Customer Reviews

Jake Speed

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jake Speed is not a movie to over look. Wayne Crawford is not the bulging muscled "Rambo" that was expected during the mid 80's, but his portrayal of Jake Speed proved that one man can make a difference. The movie locations were great and characters convincing. Andrew Lane knew how to mix the beauty of Africa with the horrors of civil war. Jake and his sidekick Des had a great history together as Des would record their adventures, then publish them (ie; Mack Bolan, Doc Savage)under an assumed name (Reno Melon) causing people to believe that "Jake Speed" wasn't real. Karen Kopins shined in this role and it's a pity that her career never took off from this film. Kopins and Crawford had a classic love/hate relationship not seen in today's films. And what can be said about Mr. Hurt? It has always been said that a hero is only as good as his nemesis alows him to be. John Hurt's performance as Sid, the evil white slaver was superb! His character's total brutality was matched only by his need to destroy Jake Speed's character, that there was no place in the world for decent and honest people. Some people may find the film a tad slow in pace during the first of the movie, but the action and characters during the 2nd and 3rd Act more than make up for it! This movie was not a box office mega-smash, but don't let that deter you. If you are looking for a fun ride, witty story telling and characters, and the classic battle of good triumphing over evil, give this film a try!

The characters are underdeveloped and one-dimensional; the soundtrack is only a shade better than the synth-pop soup of "Day of the Dead"; the actors sound like they're reading directly off an unrevised script; and the plot is about as loose and messy as a rice krispie marshmallow treat. All these little nuances aside, "Jake Speed" has got to be, hands-down, the greatest action/adventure B-movie I've ever seen. The title character (played brilliantly by unassuming "everyman" Wayne Crawford) is a bona-fide dime novel adventurer, seeking to defeat the nefarious forces of evil with the aid of his disturbingly effete partner Des and ingenious little innovations such as "The Kid" (a super-powered automatic shotgun!) and H.A.R.V. (an armored Jeep with side-mounted machine gun turrets!). As you might expect, moral absolutism (the titanic, interminable struggle of the good heroes vs. evil villains) and cheap sensationalism abound, just as they would in any good piece of bad action-melodrama. If you're in the mood for a cute, tongue-in-cheek, low-budget iteration of early-twentieth century action serials or just one laugh after another from a ceaseless torrent of cheesy heroic one-liners, pick up your copy of "Jake Speed" today!

One of the few action hero movies I like, the story has a great twist, sound track good , picture even better, this is a movie to have fun whilre watching, not a great story but keeps you interested, if you like Remo Williams, Buckaroo Bonazi, X-men then you'll like this movie.

I'd never heard of this movie, but it was cheap and the cover looked good so I picked up the DVD. This is such a great little movie! it should really appeal to fans of pulps, men's adventure books, and B movies. The guy playing Jake is perfect. John Hurt makes the best bad guy. I loved H.A.R.V. (Heavily Armored Raid Vehicle)!

Not my favorite, but up there somewhere, away from the bottom of the list. It is a cute little action-fantasy with a unique twist (the adventurers document and sell their adventures as fiction) and some interesting philosophy "if you want/need something badly enough, it will happen". One of those culty type movies where only those that "get it" enjoy it but worth the effort. Always remember: If you want to be entertained, see a movie. If you want to be enlightned, climb a mountain.

This cute movie is a treat if you have ever read an action-adventure paperback. J.S. is a spoof of the genre but can stand on its own as an exciting adventure. It was filmed on location and has breathtaking African scenery. The film has an above average soundtrack for this type of movie. If you have a sense of humor and don't take things too seriously, you will adore this underrated gem. Good show for kids of all ages. Along with Buckaroo Banzai and Brisco County Jr., one of the most criminally neglected shows of our time. You will watch it again and again, and I can't say that about more popular movies like Indiana Jones.

It's a great little film. A 'classic' battle of Good and Evil. If you read any Doc Savage when you were growing up, the film will make you smile - it has that taste. It has laughter and a 'serious' side. If you take your films serious - walk away... If you want a bit of action, humor, and a nudge at Doc Savage... you found home.

