Bulletproof (1988 Film)
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''Bulletproof'' is a 1988 American
action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
directed by
Steve Carver Steve Carver (April 5, 1945 – January 8, 2021) was an American film director, producer, and photographer. Biography Carver attended Manhattan's High School of Music and Art and received his BA from Cornell University and his Master of Fine Art ...
and starring
Gary Busey William Gary Busey (; born June 29, 1944) is an American actor. He portrayed Buddy Holly in ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award fo ...
,
Darlanne Fluegel Darlanne Fluegel (November 25, 1953 – December 15, 2017) was an American actress, fashion model, film producer and professor. Fluegel played the female lead role in a number of films and television shows throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Early ...
,
Henry Silva Henry Silva (September 23, 1926 – September 14, 2022) was an American actor, with a film and television career which spanned fifty years. A prolific character actor in over 140 productions, he was known for his "dark, sepulchral" looks and ...
,
Thalmus Rasulala Thalmus Rasulala (born Jack Crowder; November 15, 1939October 9, 1991) was an American actor with a long career in theater, television, and films. Noted for starring roles in blaxploitation films, he was also an original cast member of ABC's soa ...
, L. Q. Jones. Busey plays a reckless cop who travels to
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
to retrieve a tank prototype hijacked by a terror group representing an alliance of anti-American powers.


Plot

Frank McBain is a Los Angeles cop and former
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
operative, who left the agency after a botched mission where his partner Jack Benson lost his life. His failure garnered him the animosity of
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
lieutenant Devon Shepard, who was caught in a love triangle with the two men, and the disdain of his peers, who suspected that he may have caused his colleague's death to keep Shepard to himself. McBain has earned the nickname "Bulletproof" due to his uncanny ability to survive bullet wounds, and keeps all thirty-nine projectiles that have failed to kill him as mementos in a mason jar. Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence has learned of the existence of a secret camp located just 300 miles south of the
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
border, which trains various Latin American communists and Arabic insurgents, all united under the banner of the anti-American People's Liberation Army. Looking for a diplomatic justification to wipe out the camp, top army generals decide to convoy a new and virtually bulletproof tank prototype, the MBT-90 (codename "Thunderblast"), past the Mexican border and into PLA territory to entice its hijack by the militants. Oblivious to the mission's real objective, Shepard is selected to be a part of the tank's escort. A patrol of revolutionaries headed by young Captain Pantaro duly stops the convoy, but they prove more radicalized than expected: most U.S. military personnel are swiftly killed while a few survivors, including Shepard and her friend Sergeant O'Rourke, get kidnapped and taken to the PLA camp along with the MBT-90. There, Shepard gets acquainted with two men in charge, PLA general Maximiliano Brogado and his cruel Libyan advisor Colonel Kartiff, who shows a strong distaste for the emancipation afforded to American women like her. Following that debacle, McBain is called back to the CIA and tasked with retrieving the prototype in a secret, lone-wolf operation. Upon learning that his old partner's bereaved girlfriend is among the captives, he feels compelled to redeem himself towards her, and accepts. Meanwhile, Kartiff and Brogado discover that the tank is inoperational, as it has been outfitted with an electroshock device that prevents its use by unauthorized personnel. They threaten to kill more of Shepard's squadmates if she does not disable the security.


Cast


Production


Development

Fred Olen Ray Fred Olen Ray (born September 10, 1954) is an American film producer, director and screenwriter of more than 200 low- to medium-quality feature films in many genres, including Horror film, horror, science fiction, action film, action/adventure f ...
wrote the film's story under the working title ''Thunderblast'', and was originally going to direct as part of two-picture deal with CineTel, following ''
Cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...
''. The bullet-riddled hero was lifted by Ray and frequent collaborator T.L. Lankford from one of their earlier scripts, which eventually found its own way to the screen as '' Deep Space''. According to Ray's biography, the character moment where Busey pulls a bullet from his shoulder was expanded with material excised from the equivalent scene in '' Deep Space'', which was abridged at the request of producer
Moshe Diamant Moshe Diamant is an American film producer. He is best known for having started Trans World Entertainment (film company), Trans World Entertainment (TWE) in 1983. Filmography (Producer) He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted. F ...
due to his distaste for graphic gunshot wounds. ''Bulletproof'' was intended as a step up in class for the fledgling CineTel, and the casting director told them that Ray—who had a reputation for campy films—lacked the pedigree needed to attract the reputable star they were looking for to headline. In response, president Paul Hertzberg removed Ray from the project and assigned directorial duties to
Steve Carver Steve Carver (April 5, 1945 – January 8, 2021) was an American film director, producer, and photographer. Biography Carver attended Manhattan's High School of Music and Art and received his BA from Cornell University and his Master of Fine Art ...
, who boasted more mainstream credentials. This paved the way for
Gary Busey William Gary Busey (; born June 29, 1944) is an American actor. He portrayed Buddy Holly in ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award fo ...
's signing, while Ray moved on to the lower-budget '' Commando Squad'' for
Trans World Entertainment Kaspien Holdings, Inc. (formerly Trans World Entertainment) was an American company that provided software and services for ecommerce. Kaspien Holdings operates on Amazon in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, German ...
. Although he received financial compensation for his dismissal, his relationship with Hertzberg remained strained for several years.


