly hero worries that violent retribution will come to his daughter-in-law and his grandson. Pam Grier plays a family friend who doubles as a public defender. Grier pleads with Durning to "do the right thing" and flee with his family. Durning, who was once personally decorated by Douglas MacArthur, ignores all the advice he gets to stay out of it and takes on the ruthless gang.
It's all pretty routine stuff, and the action takes a loooong time to get started. Durning, despite his physical shortcomings, does all right with the material, even while it is funny to watch him huff and puff around town chasing and being chased by the gang. Still. I understand that budgetary restraints prevented anyone like Eastwood or Bronson or even Chuck Norris for the role, but they couldn't get Ed Lauter or Clu Gulager?
By the end of the movie Durning seems as comatose as if he devoured a case of fried pies instead of emerging victorious in a homeland battle. The final freeze frame closeup made us both roar with unbridled laughter. And Durning doesn't even really "stand alone". Grier shows up to help him take care of business.
Despite it all, we enjoyed Stand Alone. This kind of thing has been done much, much better in movies like Vigilante, Tenement, The Exterminator, and all the Death Wish movies, but watching it felt a bit like being at the Anchor Drive-In, or Cinema City Drive-In. All that was missing was a carload of beer, the great outdoors, and our youth.
Written by Mark Sieber
Now it's years, decades, later. I had the opportunity to obtain the Blu-ray of Stand Alone. For under ten bucks I took the chance.
I saw Stand Alone with my old drive-in buddy. He and I watched many, many movies at the various outdoor theaters in our area, We almost always liked what we saw. There is no doubt we would have had a great time with Stand Alone.
Just as we did last night, watching it on Blu-ray.
Certainly, obviously, no classic, Stand Alone is a reasonably entertaining hour-and-a-half of Reagan-era exploitation fun. If you can get over portly Charles Durning as the hero of an action movie.
In a plot that would please Donald Trump, Durning plays a WW 2 veteran who witnesses a gangland execution slaughter by some violent drug-dealing undocumented aliens from below the border. Pressured to identify the murderers by detective James Keach (who surely must still be wincing over playing second fiddle to Durning in a low rent film of this nature; it must have been during his coke years), our ungainly hero worries that violent retribution will come to his daughter-in-law and his grandson. Pam Grier plays a family friend who doubles as a public defender. Grier pleads with Durning to "do the right thing" and flee with his family. Durning, who was once personally decorated by Douglas MacArthur, ignores all the advice he gets to stay out of it and takes on the ruthless gang.
It's all pretty routine stuff, and the action takes a loooong time to get started. Durning, despite his physical shortcomings, does all right with the material, even while it is funny to watch him huff and puff around town chasing and being chased by the gang. Still. I understand that budgetary restraints prevented anyone like Eastwood or Bronson or even Chuck Norris for the role, but they couldn't get Ed Lauter or Clu Gulager?
By the end of the movie Durning seems as comatose as if he devoured a case of fried pies instead of emerging victorious in a homeland battle. The final freeze frame closeup made us both roar with unbridled laughter. And Durning doesn't even really "stand alone". Grier shows up to help him take care of business.
Despite it all, we enjoyed Stand Alone. This kind of thing has been done much, much better in movies like Vigilante, Tenement, The Exterminator, and all the Death Wish movies, but watching it felt a bit like being at the Anchor Drive-In, or Cinema City Drive-In. All that was missing was a carload of beer, the great outdoors, and our youth.
Written by Mark Sieber
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