Jake Speed is probably one of the campiest and unrealistic action movies I can remember seeing. But fortunately, it doesn't take itself seriously, and that's its secret - in fact, it's nearly a full-blown comedy. The acting is good, especially by Wayne Crawford, whose humorous, dry expressions and nonchalant attitude are memorable. It's just a shame he wasn't in more recognizable films. John Hurt, Karen Kopins, and Dennis Christopher all give solid performances as well. I think there's probably a little more life to these characters than what is expected of them-even though hardly any of the film's story is the slightest bit believable. Afterall, the story does revolve around a "fictional" paperback action character-who is intended to be fictional in the film's story - that's his cover so to speak.

There are some scenes that will induce uncontrollable laughter. The African bar scene is a true classic, as well as any scene with Jake blasting away with his ridiculously powerful shotgun -"the Kid." Overall, Jake Speed is definitely worth the cover price and has a unique draw. The DVD doesn't feature any extras, but who needs them? There's many other DVDs out there that cost a lot more and are loaded with extras, but don't have one half the entertainment value of Jake Speed, in my opinion. Just don't expect a realistic action film - this one is pure campiness - and is purposely made that way. That's what makes it so good.

Being a big fan of both 80s movies and adventure series like The Destroyer, I'm surprised I only recently discovered this movie.

Wayne Crawford is Jake Speed, the hero in a series of action novels. Unlike Remo Williams and Mack Bolan, Jake Speed's books are based on his real adventures. If there's an easy way to solve a problem, Jake will look for a more exciting alternative. Makes for a better story.

It seems the story and locations may have been affected by a limited budget, but this is a well-written and fun story. Mark Snow did the soundtrack - finally on CD!

If you've ever enjoyed The Executioner, The Destroyer, or any of the action-adventure serials, buy this DVD. You'll find yourself watching it more than once.

The film Jake Speed (1986) poses an interesting question...what if those action/adventure heroes popularized in the pulp novels (Doc Savage, Mack Bolan, Remo Williams, etc.) were real, and their exploits within the novels were based off their true life adventures? Co-written by Wayne Crawford and Andrew Lane (Lane also directed here), the pair behind the popular 1980s film Valley Girl (1983), the film stars Crawford (White Ghost, The Evil Below) and Karen Kopins (Creator, Once Bitten), who looks a hell of a lot like Erin `Col. Wilma Deering' Gray from the television show "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century". Also appearing is Dennis Christopher (Breaking Away, Chariots of Fire) and John Hurt (Alien, The Elephant Man, V for Vendetta).

The film begins with a lengthy sequence taking place in Paris involving the kidnapping of a young, female American college student (the oversized USC sweater hanging off the shoulder was sort of a giveaway) by a couple of tough looking locals. Back in the states we meet Margaret Winston (Kopins), who, as it turns out, is the older sister to the girl we saw abducted earlier. Guilt weighs heavily on Margaret's mind as she's the one who pushed her sister to go out and experience the world, and now blames herself for her sister's predicament. Her grandfather, played by Leon Ames, recommends they try to get one of the men from his pulpy adventure novels to take the case, indicating perhaps it's time to up the dosage of Grandpa's medication. Things seem bleak, but hope arrives in the form of a mysterious note, one that leads Margaret to a meeting with none other than Jake Speed (Crawford), a character from one of the novels gramps favors so much, and Desmond Floyd (Christopher), Speed's assistant (maybe Grandpa wasn't as loony as he first appeared, but I still think he could do with more meds). Seems the men are interested in taking on the job of recovering Margaret's sister (turns out she's somewhere in Africa, taken in by a white slavers), but only if Margaret accompanies them (every pulpy adventure story needs a comely female lead). Margaret's leery at first, but agrees mainly because Jake and Desmond seem men of action, and she's gotten farther in finding her sister in one day with them than five weeks with the state department. Anyway, Margaret arrives in a podunk African town on the verge of being torn apart by revolution, and the fun begins. After some wild and wooly adventures, Margaret is ready to call it quits (she lost whatever little faith she had in Jake after his plans come up short and she gets word he may be a con man), but soon Margaret finds herself in need of rescuing as she's fallen into the clutched of the nefarious Sidney (Hurt), the same man who now has her sister. Is Jake who he claims to be, or just a flim flam man only out for personal gain? Let's hope the former instead of the latter, for Margaret's sake...

