High Risk (1981)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Best movie ever!

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I am surprised by the fairly low rating of this fine movie. Yes, the budget was clearly not very high, but the film is exciting and very well acted and directed. It doesn't have flashy special effects, but those have really become a colossal bore in current films.This film combines some good action with humor and a sense of comradeship among the amateur adventurers. One of the best aspects of this movie is that you feel like the guys are normal and rooted in the real world. There is a down-to-earth feeling about this whole movie,which makes the dangers the guys encounter much more vivid. If you like adventure combined with humor, give this one a try.

The best, most successful and entertaining heist movies are the ones that roll up their sleeves, spit on their hands, and promptly get down to thrilling brass tacks with topmost immediate urgency and a refreshing lack of momentum-killing pretense. This crackerjack number sure does the above cited correct thing in a neatly taut, streamlined and economical manner thanks to Stuart Rafill's proficient direction and a laudably terse, padding-free script. Four desperate, engagingly scruffy and nervous unemployed blue collar schmoes -- rugged macho man James Brolin, agreeable go-along-to-get-along nice guy Bruce Davison, funky black smartaleck Cleavon Little and excitable worrywart Chick Vennera -- go to South America to rob a sexy $5 million from casually ruthless drug lord James Coburn (who's fine in a juicy villain role which allows him to radiate calmly malevolent menace from every laid-back evil pore). Of course, the caper doesn't go off without any foul-ups occurring: Little and Vennera are nabbed by Coburn's flunkies while Brolin and Davison run afoul of a comically inept bandito gang led by the ever-hammy Anthony Quinn. Okay, so the basic premise isn't terribly original. Fortunately, the swiftly efficient execution, lots of spot-on sassy humor, perils aplenty, and the uniformly sound acting fully compensate for the admittedly trite story. The vastly underrated Brolin once again proves he's got the essential rough'n'tumble stuff to cut it as a sturdy action lead, Davison, Little and Vennera lend expert support as Brolin's plausibly reluctant and out-of-their-element pals, erstwhile Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner further compliments the already pretty jungle scenery as the token feisty extraneous babe, and Ernest Borgnine contributes a funny cameo as a bluff illegal arms dealer. Trim, rousing and well worth checking out.

(There are Spoilers) Fed up with working for a living and getting nothing for it, except bills and parking tickets, in these high inflationary times four buddies from L.A decide to help themselves and well as the War on Drugs. The four plan to travel down to the steaming jungles of South America and rip off one of the top cocaine dealers on that continent Serrano, James Coburn, thinking it would be a piece of a cake. It wasn't and thats what makes the movie worth watching.Hard to take yet very entertaining film that has these four soldiers of fortune, together with a little cute white poodle, lead by tough as nails Mr. Stone, James Brolin, get not only involved with the Serrano drug cartel but a gang of mountain bandits. The bandits are lead by by their bumbling and butterfingered leader Mariano, Anthony Quinn, who during the entire time on the screen is seen suffering, depending on the mood he's in, from either a very bad case of saddle sores or of poison ivy in his you know where.Breaking into Serrano's hacienda Stone and his three buddies Dan Rockney & Tony, Bruce Davidson Clevon Little & Chick Vennera, are shocked to find out that the wily Serrano changed the combination to his safe where he keeps his ill gotten gains, 5 million in US currency and about 20 kilo's of cocaine. Being the determined bunch that they are the four grab Serrano, with what seems like dozens of his bodyguards out to lunch, and force him to open it.On the run with the Serrano mob as well as the paid off police and military hot on their tails the four split up in the jungle with Rockney & Tony ending up getting captured by Serrano's boys. Later Stone and Dan, who escaped with the cash, get caught by this band of kooky bandits lead by the even kookier and inflamed butt hurting leader Mariano. All is not lost when jailed by the police Rockney and Tony get acquainted with another American languishing in the prison cell next to them Olivia, Lindsey Wagner. All soon escape with both Tony and Rockney losing their shirts, as well as their pants, in the process and make it to the prearranged spot, the jungle waterfall, where their to be picked up and rescued by a cargo plane.Back in the hill country Stone and Dan end up being worked over by Mariano's men who used their diet of beans hot tamales and high fiber food to their advantage, by gleefully and sadistically breaking wind in their faces, in torturing the two helpless and tied up men. It wasn't until the little dog, who was left behind at Serrano's hacienda, showed up and untied Stone by biting through his hand tied rope that they made their escape without the 5 million,that Mariano and his men took from them; only to come back and rip it back off from Mariano that very night.The film builds up to it's very happy ending with everyone involved in the big drug & money rip off, including the cute little dog, making it out alive from the jungle, and back to the good old USA. Those out to get and do them in both Serrano and Mariano as well as their bands of bandits drug pushers dealers and enforcers are left holding the bag to the very satisfying music, five years before Arnold Schwarzenegger used it in his action movie "Raw Deal", of "I can't get no Satisfaction".

This movie has everything! Shootouts, planes, bandits, drug dealers, great locations, and most of all, a really good bunch of actors at the top of their game. When four buddies try to rob a big time drug lord, Murphy's Law comes into play and everything goes wrong. James Brolin has never been better, as the determined leader of a group of suburban losers who want to strike it rich, and James Coburn is excellent as the drug lord. Bruce Davidson, Cleavon Little, Ernist Borgnine, and Lindsey Wagnor are all good, and Anthony Quinn stand out in an exceptional performance, reminding us what a good actor he really is. There's enough action for two Rambo movies, as lots of lighthearted comedy. My favorite scene is when Brolin gun-butts a guard, and the guy doesn't just fall unconscious like everybody always does in the movies. Instead he grabs his head and starts yelling, and Brolin has to hit him again. The director takes conventional action scenes we've seen million times, like whacking a guard, and makes them original. It's hard to believe he went on to direct Mac & Me, a really silly E.T. ripoff.