MVD Rewind is a series of films being released by MVD that
celebrates the heyday of the video store era, a time when movies were made just
for video stores to fill the shelves and take care of the needs of movie fans
looking for something to watch when the hottest new releases were flying off
the shelves and not always available. Those movies have provided some of the
fondest memories for video store fans who missed having them available with the
loss of those mom and pop stores and who are now clamoring to replace their old
taped copies of those films. MVD Rewind is filling that void.
Back when video stores were the rage the martial arts movie
made a strong comeback having slowed down with the death of Bruce Lee. New
stars popped up on direct to video tapes of the time, stars like Cynthia
Rothrock, Don “The Dragon” Wilson and Billy Blanks. It is Blanks who takes on
center stage in the new release SHOWDOWN.
Blanks stars as Billy Grant, a police officer who breaks up
a fight and accidentally kills one of the troublemakers. Guilt takes over and
Grant leaves the force, his future uncertain.
Fast forward 7 years as we meet Ken Marks (Ken Scott), the
new kid in town on his first day at a new high school in his senior year. Given
the odd look by almost everyone he’s a fish out of water. Where the school he
came from everyone was friendly, here everyone seems distant. Things go from
bad to worse when he says hello to Julie (Christine Taylor), the girlfriend of
school bully Tom (Ken McLeod). A small tussle leaves Ken on the ground and Tom
threatening him not to get near Julie again.
Ken soon makes friends with Mike (John Asher), the class
clown. Mike warns him about Tom and the way things take place in the school.
Mike ignores his new friend’s warning and says hello to Julie again in the
school library. Which of course leads to another potential beat down in the
school gym. Fortunately for Ken the school janitor is there and makes short
work of Tom and his friend. Word soon gets out that it was Ken who did the deed
in spite of his protests to the contrary.
At the dojo where Tom trains his sensei Lee (Patrick
Kilpatrick) shows his displeasure at the news of his being beaten by beating
Tom. While no one else know we viewers are immediately aware that Lee is the
brother of the man Billy killed in the opening sequence. Tom is then shown to
the ring where he fights in an illegal fight game that Lee is involved with
along with Kate (Linda Dona).
Ken tracks down the janitor and lo and behold it’s Billy.
After seeing him beaten up again Billy decides to train Ken and the process
begins. Visions of Mr. Miyagi from THE KARATE KID pop in your mind and Ken even
makes a joke about it. But the process is the same with Billy teaching him all
he knows so that Ken can defend himself.
All of this will eventually lead to a showdown between Ken
and Tom. But that really isn’t the showdown of the title. While their fight
goes on Lee steps in about to use his dirty tricks and cut throat attitude to
take down Ken. But Billy steps in and the two face off in the battle for the
ages.
As I said movies like this lined the shelves of video stores
across the country during their time. And they all did good business. They were
low cost action flicks that satisfied the needs of fans and made stars of those
who were in them. Blanks went on to star in numerous films and eventually
created his own exercise video series called Tae Bo. To this day he continues
to act on occasion.
MVD Rewind is doing a great job with the release of the
film. Once more they have the video store cover for fans with long memories.
Extras include a mini-poster for the movie, interviews with Blanks and director
Robert Radler, an image gallery and trailers for this and other films. But it’s
the video store experience and the movie itself that will be the draw here. And
if you loved those classic video store martial arts films then you’ll want to
add this one to your collection.
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