I wanted to like this film, which was mostly shot on location in Africa, a lot more than I did, but the end result felt a bit like a Wayne Crawford vanity project (Wayne not only starred in the feature, but also took co-writer and producer credits, while his partner, Andrew Lane was a writer, director and a producer). I'm not sure if this was meant to be a parody, or a satire, but the comedy fell a bit flat (uninspired writing). I really liked the idea of the adventure novels being based off real life escapades, but the film didn't have the `zing' to live up to its ambitions, in my opinion. Perhaps this was a case of too few people wearing too many hats, so to speak. Crawford was certainly handsome back in the day, sporting his David Hasselhoff perm, but he seemed to lack any real, distinctive traits to make me believe he was a hero featured in the type of books that were supposedly the result of his character's adventures. The one thing I really noticed was the lack of chemistry between Crawford and Kopins, or even Crawford and Christopher, for that matter. A manicured coif and a big gun do not a hero make...I thought Kopins and Christopher both did well enough (at least with the material they had to work with), and it certainly didn't hurt the fact that Kopins was just so damn attractive. As far as Hurt, he plays his effeminately evil character over the top, for sure, but if you've read any of the novels related to in the movie, then you'll know his portrayal was in line with the villain characters depicted in the material. Too bad Crawford didn't see fit to take his part to the hilt, living up to the character he was supposedly representing. One aspect about the story really annoyed me and that was with regards to Speed's plan to find Margaret's sister. He was going to use Margaret as bait, selling her off to some white slavers in the hopes that they would then lead him to their lair, where Margaret's sister was being held...the plan ended up going afoul as Margaret, who was never informed of the plan, screwed everything up as she thought Speed was actually trying to sell her off. Afterwards Speed grouses about how his solid plan went down the tubes, but it seems to me things might have gone a lot smoother had he let Margaret in on what was going on...actually, I doubt Margaret would have gone along with the plan if she knew about it, as Speed had little idea the white slavers were the ones he was looking for, so either way, the plan was a lousy one. One aspect I really liked was Speed's preference to do things the `hard' way, if only to make for a more interesting read in the books. As far as the direction, it was serviceable (this was Lane's first time directing), but I felt the flow of the film stuttered quite a bit, and there were a number of scenes I thought could have been trimmed to allow for less drag time (the opening kidnap sequence was way too long, especially for a relatively inconsequential character...Margaret's sister was the impetus for the adventure, but the character was a minuscule part). Despite those negative aspects I mentioned, I will say I thought there was a good deal of effort involved, and a real desire to entertain. Perhaps had they gotten a different star (one who didn't have an affinity for pastel colored shirts and purple assault vehicles), shortened the running time, and threw a few more jokes in, I would have enjoyed myself a lot more. Overall a good effort, but one that fell a little short, but then that's just my opinion, one that seems to be in the minority when compared to other reviewers.

The picture, presented in widescreen (1.85:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, looks good on this Anchor Bay Entertainment DVD release, and the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio comes through well. As far as extras, there's a two page insert that basically lays out the story of the entire feature, along with three trailers for the film, and that's it...pretty skimpy, I guess, but if you're a fan of the film, you'll probably be more pleased in the fact someone took the trouble to put out a good DVD release than disappointed in the lack of supplemental materials.

Cookieman108

If you're interested in a less satirical look at pulp adventure heroes, I'd suggest a film titled Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985), featuring Fred Ward. It didn't spawn the sequels as inferred within the title, but I liked it nonetheless...