Lethal Pursuit (1988) Dated 80s movie about a female musician who returns to her hometown to get raped by her ex-boyfriend.

Theme Song:

“I’m A Victim” by Bebe Cross. The sole purpose of this song is to let the viewer know that our heroine rocks and is also a victim.

The sole purpose of this song is to let the viewer know our heroine rocks and has also found a way to love.

Interesting Dated References: Being interested in or curious about what your ex-love interests are doing with their lives; Trying to seduce said ex-love interest since you have obviously forgotten why the two of you split up; Doing that fake gut-punch motion to someone you have just met; Going back to your hometown.

Best Line: “Shit man, that’s deep enough. Fuck it, get out of the hole.”

Social Context: There is no social context to Lethal Pursuit that I am easily able to identify. The overall message is don’t ever go back to your hometown if you wind up becoming successful in any way. We know this is a fallacy, because if you don’t revisit your hometown, how are you supposed to get material for the countless hours you can spend making fun of all the people who never left?

Summary: The movie begins by introducing us to rock star Debra J., played by Mitzi Kapture of Silk Stalkings and Baywatch fame.

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The overall impression we are supposed to have is that Debra J. is super famous and she’s also messing around with her guitarist, Andy, but she’s not certain about their relationship status.

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Then we switch to a totally different story and meet Craig the car thief/chop-shop worker. Craig has a giant chip on his shoulder and doesn’t care if you think the t-shirt he’s wearing is too short. Craig steals a car, agrees to buy some booze for three underage kids, gets spooked by some cops, and then heads home to the chop-shop.

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The three kids follow him and try to get their money back through the use of intimidation and nunchaku. They are all killed but one, and he crawls off into the desert to die.

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It’s not the best picture, but remember in the 80s when women’s asses were like three feet long? That was a terrible fashion trend. As luck would have it, Debra J. and Andy decide to visit her childhood home in the desert. While poking around, they discover the still-breathing body of the underage kid and take him to the hospital.

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While at the hospital, Debra J., Andy, and Andy’s Walkman decide to get a hotel room, where they make passionate missionary-style love in front of this gross wallpaper and right next to this obviously dirty fan:

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Gross. For those taking notes, Mitzi Kapture does a nude scene here, which I don’t really care about because I never watched Silk Stalkings. Speaking of which, what were you doing watching Silk Stalkings, anyway?

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Look at how long that butt is! So this whole vacation turns into quite the homecoming for Debra J., as she visits random old friends and agrees to do a special performance.

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Then along comes her old flame Warren (Blake Bahner, Blackbelt II) with whom she immediately agrees to go semi-clothed skinny-dipping.

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They talk about their love lives and days gone by and never once is Debra J. made uncomfortable about the fact that her nipples are fully visible. The whole sub-plot of the movie is that Warren is the ringleader of the chop-shop and is trying to figure out if the underage kid who escaped (that he has since killed) said anything to Debra J. about who attacked him. Then it’s time for the impromptu concert.

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After the concert, Andy makes out with some teenage girl and is so confused that the Konami arcade game to his left starts making Donkey Kong sound effects. Major factual error. Warren tries really hard to seduce Debra J. with tons of beer, but she asked to be taken home instead.

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Then Warren savagely attacks Debra J. because she wouldn’t agree to be with him. He is probably all confused and aggressive because she was swimming in front of him in extremely thin cotton garments. The next morning, Andy sees Debra J.’s injuries and decides to get revenge.

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While attempting revenge, he overhears Warren talking with Craig about all the killings. They hear him creeping and chase him back to Debra J.’s girlhood home where there’s a final gun battle.

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The only really interesting thing during this whole showdown is the extremely long and detailed scene in which Andy shows Debra J. how to make some type of homemade-blunderbuss using a pipe, a nail, some gun powder, and a bunch of junky metal parts. Then all the bad guys die and Debra J. and Andy escape. This was hardly a pursuit and it certainly wasn’t that lethal.

Both the writer and the director of Lethal Pursuit seem to have vanished. Writer Roger Stone (Goin’ All The Way, Paradise Motel) never got another writing credit. Director Donald M. Jones (Sweater Girls, The Love Butcher, The Forest) hasn’t done much of anything since. Seriously, where do these people go? I should mention Andy was played by John Stuart Wildman who has had some recent success on Kickstarter with a new project he wrote and directed called Stripped.

Poster and Box Art: The main problem with the box art is it makes the movie look way more action packed than it actually is. For the record, Warren’s face never gets as beaten up and mangled as it looks in this illustration. They make him look more beaten up than fucking Tom Berenger in Platoon. At least this illustration gets the guns right, unlike this foreign version (left):

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There’s not a single automatic or semi-automatic weapon in this entire movie. This poster really tries to make it look like a counter-and/or-regular-espionage movie. As for the one on the right, it appears to be an alternate US poster.

Availability: Despite Mitzi Kapture’s somewhat loyal cult following (and her nude scene), Lethal Pursuit has yet to make it onto DVD. Used VHS on eBay are pretty easy to find.