Greydon Clark has always been a movie maker who wanted to do things his way and was successful at it. You may not recognize his name but Clark has directed 21 films and they all were successful, making back the money on a small investment. His films were independently made and thus never had the huge push that major studios put behind their films. And yet you may remember such titles as SATAN’S CHEERLEADERS, WITHOUT WARNING, JOYSTICKS or WACHKO. One more of his films is being released as part of MVD’s Rewind Collection.
Made in 1985 FINAL JUSTICE stars Joe Don Baker as Thomas
Jefferson Geronimo III, a deputy sheriff in a small town along the Texas
southern border. Geronimo (pronounced Heronimo) took the job after a shooting
incident that cost him his job in Dallas. As the sheriff heads home one night
he and Geronimo step out to see two men across the street with car problems.
When they call out to them, one of the men shoots and kills the sheriff.
Geronimo shoots and kills one of the men and arrest the other.
It turns out the men were hit men for the mob trying to cross the border and get away. The dead man was Tony Palermo and the one arrested Joseph Palermo (Venantino Venantini), the more murderous of the pair. He swears revenge on Geronimo. Before he can be charged with the death of the sheriff, the State Department is contacted by the Italians and plans are made to extradite Palermo back home. Rather than use one of his men Chief Wilson (Bill McKinney) puts Geronimo in charge of escorting the prisoner home.
En route the plane has trouble, caused by two suspicious looking men on the plane. The place is forced to land in Malta with no plane scheduled until the following day. As Geronimo and Palermo head for a hotel they are stopped and Palermo is rescued, turning and shooting the car they were in until it explodes. Thinking Geronimo is dead, they head to the home of mob boss Don Lamanna (Rossana Brazzi).
Geronimo survived the attack and was arrested on the scene by the local police. Told to return home he has to wait till the next day for the plane heading back. With time on his hand and revenge in mind he sets out looking for Palermo with the help of Officer Gina (Patrizia Pellegrino). Of course he’ll find clues, Palermo will find out he’s alive and an eventual showdown between the two will take place.
The film is fairly generic with little to make it stand out but it wasn’t making an attempt to do so. This is a movie made because Clark wanted to make another movie. It tells a story and doesn’t try to do more than that. It’s an entertaining action flick and nothing more.
But at the same time while watching it you realize you’re seeing a Western set in a different time and a different place. This is the old lawman with six gun strapped to his side pursuing the bad guy for the murder of his friend. There are select scenes in the film shot exactly as the old westerns were, in particular on where Geronimo faces off against the three men who snagged Palermo. Wearing his gun in its holster, legs apart, hand near his gun he challenges them to go for it. The film is edited like those classic spaghetti westerns of Leone. Him standing there, them facing him, his eyes, their eyes, sweat on their brows, looking around, hands twitching and finally guns drawn and they are killed in slow motion. This scene more than any other confirms that this is a western.
The film is well shot and directed. Clark also wrote the film and while the story and dialogue is well done there are momentary slips now and then. Baker who had a string of hits in the 70s always playing the tough guy was by this time not the box office draw he had been. And yet he does a fine job here. Perhaps the one down side to the film is in the character of Palermo. He’s not just a ruthless killer but a sadist when it comes to women, choking and pinching them in the most painful ways possible. It’s a bit disturbing to watch even today.
All in all this one is an entertaining film for those who loved films like the DIRTY HARRY movies. Extras on the MVD version include a new audio commentary track with Tony Piluso, Newt Wallen and Crystal Quinn of “Hack the Movies”, a new “The Making of Final Justice” featuring all new interviews with Clark, editor Larry Bock and cinematographer Nicholas Josef von Sternberg, the original theatrical trailer and a collectible mini-poster.
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