''Bushwhacked'' is a 1995 American adventure comedy, film starring Daniel Stern,

Jon Polito Jon Raymond Polito (December 29, 1950 – September 1, 2016) was an American character actor. In a film and television career spanning 35 years, he amassed over 220 credits. Notable television roles included Detective Steve Crosetti in the fir ...

Anthony Heald Philip Anthony Mair Heald (born August 25, 1944) is an American character actor known for portraying Hannibal Lecter's jailer, Dr. Frederick Chilton, in '' The Silence of the Lambs'' and '' Red Dragon'', and for playing assistant principal Sco ...

and

Brad Sullivan Bradford Ernest Sullivan (November 18, 1931 – December 31, 2008) was an American character actor on film, stage and television. He was best known for playing the killer Cole in ''The Sting'', hockey goon Mo Wanchuk in ''Slap Shot'', mobster Geo ...

. Directed by

Greg Beeman Greg Beeman (born 1962 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is an American film and television director and producer and winner of the Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement. He is well known for his work on the television ser ...

, it was his last theatrical film before he moved on to direct television films for

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Comp ...

beginning in 1997. This also marked Sullivan's last theatrical film appearance before his retirement in 2000 and death in 2008.

Plot

Deliveryman "Mad" Max Grabelski ( Daniel Stern) is charged with delivering packages to millionaire Reinhart Bragdon (

) for $50 tips. During a late night delivery, Max accidentally stumbles across a fire in Bragdon's mansion and is cornered by FBI Agent Palmer (

), but accidentally picks up Agent Palmer's gun and manages to escape. Max later sees a news report in which Palmer claims that Bragdon was killed in the fire, which was set up by Max to stop him from exposing a money-laundering conspiracy. Now on the run from the law, Max contacts his boss and learns that a final package is to be delivered to Bragdon, but at his mountain cabin in Devil's Peak. Max heads for Devil's Peak to clear his name, but a store clerk and scoutmaster Jack Erickson (

) recognize his face and he is forced to threaten both with his gun, gluing Erickson to his car's steering wheel and ordering him to drive off to lure the police away while stealing Erickson's van. He is subsequently mistaken for a scoutmaster scheduled to lead a group of Ranger Scouts (consisting of five boys and one girl) on an expedition. Max goes along with the ruse to keep heading for Devil's Peak. The FBI find and release Erickson, and set up a base of operations at a nearby cabin while Palmer and Erickson pursue Max and the scouts. Though they are nearly captured, Max cuts the bridge between two cliffs, forcing Palmer and Erickson to take the longer route. Along the way, the scouts become curious of Max's unorthodox capabilities as a scout leader. They build a makeshift radio and learn who Max truly is. They lace his water with sleeping pills and use smoke signs to signal their location to Erickson. Max ends up sedated, but Palmer handcuffs Erickson to a tree and captures Max alone, promising the scouts a rescue helicopter, but the suspicious scouts follow in secret. Max awakens and Palmer leads him to a helicopter, where Max discovers Bragdon is alive; he then reveals that he is a criminal and that Palmer is one of his henchman and their plan was to steal the laundered money from the authorities and Bragdon faking his death after coming under suspicion in order to frame Max. Before they can kill Max, the scouts intervene and knock Palmer out, but Max falls into the river and the scouts follow to rescue him and escape the criminals. They reach safety before going over a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ...

and throw their backpacks in the river to drive Palmer and Bragdon off. Out of supplies, the scouts decide to remain with Max, accepting him as their scout leader and help him reach Devil's Peak. Meanwhile, one of the scouts' mothers, Mrs. Patterson ( Ann Dowd) uncovers Max's discarded tissue and realizes that he is leading them to Devil's Peak, and gives chase in her van when Palmer's bumbling assistant, Agent McMurrey (

Thomas Mills Wood Thomas Mills Wood (born April 19, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of police characters, especially Deputy Marshal Noah Newman in the 1993 film '' The Fugitive'' and its spinoff, the 1998 film ''U.S. Marshals''. Early ...

), refuses to help her. She arrives first, but is captured by Bragdon. After scaling the treacherous mountainside, Max and the scouts finally arrive as Bragdon receives the final package. Palmer catches up and prepares to kill them, but is subdued by Erickson, who freed himself and followed Max. Max sneaks into the cabin to free Mrs. Patterson. Bragdon appears and forces them to the edge of the cliff at gunpoint. Mrs. Patterson's son, Gordy ( Blake Bashoff), charges Bragdon but falls over a cliff and hangs onto a branch for his life. Max knocks Bragdon out and climbs down the cliff and pulls Gordy to safety just before the branch falls away. With Bragdon and Palmer captured, Max's name is cleared and in response to his efforts, he is awarded a Ranger Scout Leader honor and given charge of an even bigger group of scouts for a more challenging mission, much to his surprise and chagrin.

Cast

* Daniel Stern as Max "Mad Max" Grabelski *

as FBI Agent Palmer *

as Jack Erickson * Ann Dowd as Agatha "Aggie" Patterson *

as Reinhart Bragdon * Tom Wood as FBI Agent McMurrey * Blake Bashoff as Gordy Patterson *

Corey Carrier Corey Thomas Carrier (born August 20, 1980) is an American former child actor, also known as just "Core". He is best known as playing Indiana Jones, aged 8–10, in ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles''. Carrier was born in Middleborough, Massa ...

as Ralph *

Michael Galeota Michael James Galeota (August 28, 1984 – January 10, 2016) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Nick Lighter in the Disney Channel series ''The Jersey''. Early life Galeota was born in Smithtown, New York. He had three ...

as Dana Jareki * Michael P. Byrne as Mr. Fishman *

Natalie West Natalie West (born Natalie Neal West; January 23, 1956) is an American television, film and stage actress best known for her role as Crystal Anderson-Conner on the 1988–2018 TV series ''Roseanne''. Career West's career began in the early 1980s ...

as Mrs. Fishman *

Max Goldblatt Max Oliver Goldblatt (born January 29, 1983, in Los Angeles) is an American actor, writer and director. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 2005. He is the son of American Cinema Editor Mark Goldblatt. He briefly worked in a renaissance fa ...

as Barnhill *

Ari Greenberg Ari David Greenberg (born April 1, 1981 in Malibu, California) is an American world junior champion in contract bridge. A Stanford computer science graduate, Greenberg was previously employed Bridge Base, Google, and Facebook. He currently res ...

as Milton Fishman *

Janna Michaels Janna Michaels (born July 9, 1983) is an American former child actress. She voiced Molly Cunningham on Disney's ''TaleSpin''. Michaels was a regular on the short-lived television series, '' What a Dummy''. She later had a recurring role on ''Dr ...

as Kelsey Jordan * Michael O'Neill as Jon Jordan * Jane Morris as Beth Jordan *

Paul Ben-Victor Paul Ben-Victor (born July 24, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Greek mobster Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos on the HBO drama series '' The Wire'', Alan Gray in ''Entourage'' (2005–2008), and Ray in '' Body Parts'' (1991). ...

as Dana's Father * Art Evans as Marty

Critical response

The film received a 10% rating 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 ...

based on 20 reviews. It grossed $7.9 million in the United States.

References

External links

* * * * {{Greg Beeman 1990s adventure comedy films 1995 films 20th Century Fox films American adventure comedy films Scouting in popular culture Films scored by Bill Conti Films directed by Greg Beeman Films shot in California 1995 comedy films Films with screenplays by Tommy Swerdlow Films about mother–son relationships 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Films about children