Action Jackson (1988 film)
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''Action Jackson'' is a 1988 American action film directed by
Craig R. Baxley Craig Redding Baxley (born October 20, 1949) is an American director, stunt coordinator, stunt performer and occasional actor. He is best known for his work in the action and thriller genres. Beginning his career as a stunt performer, he was ...
in his feature film directorial debut, and starring
Carl Weathers Carl Weathers (born January 14, 1948) is an American actor and former professional football player. He is known for his roles as boxer Apollo Creed in the first four ''Rocky'' films (1976–85), George Dillon in '' Predator'' (1987), Action Ja ...
,
Vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant ''futility''. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic ...
, Craig T. Nelson, and
Sharon Stone Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress. Known for primarily playing femme fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of various ...
. The film was released in the United States on February 12, 1988.
Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographe ...
was the film choreographer. The film was released by Lorimar Film Entertainment. Although the film was quite successful at the box office, it received mostly negative reviews. Vanity was nominated for a
Golden Raspberry Award The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy ...
as Worst Actress.


Plot

The prologue shows two auto-worker union officials addressing the recent death of a peer. Within moments, both are brutally murdered by a group of shadowy, almost
supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
killers that seem to move, disappear and reappear at will during a daring skyscraper assault.
Detroit Police Department The Detroit Police Department (DPD) is a municipal police force based in and responsible for the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. Founded in 1865, it has nearly 2,500 officers, making it the largest law enforcement organization in Michigan. Histo ...
Detective Sergeant Jericho Jackson, known locally as "Action Jackson", was a celebrated lieutenant in the police force but demoted (nearly two years before) because of a case he headed involving the criminal son of successful businessman Peter Anthony Dellaplane. The fallout over the case also collapsed Jackson's marriage and put the law-school-educated, star athlete and hometown hero at odds with the public. Even after his demotion, Jackson's continued interest leads to conflicts with his commander, Captain Armbruster, but he begins investigating Dellaplane's professional exploits, eventually uncovering a string of murdered trade-union members connected to Dellaplane's company. He discovers Dellaplane is secretly maneuvering into a "behind-the-throne" seat of power, and has been using a group of assassins, "The Invisible Men", to murder uncooperative union officials. Jackson is assisted by Dellaplane's mistress, Sydney Ash, a local lounge singer and
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and bro ...
addict, whom the businessman has assisted financially. He is eventually framed in the murder of Dellaplane's wife Patrice (who was actually killed by her husband, after her discovery of his plot, and her seeking help from Jackson). On the run from the police, Jackson is helped by friends from his old neighborhood: Kid Sable, a local hotel owner and retired professional boxer and Dee, a lively local hairdresser (and gossip informant) who gives Jackson a way to discreetly get to Dellaplane Jackson and Sydney arrange a meeting with Dellaplane's figurehead replacement for the auto union, unaware that The Invisible Men had been tracking them and allowed the meeting so that Dellaplane could confront Jackson face to face. Before he leaves with Sydney in tow, Dellaplane arrogantly reveals the reasoning for his plans and intends to exact it using Jackson as a pawn. He intends to kill Jackson, put one of The Invisible Men in his place, have him kill an important union official, and then have Jackson's charred body discovered after he failed his getaway. "Dellaplane, one of these days you are really going to piss me off," Jackson calls after his nemesis as he leaves with all but three of The Invisible Men. "We're going to have ourselves a little barbecue," claims Shaker, The Invisible Men's leader, as they prepare to burn Jackson alive. But Jackson is suddenly rescued by Sydney's bodyguard "Big" Edd and the pair battle the Invisible Men. Edd overpowers Birch, knocking him into a control panel, electrocuting him, while Jackson turns the welding torch they were about to use on him on Thaw, who is killed when the gasoline can he is holding explodes. Shaker opens fire on the pair with his grenade launcher, sending them running for cover. They lure him outside where Edd disarms him and Jackson takes the grenade launcher. Jackson's escape leads to a fight at Dellaplane's mansion during the birthday party for the union leader Dellaplane plans to have assassinated. During the melee, the other members of The Invisible Men are killed by Jackson (who personally deals with the one set to make the kill and frame him), Edd, Jackson's old partner Detective Kotterwell, and a rehabilitated young thief named Albert, with help from Kid Sable. However, Dellaplane takes Sydney hostage and hides inside a bedroom in his mansion. After being given a gun by Kotterwell, Jackson commandeers a car being displayed at the party, crashes into the house, kills Dellaplane's butler/bodyguard, Cartier by ramming him into a wall as the latter fires at him, and roars upstairs to crash into the room Dellaplane is holding Sydney in. After a brief standoff, Dellaplane, (a trained martial artist) challenges Jackson to hand-to-hand combat. At first Dellaplane has the upper hand, but after ramming Jackson into a car window, he is abruptly shoved back by Jackson, who turns and shouts "Now you've pissed me off!" Jackson proceeds to thrash Dellaplane. In desperation, Dellaplane goes for his gun, only for Jackson to seize his own and engage in a crossfire exchange, with Jackson killing Dellaplane and receiving a wound in the shoulder in return. Captain Armbruster arrives with reinforcements, informs Jackson that he wants a full report on his desk "in the morning..." and calls Jackson "Lieutenant." Sydney soon reveals she plans to go "cold turkey" off of heroin, promising Jackson can have her "on Thanksgiving." Jackson replies, "Can I have you any sooner?" Sydney giggles and the two kiss passionately as the screen fades to black.


