Blonde Fist (1991)

People are voting emotionally.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A thinly plotted movie with comic moments that mostly don't work, and fight scenes that fail to convince ( except the last one). Margi Clarke is fine in the lead, Ken Hutchinson good too but Carroll Baker pretty much steals every scene she's in, she's deserving of a better film.

I was reacquainted with Blonde Fist a couple of weeks ago thanks to Talking Pictures TV; I only have a vague memories of this film's release back in 1991 - it was concieved, I assume, as a star vehicle for flavour of the then moment Margie Clarke, who was on something of a roll following an impressive turn on the long neglected (and unfairly so) social drama 'Making Out'.Written and directed by her brother, co-starring her sister, Blonde Fist soon sank without trace. Drably shot and sluggish paced, the story seems to take forever to get going; Margi Clarke tries, but she is uncomfortable as she is unconvincing in the leading role - hampered by an unfunny script that's stuck between the far superior Boys From The Back Stuff, or an overlong episode of the dreadful Liverpool based situation comedy Bread, and a supporting cast of sanctimonious bullies and clichéd stereotypes.Give this one a miss - it flopped for a good reason; the only point of note is an early appearance by Stephen Graham, and a small role for veteran Scottish actress Julie Graham; both made a better ''fist' of their careers than Margi ever did...and neither of them were related.

Whether you enjoy BLONDE FIST or not really depends on how much you like working class comedies made in Liverpool. Me, I'm rather indifferent to their charms, and I found this story - posited as THELMA & LOUISE meets ROCKY - pretty drawn out and unengaging. It's a star vehicle for the forgotten TV starlet Margi Clarke, directed by her own brother, but she gives a lame performance here and comes across as cold and unsympathetic throughout. The ridiculous story is described as a boxing drama, but such moments are few and far between and very unconvincing when they do appear. A scene in which a character gets hit and you hear cartoonish bird tweet noises really sets the level here. I laughed at exactly two funny scenes: Clarke's fight with a youthful Tina Malone has some good dialogue (and Stephen Graham in one of his first roles), and the prison chat in which Clarke's friend says she wants to make something of her life, by becoming a prostitute, are amusing. The rest? A struggle, if I'm honest.

This film requires few words of commentary. The plot is laughable, the script dismal and the acting appalling. However, as a Liverpudlian myself, I have rarely felt as embarrassed as I was by Margi Clarke's grotesque performance. She makes a laughing stock of Liverpool people. A dud without equal.