Release Date: May 11, 2021
Format: Blu-ray
Company: MVD Rewind

Synopsis:
Billy Ray's a bad risk. He took the mob's family jewels, now they want his! They tried beating and scaring it out of him, but he's not giving them up. So they kill him. Now everyone believes Carmen must know where the jewels are. The Mafia boss has brought in his 'Top Gun' to find her and the jewels. This slime-ball and his trained killers follow our heroes through car chases and gun battles across the state of Texas leaving a trail of fireballs and hunks of twisted metal.

Review:
Films like Action U.S.A. should be applauded, they should be studied and then every year the studios should throw a few mill at a handful of different stunt performers and send them to dustball, back water towns around the U.S. and tell them to go make movies and blow stuff up.

The journey from stunt performer to director is not a new one and there are plenty working in the industry today - most notably Chad Stahelski and David Leitch of the John Wick franchise - but most of them have worked for pretty high profile projects as stunt performers before they took the Director’s chair. John Stewart, who directed Action U.S.A. , worked as a stunt co-ordinator on films such as Creepozoids, Death Spa, Scanner Cop and Leprechaun 3. Glorious, lurid, low budget, video store favourites, brimming with madness, sleaze, creativity and invention, where he probably needed to know how to make something explode, light a person on fire and/or throw a car through a plate glass window for a few bucks, a stale deli meat sandwich and a pat on the back. That’s who you want thrown a couple of mill every year or so to make a some insane, stunt filled, movie in the middle of nowhere. Those guys know how to wring every last drop of blood and sweat out of a dollar.

To use a bit of Bruce Campbell maths logic here - most blockbuster movies have a budget of around $200 million and up. If you made 100 $2 million budgeted movies, sure some may flop, som may break even but a lot would make their money back and then some. That’s what I am talking about. How do we start that studio?

But hey Jon, why are you going on about this? What about the movie?

Well that’s why I am waxing rhapsodic because if you tried this experiment then at least 50% of those movies would be as fun, enjoyable and mental as Action U.S.A.

No, the plot isn’t exactly brilliant - but it’s no more formulaic or dumb than a million other action films - none of the cast are winning acting awards - but they are all incredibly watchable and entertaining in their roles - and unlike a lot of its bigger budget counterparts, you don’t have to wait very long before someone is dangling from a helicopter, a car is smashing through a truck, something blows up or someone is inciting a massive bar brawl. And for those who like their B Movies sleazy, there’s also some nudity. What more could a video renter in the 80s or a Blu-Ray collector in the 2020s want?

I would recommend this film to anyone with an even passing interest in action films. While it’s far from perfect and you can nitpick films like this till you’re blue in the face - if you were so inclined (and I am not) - it does do exactly what it says on the tin. It serves up stunts and silliness galore. So many straight-to-video titles of the 80s and 90s, of many genres, promised a lot but would rarely deliver. Action U.S.A. delivers right where you need it to.

Years ago my comedy action movie commentary podcast - Dr. Action and the Kick Ass Kid - covered the film here.

2022 Update:
You can also hear me discuss the film with the Direct to Video Connoisseur on his podcast

4K UltraHD/Blu-Ray review:
Because the video store mavens of the 80s and 90s grew up to own or run boutique blu-ray distribution companies (I am assuming) we now get rarities like Action U.S.A. with smallish but fiercely loyal audiences, most of whom were used to hanging out on the far flung fridges of internet geekdom, sharing VHS tapes and clinging to forums that even the admins had long since abandoned - and I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

First released by Vinegar Syndrome, whose 4,000 units quickly sold out and went out of print, the film and its extras were picked up by MVD Rewind and released on an equally wonderful disc - with even the inclusion of its own behind the scenes featurette!

The commentary is lively, funny, insightful and full of tidbits that every action fan is going to want to know about how they achieve the insanity on screen.

The interview with Director, John Stewart is hosted on Zoom by none-other-than legendary B Movie film director and friend of the website, Brian Trenchard-Smith who, not only has directed some of the glorious schlock that Stewart coordinated stunts for but has done stunts himself and made movies about stunts with the legendary Grant Page, so the interview is full of insider knowledge and is conversational like two old friends.

Rounding out the package is some interesting behind the scenes footage and a look at how certain stunts were achieved on the movie.

If you’re a fan of things exploding, I urge you to pick this up - today!

EXTRAS:

• Audio Commentary with Director John Stewart, star Gregory Scott Cummins and cinematographer Thomas Callaway moderated by filmmaker Steve Latshaw

• Interview with Director John Stewart (HD)

• Action U.S.A. Behind the Scenes - Stunts Featurette (SD) (MVD Disc Exclusive)

• Theatrical Trailer

• Collectible Mini-Poster

• Reversible artwork

OTHER DETAILS:

• All regions

• Blu-ray

• 1989

• Run Time: 89 min

• High Definition (1080p) presentation of the main feature in 1.78:1 aspect ratio

• Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround

• Subtitles: English