Cast

*
Carl Weathers Carl Weathers (born January 14, 1948) is an American actor and former professional football player. He is known for his roles as boxer Apollo Creed in the first four ''Rocky'' films (1976–85), George Dillon in '' Predator'' (1987), Action Ja ...
as Sergeant Jericho "Action" Jackson * Craig T. Nelson as Peter Anthony Dellaplane *
Vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant ''futility''. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic ...
as Sydney Ash *
Sharon Stone Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress. Known for primarily playing femme fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of various ...
as Patrice Dellaplane *
Bill Duke William Henry Duke Jr. (born February 26, 1943) is an American actor and film director. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke works primarily in the action and crime drama genres often as a character related to law enforcement. Frequently ...
as Captain Earl Armbruster *
Robert Davi Robert John Davi (born 1953) is an American actor, singer and filmmaker. Over the course of his acting career, Davi has performed in more than 130 films. Among his most known roles are opera-singing heavy Jake Fratelli in ''The Goonies'' (1985), ...
as Tony Moretti * Jack Thibeau as Detective Kotterwell * Armelia McQueen as Dee * Stan Foster as Albert Smith * Roger Aaron Brown as Officer Lack *
Thomas F. Wilson Thomas Francis Wilson Jr. (born April 15, 1959) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Biff Tannen, Griff Tannen, and Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen in the ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy (1985–1990). He also played coach ...
as Officer Kornblau * Edgar Small as Raymond Foss *
Chino 'Fats' Williams Chino 'Fats' Williams (July 26, 1933 – April 5, 2000) was an American actor. page 75 Williams was best known for such films and television series as ''The Terminator'', '' Action Jackson'', '' Road House'', ''Rocky III'', '' Weird Science' ...
as "Kid" Sable * Prince A. Hughes as Edd * Frank McCarthy as Oliver O'Rooney *
De'Voreaux White De'voreaux White (born Devorea W. Sefas; August 6, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in ''Die Hard'' as the young limousine driver, Argyle. Career Film and television De'voreaux White was born in Los Angeles County, Cal ...
as Clovis * Dennis Hayden as Shaker * David Glen Eisley as Thaw * Bob Minor as Gamble * David Efron as Birch * Brian Libby as Marlin * Nicholas Worth as Cartier *
Branscombe Richmond Branscombe Richmond is an American character actor and stuntman. He is known for his starring role of Bobby Sixkiller on the American syndicated drama series, ''Renegade'' (1992–1997), and for his starring roles on the television series, ''Haw ...
as Poolroom Thug #1 * Miguel Nunez as Poolroom Thug #2 * Richard L. Duran as Poolroom Thug #3 * Charles Meshack as Poolroom Bartender * Ken Belsky as Red Devil Bartender * Al Leong as Dellaplane's Chauffeur *
Ed O'Ross Ed O'Ross (born Edward Orss; July 5, 1949) is an American actor. Some of his prominent roles are as Itchy in ''Dick Tracy'', Colonel Perry in '' Universal Soldier'', Lt. Touchdown in ''Full Metal Jacket'', ruthless Georgian mobster Viktor Rosta ...
as Frank Stringer *
Mary Ellen Trainor Mary Ellen Trainor (July 8, 1952 – May 20, 2015) was an American character actress best known for her roles as LAPD psychiatrist Dr. Stephanie Woods in the '' Lethal Weapon'' films, newscaster Gail Wallens in '' Die Hard'' and '' Ricochet'', ...
as Liz Massetori, Secretary * Jim Haynie as "Morty" Morton * Alonzo Brown as Big Lady With Purse * Harri James as Hooker * Ivor Barry as Stuffy Old Man * Michael McManus as Lionel Grantham * John Lyons as Yacht Guard #1 * Glenn R. Wilder as Yacht Guard #2 * Steve Vandeman as Yacht Guard #3 *
Sonny Landham William M. "Sonny" Landham III (February 11, 1941 – August 17, 2017) was an American actor and stunt performer. He portrayed Billy Bear in ''48 Hrs.'' and tracker Billy Sole in ''Predator''. Early life and education Landham was born February 1 ...
as Mr. Quick *
James Lew James Jene Fae Lew (born September 6, 1952) is an American actor and martial artist. He has made 80 on-screen film and television appearances and 46 more as a stunt coordinator or stunt double. He has done choreography for movies like ''Get Smart ...
as Martial Arts Instructor * Matt Landers as Desk Sergeant #1 * Thomas Wagner as Desk Sergeant #2 * Norman D. Wilson as Man In Bar (uncredited)


