''Champagne and Bullets'' (also known as ''Road to Revenge'' and ''GetEven'') is an independent 1993

action movie 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 ...

. Described as a vanity project, ''Champagne and Bullets'' has become a

cult movie A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated vi ...

due to writer/director/star John De Hart's amateur and "inexplicable" performance. Contemporary reviewers have celebrated the film as a "classic"

B-movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

History

According to

Vinegar Syndrome Vinegar Syndrome is an American home video distribution company which specializes in "protecting and preserving genre films". The company was founded in 2012 in Bridgeport, Connecticut by Joe Rubin and Ryan Emerson, who created it to restore ...

, the film was originally edited as ''Champagne and Bullets'' in

16 mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

but never commercially released. The film was re-edited several times and released as ''Road to Revenge'' and ''GetEven''. The latter title is arguably the most well-known, as the ''GetEven'' cut is described as "notorious" by Vinegar Syndrome and has been discussed by genre film programs such as

Red Letter Media Red Letter Media, LLC is an American film and video production company operated by independent filmmakers Mike Stoklasa, Jay Bauman, and Rich Evans. It was formed by Stoklasa in 2004 while he was living in the Scottsdale section of Ashburn, Chicag ...

. The first video version is 10 minutes shorter than the original film, while the 2007 version was also substantially edited and augmented with erotic scenes (although several depictions of sexual assaults were removed) among other things.

Plot

Former

LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

officer Rick Bode is now a limousine chauffeur. His ex-girlfriend, Cindy, is being harassed by members of a satanist cult, and Bode decides to help her by fighting them. Bode then helps his best friend, Huck, resolve legal issues with his wife.

Cast

* John De Hart as Rick Bode *

Pamela Bryant Pamela Jean Bryant (February 8, 1959 – December 4, 2010) was an American model and actress. She was ''Playboy'' magazine's Playboy Playmate, Playmate of the Month for its April 1978 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Richard Fegley. Br ...

as Cindy *

Wings Hauser Gerald Dwight "Wings" Hauser (December 12, 1947 – March 15, 2025) was an American actor, screenwriter, film director and musician. A prolific character actor, he appeared in over 100 film and television productions since 1967, and was once cal ...

as Huck *

William Smith William, Willie, Will, Bill, or Billy Smith may refer to: Academics * William Smith (Master of Clare College, Cambridge) (1556–1615), English academic * William Smith (antiquary) (c. 1653–1735), English antiquary and historian of University C ...

as Normad, the cult leader *

Al Sapienza Al Sapienza is an American actor who has had numerous roles in television, stage and film productions. He is best known for his role as Mikey Palmice on the HBO series ''The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, cr ...

as drug smuggler

Reception

''Horror Society'' said, "What makes this one so much fun is how bad and awkward it is to watch. Overall, ''Champagne and Bullets'' is ''

The Room ''The Room'' is a 2003 American independent romantic drama film written, directed, and produced by Tommy Wiseau, who also stars in the film alongside Juliette Danielle and Greg Sestero. Set in San Francisco, the film is centered around a ...

'' of direct to video action flicks. It’s one of the strangest yet wildest movies I had ever seen yet I couldn’t stop watching" Writing for Blu-ray.com, Brian Orndorf states that the film "is lunacy when it isn't incredibly boring and indulgent, quickly ascending to Bad Movie Night heaven." The B-movie website Nanarland places the film among the most notable vanity projects in the film industry. After Wings Hauser's death in 2025, ''

MovieWeb Valnet, Inc. is a Canadian media company established in August 2012 by Hassan and Sam Youssef in Montreal, Quebec. It operates primarily in the entertainment media industry, where it has sought to acquire producers of content in this space. In ...

'' wrote that ''Champagne and Bullets'' was "one of the most unhinged performances of his entire career," and that he delivered memorable performances in even low-budget or "Z-grade" movies.

References

{{reflist 1990s American films 1993 action drama films Films set in Los Angeles County, California