Quiet Cool (1986)

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Joe Dylanne is a plain clothes New York cop. When he receives a phone call from an old flame about her family who's gone missing in the woods, he immediately setting out to help, traveling to the northwest woods only to discover that her family has been murdered after accidentally crossing paths with drug dealers and their operation. When Dylanne discovers that her younger brother survived, together with her brother's survivalist skills, they set out to seek revenge on these cold blooded killers in a hunting game of survival. You know, this was so much better than I was expecting. It's one of those films I came across countless times at the video store as a kid but never gave it a second thought. Digging through my tape collection recently I realized that I had gotten this about a year ago and it's been sitting there all this time. I'm sure it was in one of my obscure 80's action phases and probably also because it was an RCA VHS release, which means it came in one of those sweet side-loader slip cases, which I collect from time to time. So I threw this one recently when I was in an action mood and let me tell you, this is definitely one you'll want to track down.It's not great by any stretch of the imagination, and doesn't reinvent the genre, but if you're looking for something very 80's, made competently well, and delivers just the right amount of thrills to keep you invested for the long haul, Quiet Cool will deliver the goods. This one offered up a number of surprises for me, the first being that it starred 80's action staple James Remar as the main good guy, which is something you just didn't see very often in his entire career. Sure he's played the good guy a few times, but I had never seen a film where he was the lead, and not playing the villain. So that was a somewhat refreshing surprise. But then I was also surprised to see another baddie regular (and sometime film director), Nick Cassavetes, again playing his usual douche bag villain, barely uttering a word. Mainly just looking mean and badass in his big shoulder padded jacket and mullet. He made this the same year he played another douche baddie in the cult classic favorite The Wraith.One of the other things that surprised me about this is that I was not expecting this to be a "hunted in the woods" type of film, especially since the film opens in New York, which is a pretty awesome section of the film by the way. But once the film moves to the northwest forest setting, it's where the rest of the film stays and the hunt begins, where it ultimately becomes a predecessor to films like Survival of the Game and The Hunted.Written and directed by Clay Boris, it's a competently crafted film that carries much more of a professional's touch, looking like a film that would certainly play at your local cinema in the 80's, which combined with how entertaining it is, I'm really surprised that it didn't. Boris has a pretty long career, dating all the way back to the late 70's and still working today, and tackling pretty much ever genre, but with most of his work relegated to TV. Nothing in his filmography immediately stands out as anything I've ever seen or heard of, but at least we have this little gem.Really, this is a far more entertaining DTV 80's flick than you and I expected it to be, and if you're into these kind of films, I strongly suggest seeking this one out. The long Out Of Print DVD is ridiculously expensive, and honestly, it's not that good to warrant the shelling out of almost $50 for it. I also highly doubt it even comes in widescreen on that OOP DVD. My suggestion is either VHS or Laserdisc. The VHS, oddly enough, is not very common so it might take some good old fashioned hunting on your part to find it, but you'll find it cheap when you do. Same goes for the Laserdisc, which I see more of than the VHS. And trust me when I tell you you're not missing out on anything by watching this the old school way. In fact, I think it adds that little extra spice to the experience.Quiet Cool is an old school and highly entertaining action/thriller that proves James Remar is just as good playing the good guy as he is being a regular villain. If you're also wondering what Quiet Cool even means, fear not, it's explained in the film.www.robotGEEKSCultCinema.blogspot.com

**SPOILERS** Beautifully photographed in the Redwood country of Northern California "Quite Cool" has to do with this ruthless gang of pot or marijuana grower who are anything but the peaceful hippie type that were so used to seeing in movies about the subject.Lead by this, what's obviously, Elvis impersonator the unemotional Valance, Nick Cassavetes,this group of pot growers run the entire town of Babylon, pop.163, including the towns police chief Mike Prior, Jared Martin, with an iron hand. Things got a little wild when the young and rosy cheeked Joshua Greer, Adam Coleman Howard, happened to spy on Vanance and his boys gun down an FBI informer who was set up by a member the town's corrupt police.Wanting no witnesses to their crime the Valance gang end up murdering both of Joshua's parents Mr. & Mrs. Greer, Gregory Wagrowski & Pulette Walsh, who were picnicking in the woods. Joshua, the person that Valance & Co. were really after, got away by falling down a 100 foot cliff and almost drowning in the rushing stream below.Getting a collect call from California NYPD undercover cop Joe Dylanne, James Remar, is told by Joshua's sister Kathy, Daphna Ashbrook, who' also Joe's ex-girlfriend to come quick and find her lost brother whom she hasn't seen or heard from in over a week. Joe taking an emergency vacation drives out to Bablyon to get to the bottom of what's going on there. It turns out that Joe ended up getting involved, up to his neck, with the both Valance gang and the real Mr. Big of Valance's operation some dude only known as "The Man".Joe a man of the law is anything but law abiding when it comes to dealing with the bad guys in the movie. Finding Joshua hiding in the woods around Babylon conducting a guerrilla war against the Valance Gang Joe chides him on not letting the law do its work in putting Valance and his boys behind bars. Nice talk on Joe's part but it turns out that he doesn't practice what he preaches. No one in the movie that Joe ends up putting away, for breaking the law, are as much as read their rights. Thay all, with the exception of the either mindless or lobotomized roller skater at the beginning of the film, end up being blown away by Joe & Joshua without as much as a thought of the law being allowed to do its job!The Valance Gang seem to be either stoned out of their heads or just plain brain-dead in how they go about in doing things in the movie. There are times when Valance & Co don't as much as say a word to each other but just move around zombie-like and communicate with each other not by talking but by some kind of telepathy! Joe soon gets the drop on the Valance gang who are so deeply involved in a card game at their pot compound that they don't even notice, after failing a number of times to blow them up, Joe planting a stick on nitroglycerin right under their feet!By the time the movie is almost over we get the big surprise, or better yet non-surprise, in just who both Valance and police chief Prior's boss, the mysterious "The Man", really is. The surprise of "The Man's" true identify is that you forgot that he even existed, he was only mentioned up to that time only once in the entire film, and had no idea just who he was and what he had to do with anything going on in the film!

I wanted to see this film for years, so I was glad when it was finally released on DVD. James Remar, who plays the lead role of NY cop Joe Dylanne, and Nick Cassavetes, who plays main villain Valence, are two of my favourite actors and they both give excellent performances in this film.Remar is great as the big city cop who is called in by his ex-girlfriend to find out what happened to her brother and his family in the forest countryside of California. Remar specialises in playing tough guys and Joe Dylanne is no exception. He is charismatic and very enjoyable in the role. Cassavetes gives a performance not too far away from his character of Packard Walsh in THE WRAITH, another of my favourite movies. Valence is a total psycho and a sadist to boot. Just see how he punishes one of his dope farmer associates for getting stoned at one point.In supporting roles, Daphne Ashbrook, Adam Coleman Howard and Jared Martin are all excellent, although when he first appears in the movie, Howard sounds a bit of a sour note. Anyway, the action sequences are all handled excellently and the film is, in my opinion, a great show. I have the Region 1 release, so I hope it gets a Region 2 release.

Smoldering character actor James Remar stars in this nifty action movie called QUIET COOL, which can be nicknamed BULLIT ON A MOTORCYCLE. Remar plays a tough New York cop named Joe who travels to the Pacific North West to battle sadistic pot growers. With the help of a revenge-minded nature boy (Adam C. Howard), Joe brings the pot-heads down... hard!