Production

Carl Weathers later called the film:
A creation that came about when I was doing ''
Predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill t ...
'' and talking to
Joel Silver Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American film producer. Life and career Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School i ...
, who loved
blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president ...
movies. Joel said, "Well, you know, why don't you put something together?" So during that time of shooting down in
Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadalaj ...
, I created this story and came up with this guy – or at least this title – Action Jackson. And Joel found a writer howrote the screenplay, and that was it. We got it made."Carl Weathers on Toy Story Of Terror, blaxploitation films, and James Brown" By Will Harris ''AV Club'' Sep 2, 2014
accessed 7 September 2014
In 1990 Weathers starred in '' Dangerous Passion'', an action film, which was released in Germany under the title ''Action Jackson 2'', although it did not relate to the original film.


Soundtrack

The '' Action Jackson: Original Soundtrack Album'' features new music by
Sister Sledge Sister Sledge is an American musical vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed in 1971, the group consisted of sisters Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge. The siblings achieved international success at the height of the disco era. I ...
,
The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, bl ...
,
Vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant ''futility''. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic ...
, and
Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he hel ...
. Vanity's two songs, "Faraway Eyes" and "Undress," were produced by musician Jesse Johnson.


Reception

While successful at the box office, the film received a negative reception from critics. Weathers said he hoped the film would become a franchise "but
Lorimar Lorimar Productions, Inc., later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969 until 1993, when it was folded into Warner Bros. Televisi ...
sold the lot to
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
and sold the library to Warner Bros., and that was that. It never resurfaced again, unfortunately." The film received a score of 13% on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
from 15 reviews. On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". It grossed $20 million on an $8 million budget, and made another $45 million in VHS sales.


In popular culture

The film is the subject of the first season ''
Lazor Wulf ''Lazor Wulf'' is an American adult-animated television series produced by Williams Street for Adult Swim that premiered on April 8, 2019. Originating as a webcomic on Tumblr in 2013, it is directed by creator Henry Bonsu, with Daniel Weidenfeld ...
'' episode, "Keep It Moving," in which the last VHS copy of the film has been stolen, and the main characters attempt to recreate moments they believe are in the film in order to become more like Action Jackson and retrieve the tape. The film would be referenced again in the second season ''
Lazor Wulf ''Lazor Wulf'' is an American adult-animated television series produced by Williams Street for Adult Swim that premiered on April 8, 2019. Originating as a webcomic on Tumblr in 2013, it is directed by creator Henry Bonsu, with Daniel Weidenfeld ...
'' episode, "Keep Going," where this time the series' titular character is convinced that ''Action Jackson'' is a documentary and pesters Carl Weathers into admitting that the actor himself killed off the character. In the episode, Weathers is voiced by WWE Superstar
Xavier Woods Austin Watson (born September 4, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Xavier Woods. He appeared on WWE's NXT brand as one-half of the current NXT Tag ...
, who previously wrestled in
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the prom ...
under the name Consequences Creed, in a
gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand ou ...
inspired by Weathers'
Apollo Creed Apollo Creed is a fictional character from the ''Rocky'' films, played by Carl Weathers. He serves as the main antagonist in ''Rocky'' and ''Rocky II'' and also appears in ''Rocky III'' and ''Rocky IV''. He is a tough but agile boxer who ...
character from the ''Rocky'' film series.


See also

*
List of action films of the 1980s This is chronological list of action films released in the 1980s. Often there may be considerable overlap particularly between action and other genres (including horror, comedy, and science fiction films); the list should attempt to document f ...
* List of American films of 1988


References


External links

* * * * {{Craig R. Baxley 1988 films 1988 action films American independent films 1980s English-language films Blaxploitation films Films about terrorism in the United States Films directed by Craig R. Baxley Films produced by Joel Silver Films scored by Herbie Hancock Films scored by Michael Kamen Films set in Detroit American police detective films Fictional portrayals of the Detroit Police Department Silver Pictures films Warner Bros. films African-American action films 1980s chase films 1988 directorial debut films 1980s American films