Sam Panico In the 80's, Brian Bosworth was a big deal. A two time All-American with the Barry Switzer coached Oklahoma Sooners, he wrote his autobiography during his first season with the Seattle Seahawks. Bosworth was a pro wrestler in real life, talking crap on the NCAA, publically claiming he would contain Bo Jackson (he didn't) and trash talking John Elway so much that 10,000 Denver fans bought and wore "Ban the Boz" t-shirts. And those T-shirts? He manufactured and sold them.Yep, Bosworth knew how to play the media game, even if his NFL career ended after three seasons. But what was next?Acting. Of course! And the first film that Bosworth starred in was Stone Cold, a tough cop versus evil bikers epic.Joe Huff (Bosworth) has been suspended for how rough he is on criminals. In fact, the film starts with him decimating several crooks that are robbing a supermarket. A government agent blackmails him into going undercover to stop a white supremacist biker gang, The Brotherhood.The gang is led by Chains Cooper (Lance Henriksen, Near Dark), who is over the top insane. Just seeing the stuff the gang does in the opening montage will give you an idea of how amazing this film is going to be - they shotgun a priest through a stained glass window seconds into the start of the movie.Joe becomes John Stone, but the rest of the gang doesn't accept him. And his FBI contact Lance (Sam McMurray, Raising Arizona) is a germophobe who is really no help at all.To finally be part of the gang, Joe/John has to kill a man. The FBI helps him fake the kill, but Chains' top guy, Ice (William Forsythe, The Devil's Rejects) still doesn't believe in him. Luckily, a high-speed motorcycle chase leads to his death and our hero is in.The gang has one goal: to kill DA Brent "The Whip" Whipperton, who has announced that he is going to become Governor of Mississippi and get tough on crime. They've stolen military weapons and plan on attacking the Supreme Court to save one of their own, the guy who killed that priest.Joe/John falls in love with Nancy, Chains' girl and offers her immunity if she cooperates. But then the man our hero had supposedly killed shows back up and the Brotherhood declares war on him. Chains takes the news that Nancy is cheating on him by shooting her, while he plans on putting a bomb on Joe/John's body and dropping him from a helicopter onto the courthouse.The gang manages to kill the DA, but our hero survives and kicks the poo out of Chains. Yet he is merciful and lets the man live. Bad idea - the villain grabs a gun and comes back for Joe/John, who is saved by Lance.Stone Cold was originally going to be directed by Bruce Malmuth (Hard to Kill, Nighthawks), but personal problems led to the backstory of Bosworth's character being removed from the movie and Craig R. Baxley (Action Jackson, I Come in Peace) taking over.This movie is everything awesome about 80's and 90's action films and their cliches. Yet it's even better, because you have Lance Henriksen writing all of his own dialogue, plenty of explosions, even more nudity, Bosworth's impressive hair and outfits, and a fight scene between WWE's one time heir apparent to Hulk Hogan, Tom Magee (seriously, he had a try out against Bret Hart that convinced everyone that he was going to be someone until everyone realized that Bret was the reason the match was so good) and Bosworth. And hey, how did Bosworth never get into pro wrestling, what with him coming from the same school as Steve "Dr. Death" Williams and being friends with Jim Ross?I have no idea how this isn't a movie that is treasured and celebrated by genre geeks. It's such a time capsule of how one man captivated our attention and became a major star before disappearing.

hwg1957-102-265704 A police officer goes undercover in a biker gang called The Brotherhood to take them down. Nothing new really and it goes along in a familiar way to the unsurprising climax. The last action scenes are well staged however so it does end with a bit of excitement. Brian Bosworth in his first film can't act but he looks the part, despite having a silly earring and a chortle inducing mullet. He does indeed look like a grown up version of Bam-Bam as remarked by one of the characters. Thankfully the film has Lance Henriksen, William Forsythe and Gregory Scott Cummins as villains to liven up proceedings. Magic Schwarz plays Poker. Not the game, that's his monicker of course. Jerry Colker plays 'Market Psycho' and does it very well. If you like leather, bikes and violence this is the film for you.

Scott LeBrun "Stone Cold" is fine rip-roaring, kick ass, macho action entertainment, a perfectly mindless update of the biker films that took dominance in the 1960s and 70s. Functioning as the debut movie vehicle for football star Brian "Boz" Bosworth, it's got great heroes and villains and extremely well staged action sequences. Those scenes during the big climactic action *do* feature some amazing stunts. Boz exudes cool and Lance Henriksen & William Forsythe, two veteran actors often at their best in villainous roles, light up the screen. Stunt expert & director Craig R. Baxley, who'd given us the solid diversions "Action Jackson" and "Dark Angel" (a.k.a. "I Come in Peace"), guides all of it with efficiency, setting a tone immediately with the very amusing supermarket robbery opening.Boz plays Joe Huff, an Alabama cop on suspension recruited by the FBI to infiltrate a particularly ruthless biker gang named The Brotherhood, led by the malevolent "Chains" (a confident Henriksen), who run afoul of the local Mob as well as the Feds. Despite the wariness of Brotherhood member "Ice" (Forsythe), who doesn't trust "John Stone" (as Huff is rechristened), "Chains" takes on Huff as a prospect. The Brotherhood, meanwhile, is making it their mission to get revenge on a crusading district attorney (David Tress) who wants to ensure that a convicted member of their club gets a harsher punishment than was originally meted out.Man, you know that you're in for a good time with this one. The pacing & editing are first-rate in addition to the stunt work; this movie just races forward. There's a pleasingly high body count and a fair amount of brutality (but not that much gore). Besides those actors mentioned, Sam McMurray is funny as germophobic federal agent Lance, Richard Gant is good as his boss Cunningham, Arabella Holzbog is appealing as Nancy (Chains's old lady), and you'll doubtless recognize Robert Winley, who plays Mudfish, from other biker roles he's played (most memorably in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day").Be prepared to turn off your brain and just have fun with "Stone Cold". When its closing credits are accompanied by the strains of The Doobie Brothers' "Dangerous", it sends you away with a great big smile on your face.Eight out of 10.

Comeuppance Reviews Ah, "Stone Cold"... what a classic! In the Tradition of "Cobra", he puts the "force" in "enforcement"! John Stone (The Boz) is a cop who goes undercover in a biker gang to weed out the leader, Chains (Henriksen) and his dangerous crew.Okay, the plot isn't much, but how about that Mullet! Only in 1991 can you get away with that hair. Boz has a couple of good lines like "Cleanup on aisle 4", very reminiscent of Cobra's "I don't shop here".Henriksen always puts in an excellent performance. He's at his best as the villain. Forsythe looks young (and a little heavy) here, but he doesn't disappoint. The climax at the courthouse is hilarious! You gotta see it to believe it! One of the funniest cop movies ever, "Stone Cold" will always hold a special place in my heart.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com