Stone Cold (Craig R. Baxley 1991)
"You wanna fuck with the living? You gotta learn to fuck with the dead"
I waited fuckin' yeeeeaaaars for this to be released on DVD. My taped-off-the-telly VHS had indeed taken a brutal hammering over the years. Me and my great pals love this movie... a classic guilty pleasure action romp with everything a MANLY man wants: Cheesy rock music, beer, bikers, explosions, bar room brawls and, erm, mullets... Really, REALLY well cared for ones.
Ex (American) football star Brian "The Boz" Bosworth is renegade FBI agent Joe Huff, which rhymes with buff. He gets put on a new case: To bring down the head of a drug-running motorcycle gang called 'The Brotherhood', who are tearing up a part of Mississippi. The gang is led by 'Chains' Cooper, played by the legendary Lance Henrikson. Henrikson is superb in this, WATCH as he cackles hysterically through almost every scene he is in. Chains is abetted by William Forsyte, who is also in his element as a greasy biker called ICE. Joe Huff has to go undercover as (wait for it) JOHN STONE! He must somehow befriend Chains in order to become a 'prospect' for the brotherhood. Yes it does sound very silly doesn't it? As silly as Bosworth's hair, some might say, but not me... no, never.
A smart, knowing script, no-nonsense direction by stuntman/director Baxley, and an impressive cast help Stone Cold rise above the average action spew, which didn't stop it becoming a whopping great failure at the American box-office. America wasn't ready for the MANLINESS of Stone Cold, but Europe was, which might explain why it has cult status in the manly action genre, especially in Austria!
I love this film. I can't stop looking at Bosworth's hair, it's fascinating! Stone Cold was heavily trailered in the cinemas before vanishing out of site, only to silently appear in video shops with a diabolical Terminator style cover (BOTTOM RIGHT) that bore no resemblance to the film whatsoever. The trailer itself is priceless by the way.
So, now the Austrian label NSM records has put out a multi-disc Blu-ray/DVD extravaganza which has 4 covers to choose from. Notice that one has a variant version of the original 'Terminator'-style cover. Not quite the same... The video quality is okay. The master used is clearly old (the long-awaited MGM DVD was released back in 2007, but the master looks older than that), but it's still a passable upgrade. There's also an added DVD in the form of Bosworth's 1997 buddy/buddy cop caper Heart Of Stone (AKA Back In Business), marketed in Germany & Austria as - wait for it - Stone Cold 2! Phhht, no shit, and no relation! However, I must say that I enjoyed this little romp, it's not that bad at all.
All in all, Stone Cold Blu-ray super-edition is a great package of MANLY action fodder.
PICTURES:
Top Left: NSM's 2014 Blu-ray/DVD combo.
Top right: MGM's 2007 DVD
Bottom right: The original VHS cover (So baaaad!)