Filming

Busey filmed ''Bulletproof'' immediately after fulfilling his duties on ''
Lethal Weapon ''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American action film directed by Richard Donner and written by Shane Black. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love, and Mitchell Ryan. In ''Lethal Weapon'', a pai ...
'', continuing the transition towards more action-oriented roles that followed his physical recovery from drug addiction. Photography was originally slated for July 1986, but was delayed to December 16, 1986. Busey mentioned wrapping up filming on the eve of an interview to ''
The Daily Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circul ...
'', which was published on March 6. The military vehicles, included the tank redesigned by prop maker Gene Rizzardi to become the "Thunderblast", as well as several Mexican-style sets, were rented from the Veluzat family, Hollywood veterans who owned both a movie ranch and vehicle rental service. While Gary Busey had vowed to clean up his act following his personal issues, Carver still found the actor difficult, which he attributed to a combination of temperament and
method acting Method acting, known as the Method, is a range of rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, understanding, and expe ...
. The unusual insult "butthorn" was part of Busey's real-world vocabulary, so Carver told him to add it to the dialogue. Actor René Enriquez was given the green light to participate by the producers of his regular show ''
Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the Metropolitan Police Department staff ...
'', and was scheduled to start filming his part on ''Bulletproof'' on January 6, 1987. However, he was unexpectedly called back to ''Hill Street Blues'' on January 5. The actor remained committed to the feature, and the showrunners worked out their schedule to accommodate him. Far more serious were the film's financial problems. The preliminary budget was pegged at $1.75 million. However production butted heads with the unions and ran out of money as costs skyrocketed past the $5 million mark, which resulted in several shutdowns and confrontations over unpaid wages. During one such dispute on February 12, 1986, a crew member was allegedly struck by a security guard employed by CineTel, although no charges were ultimately pressed due to lack of evidence.


Release

The film was originally announced for August 1987. A later source announced it for late February 1988. The film benefited from an $1 million advertising campaign, which encompassed 300 billboards across the nation's major metropolitan centers. However, its impact was diminished when the release date, announced on the posters as April 29, 1988, was yet again delayed to May 13.


Theatrical

''Bulletproof'' opened in domestic theaters on May 13, 1988 in a limited, 263-screen release. The film made $421,302 in its first weekend and finished with a gross of $807,947 at the domestic box office. The film ended up being CineTel's first money loser. The film's domestic bow was preceded by a limited U.K. release at select
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
Cannon Cinemas on December 11, 1987.


Home Media

The film arrived on
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
and
Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...
tapes through RCA Columbia Pictures Home Video on August 25, 1988. The U.K.
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
saw an earlier release on January 22, 1988, via Virgin Vision. It made its domestic DVD debut through budget publisher
Platinum Disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
on July 30, 2002.


Reception

''Bulletproof'' received largely negative reviews, with most critics pointing to its over-the-top nature. Michael Wilmington of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' panned the film, writing that "only the opening scene has any life" and that " ’s a genuine shame to watch Busey—one of the most vital character actors of the ‘70s, wasting himself in a cliche-ridden stinker like this". Caryn James of the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote: "Steve Carver has directed ''Bulletproof'' as if he were putting together a jigsaw puzzle. He tries this piece, he tries that, he hammers in the pieces that don't quite fit." Robert S. Cauthorn of ''
The Arizona Daily Star The ''Arizona Daily Star'' is an American daily newspaper based in Tucson, Arizona, and owned by Lee Enterprises. It serves Tucson and surrounding districts of Southern Arizona in the United States. History 1877–1925 L. C. Hughes was the A ...
'' wrote that " is possible to view ''Bulletproof'' as a parody of the conventions found in the macho mania afflicting the nation's screens". However, he countered that the film "wants to woo the audience of the movies it seeks to ape. You can't have it both ways with parody." Frazier Moore of ''
The Atlanta Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merge ...
'' compared it to the then-latest installment of the ''Rambo'' franchise and wrote: "Gary's film is not better or worse than Sly's, only terrible, but quality may not matter to you. What should is knowing which film you're watching, and now you do: ''Bulletproof'' is ''
Rambo III ''Rambo III'' is a 1988 American action film starring Sylvester Stallone as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. Directed by Peter MacDonald, the script was co-written by Stallone and Sheldon Lettich. It is a sequel to '' Rambo: First Blood Part I ...
'' with a dumb grin and sensible shoes". In his review syndicated through the
McClatchy News Service McClatchy Media Company, or simply McClatchy and MCC, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law. Originally based in Sacramento, California, United States, and known as The McClatchy Company, it b ...
, Joe Baltake of the ''
Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...
'' praised the film, noting that Carver had "assembled a veritable treasure trove of action film/character actors" and concluding that "''Bulletproof'' is delirious—all action, little talk and what little talk there is, is howlingly funny".
Media scholar Media studies is a discipline (academia), discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media (communication), media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the ...
Jack G. Shaheen critiqued the movie for its
anti-Arab sentiment Anti-Arab racism, also called Anti-Arabism, Anti-Arab sentiment, or Arabophobia, refers to feelings and expressions of hostility, hatred, discrimination, fear, or prejudice toward Arab people, the Arab world or the Arabic language on the basis ...
, writing that it reinforced the
stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...
that all
Arabs Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...
are
terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
. In particular, Kartiff is portrayed as
anti-Christian Anti-Christian graffiti from the Alexamenos graffito">Alexamenos worships his god.") Anti-Christian sentiment, also referred to as Christianophobia or Christophobia, is the fear, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice against Christians and/or asp ...
, sexually violent, and
misogynistic Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practis ...
(with the implication that
Libyan Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks ...
women are all submissive).Shaheen, Jack G. (2001). Reel Bad Arabs. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press. pp. 116. ISBN 1-56656-388-7.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulletproof (1988 Film) 1988 films American action films Cold War films Fiction about tanks CineTel Films films 1988 action films Films about terrorism Films directed by Steve Carver 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language action films