I picked this film up over the weekend, and I popped it in on Sunday. I thought, man, Val Kilmer, Christian Slater (and, it turns out, Daryl Hannah and Verne Troyer). How did this escape my notice in the 1990s? Ah, but gentle reader, it was because this was an Eastern European direct-to-video movie. Sort of a Borscht action movie, if you will. Given that the actors in the films were on the back-end of their best mainstream success, maybe Hard Cash Grab might have been a better name for it.
So: The before-the-credits bit shows a two groups of criminals; one is offering to buy some counterfeit currency, but the deal seemingly goes south when the seller starts to insult the Eastern European money launderer. But it turns out that the buyers, led by Christian Slater, were there to steal the money through an elaborate gimmick which involves Daryl Hannah (I later learned) plays the part of a seemingly pregnant woman who infiltrates Verne Troyer into the household. After the householders are all incapactitated–but not killed–the team comes back in, but the police show up, and Slater’s character (Taylor) gives himself up to let his team escape. That’s all before the simple opening credits.
The bulk of the movie takes place a year later when Slater is released from prison. He gathers his gang together again, and they stage an elaborate rip-off of an off-track-betting establishment. But they discover after their success that the money is all marked by the FBI, so they have to turn to the money launderer from the year before. Things take a turn when Taylor discovers that a corrupt FBI agent (Kilmer) was using the OTB parlor to launder his ill-gotten gains. So he blackmails Taylor (and his by extension his crew) to rob a money drop from off-shore casinos.
Also, Taylor is trying to reconnect with his young daughter whom he hasn’t seen in a year and the doxie who took care of the kid while he was in the can, but she seems to be working for Kilmer.
So there are a lot of double-crosses and a rather bloody, but without a great deal of budget for blood, ending, and….
Well, I guess there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours.
But ultimately, the film was a little slowly paced and was just…. I dunno, off a little bit. Maybe the Eastern European look of it–and I only suspected its provenance when I watched it, but research did prove it out. Maybe the dialog–maybe English was not the screenwriter’s first language (although Willie Dreyfus sounds American, but this is his only writing credit, and he has two acting credits: in this film and in an episode of Tour of Duty).
One thing that was on the nose: Sara Downing played Paige, the doxie, and she definitely hit the look of trailer park hot.
I didn’t find any photos of her from the film to illustrate what I mean, but she is a pretty girl nevertheless.
She has had a number of credits in television parts and lower budget films.
Quite lovely in a variety of guises.
