Bulletproof (1987) Reviews

• Busey's Best is Bulletproof

  tarbosh220002010-08-30

  "Improbable Odds. Unstoppable Force." I know it might seem hard to believe, but there once was a time when Gary Busey had a boyish charm and could have been an action star and wasn't known as a crazy guy and late-night comedian punchline. To witness this prime Busey, simply check out "Bulletproof" (not to be confused with the 1996 film where Adam Sandler shoots people). Busey plays Frank "Bulletproof" McBain, a rogue, but lovable cop on the edge. He's teamed up with the original Blacula himself, Thalmus Rasulala. One of McBain's talents is he is able to withstand being shot, and he saves all the bullets he's been shot with in a jar in his bathroom. Meanwhile, somewhere in Mexico, a terrorist network of "Mexicans, Nicaraguans and A-rabs" are all working in collusion to take over the world using a supertank called the NBT-90 Thunderblast. The evil Colonel Kartiff (Silva) and General Brogado (Rene Enriquez) are heading up the operation, so Special Ops Military Adviser Sgt. O'Rourke (Jones) and army officer Devon Shepard (Darlanne Fluegel) go south of the border to investigate. They, along with some of their army buddies and a group of priests and nuns are kidnapped and held hostage by the evildoers. Only one man can save his compatriots (and Devon, his long-lost love)...MCBAIN of course! And did we mention there are also evil Russians McBain has to stop? In the 80's, you couldn't be the hero in an action movie and not be wisecracking. Most of Busey's lines are snappy one-liners, such as "what's this Tonka toy?", "I'm a one-man suicide squad!", and he even pioneered his own insult - the immortal "Butthorn". He inexplicably says this word THREE times during the movie. I guess it didn't catch on. There are some sensitive flashbacks, and Devon even says to him "you may be bulletproof but you're not love proof". The movie on the whole is fun, upbeat and there is plenty of humor. Henry Silva plays an Islamic extremist, and the enemies are "communist-inspired terrorists". I guess it was pretty ahead of its time. Surely this was one of the only times Fred Olen Ray (who wrote the story) got a movie released by a major studio. What would the world be like today if all his movies were? A movie highlight is when Busey is tied to a big circular thing that looks like a huge cheese wheel. Watch out for this scene. So if you want to see a movie where Gary Busey is a lovable supercop and ladies man, and before he was crazy (well, really crazy) in a movie with plenty of heart, sax solos and blow-ups, and a mixed bag of world villains, this is the movie for you. For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

• Bulletproof

  Scarecrow-882010-07-11

  Frank "Bulletproof" McBain, a "one man suicide squad", is needed by his country, an LA Cop reinstated into the military to take on a most dangerous mission..to recapture a commandeered supertank equipped with impressive armor and weaponry, not to mention rescue his former girlfriend, Captain Devon Shepard(Darlanne Fluegel, pretty awful, but also rather amusing in how she sneers and spits venom at arch-nemesis Silva). With Henry Silva and William Smith as two of many B-movie heavies Gary Busey will have to encounter if he is to succeed in his mission. This is the kind of action film I enjoy wholeheartedly. It has a ridiculous premise where one man, in this case the awesome, one and only, Gary Busey, is able to infiltrate enemy lines(in this movie, Mexico)and eventually get his hands on the Thunderblast(the boy in me grinned ear to ear when I first heard what they named the tank)which, sufficed to say, does some serious damage to the terrorists. I would love to know the body count for this movie, because McBain certainly leaves quite a many scumbag Commies dead before all is said and done. You also have a delightfully slimy René Enríquez as General Brogado, Silva's superior, and Juan Fernández as Pantaro, the executioner who relishes gunning down American soldiers, under the command of LQ Jones(as Sgt. O'Rourke), in cold blood. RG Armstrong even shows up as Miles Blackburn, the one responsible for forcing McBain back into action. If you are gonna start an action film, I prefer the way BULLETPROOF does, with Busey, and his poor partner(who just wants to call back up)halting a gun smuggling operation in progress with plenty of gunfire erupting, leading to an ice cream truck(used to carry the smuggled weapons!)tipping over and exploding. As you expect, done in flashback of course, Busey is haunted by a partner's accidental death, at the hand of Smith. Danny Trejo has a small part as one of the gun smugglers who attempts to stop Busey from arresting him, by firing a machine gun out the back of the ice cream truck at him while he was in hot pursuit. I'm a strong supporter in opening a loud, dumb action flick with a reckless cop(with a death wish, it seems)exchanging rounds of ammunition with criminals resulting in dead bodies and explosions. You get the hilarious, but so stupendously radical, scene where Busey is bound to a wheel which is sent turning down a hill thanks to a grenade triggered by Fluegel, saving him from being Juan Fernández's target practice. Or, the town showdown as Brogado's militia, with something like four tanks and an endless supply of Arabs, against the Thunderblast which decimates everything in sight. Silva and Fluegel have spirited spats with one another(you gotta love Silva who snarls as well as any hissable villain)with the Captain getting even with him towards the end(he rapes her, determined to prove his point that all women are to respect him). But, it's all about Busey..who gets to slide into the "one man army" role, and this fan, for one, had a grand old time seeing Gary at play. Busey sure seems to be having a ball as the hero, more often than not he's the one as a villain, not vice versa. Hilarious how the Thunderblast can withstand not only four tanks and constant missiles, but also a Russian helicopter(a Soviet Mi-24 as mentioned by Busey while the Thunderblast is under assault by the aircraft machine) as well..we sure made one hell of a really impressive machine, this supertank. The plot and characters are silly, so if one enters BULLETPROOF expecting anything other than goofy action fare with tons of violence, you best stay as far away from this flick as possible. An 80's action movie after my own heart, it defies logic almost at every turn..as these movies are supposed to do, when Silva and company have Busey right where they want him, instead of shooting him immediately, they postpone which leads to his inevitable freedom from their clutches.

