Tubi Thursday: Firepower (1979)

 After watching some James Coburn for a main Review, I needed more.

I got it- and more!

A bunch of deaths happen in a short amount of time.

A Scientist is bombed.
His Brother shoots some mafioso and is killed himself.

The FBI goes to protect his Wife.

This means recruiting Fanon- since all good Spies/Agents have mononyms.

Coburn goes out to a fancy Island (an excuse to shoot there, naturally) and tries to find a man named Stegner, an elusive Billionaire Criminal hiding out.

I guess if he is captured, he'll die in Prison and you'll all obsess over it, won't you?

He recruits a man named Catlett- played by OJ Simpson!- to help him find out where Stegner is and who he is, as there are no pictures of him.

Loren- the Wife- keeps hanging around and helping.

I mean, if she wanted to hang out with you in 1979, would you turn her down?

Can the group work together to find the unfindable man?

Will they run into more old Character Actors- like Elli Wallach, Billy Barty, etc.- along the way?

Either way, Loren will always find a Mature man.

That's a pun for my Readers over 60.  Enjoy.

A big, loud Film that does try to be deeper than you think.

Does it succeed?

Eh...maybe, I guess.  It's not high art.  It doesn't contain tons of massive twists and turns.  It tries to seem really clever.

The Plot is pretty simple, but it does build up nicely.  They slowly but surely give you the clues to figure out who Stegner is.

There are two draws here (besides Loren)- Coburn and the Action Scenes.

Coburn is, as always, naturally cool and hip.  Even at the end when he's dressed like Johnny Quest (black turtleneck and jeans), I'm on board.  He's always a crack shot, which seems statistically impossible, but f**k it.

The Action (punctuated with great Direction by Winner and a good Soundtrack) is nice here, with shoot-outs mostly and big explosions.  Lots of collateral damage.  Lots of car flips for no reason.  Lots of horse tripping, which is not cool.

The Film is called Firepower and it delivers.  That said, in Plot, who are these guys?

A fun Film that builds up nicely and delivers the Action you'd expect from Winner.  Just maybe don't think about OJ Simpson being a Hero.