• "Lets see how bulletproof you are"?

  lost-in-limbo2013-04-26

  Lame brain story and messily energetic plotting, but "Bulletproof" is so much fun… absurdly so. Forget the nonsensical narrative; watch it for the mayhem, explosions, gunfire and Gary Busey going about his business while calling his enemies a "butt-horn". Yes that's right, "Bird season's over butt-horn"! Dynamic and noisy from the get-go and what a way to introduce Busey's unstoppably grizzled character Frank "Bulleproof" McBain. Watch him remove bullets from his wounds and then add them to a jar. Hey its no action masterpiece and it predictably recycles itself, but this crackling rough b-action joint delivers the over-the-top goods and director Steve Carver (who directed two great Chuck Norris' ventures; "Eye for An Eye" & "Lone Wolf McQuade") just knows how to capably package it all up. Tough exchanges, sharp, if pulpy dialogues, grungy setting with cheap looking props (the rolling wheel scene involving great dummy work was side-splitting, so was Silva's reaction to it) and a frenetic pace that never lets up. Even there's time out for some heartfelt flashbacks; Busy and a saxophone. Simply smooth in presenting a broken man. While the names and faces of familiarity do show up. How can you go wrong when you have Henry Silva, Juan Fernandez, William Smith and Rene Enriquez adding spice and maliciousness to their villainous roles. You got Cuban, Libyan and Russian terrorists all rolled into one. Talk about an aimless bunch though… I lost count how many times they had a chance to take out their man even with an onslaught of ammunition. Who to save the day; "Bulletproof" McBain with Busey's charisma on overload. His mission; make his way to an Mexican village near the Texan border to retrieve a stolen American top secret attack vehicle code named Thunderblast (truly a space-age looking piece of machinery), which is just as bulletproof as McBain. Silva cheerily hams it up, but it's Smith that packs the venom despite the short time he spends on screen. Typical textbook bad guys, doing the bad guy shtick. Also popping up is the beautifully impulsive Darlanne Fluegel whose character shares a past with "Bulletproof" McBain. L.Q Jones, R.G Armstrong, Luke Askew, Lincoln Kilpatrick and Mills Watson make up solid cast. In very small parts are genre favourites Danny Trejo and Cary -Hiroyuki Tagawa. Another interesting name to find itself attached to the credits; low-budget film-maker Fred Olen Ray put pen to paper to co-write the story. "You might be bulletproof, but I'm just human".

• In no way good, yet flawless.

  Butthorn1999-06-24

  Oh Lord, did I enjoy myself watching this film! Gary Busey plays a guy who apparently cannot be harmed by bullets, or by much of anything, although he's just some guy with no immortal powers. He falls off haylofts, gets chained to giant wheels and rolls down hills, runs a very comfy looking army tank, and plays the tenor saxophone. Too much goes on to list, but the world's greatest and most enigmatic insult, "butt-horn", is coined, making this easily the most important film of the century. I insist that you purchase it.

• Tanks, Helicopters, Mexicans.

  DriftyRiskness2000-02-22

  This film quite literally has every single action movie cliche and all of them work to its advantage. Straight from Lethal Weapon Gary Busey wisecracks, shoots and chuckles through this film with such reckless abandonment it can't help but amuse and entertain. There are tanks, helicopters, machine gun battles, grenades and ice cream vans and if they aren't good enough reasons to watch this film then how about the best one...Danny Trejo. And if you don't know who Danny Trejo is then you probably won't like this film.