Theme Song:
“Livin’ on the Inside,” written by Herman Jeffreys and performed by Ramona Gibbons.
This song, like the movie, is not very exciting.
There’s also a lot of synthy, guitar nonsense:
As well as an ominous bass tone that runs through the majority of the non-action scenes, to make you think something interesting is happening.
Interesting Dated References: The underground crime world being super efficient and able to plan heists, facilitate arms deals, and unleash criminal mayhem all in the span of one evening.
Best Line: None.
Social Context: Kung fu, guns, gangs, mafia bosses, more guns, more kung fu, Richard Roundtree. It all sounds like a recipe for success, but it isn’t. Killpoint is not a very good movie, but it certainly tries to fill itself with as many overused late-’70s/early-’80s tropes as possible.
Summary: Guns are stolen from an armory (do those exist?) and are immediately sold to street gangs of varying ethnicities. As luck would have it, each of those gangs just happened to be looking to indiscriminately shoot up random public locations (restaurants, grocery stores, drug stores) that same night!
The police put the emotionally-unstable Lt. James Long (Leo Fong) on the case, whose wife and child were murdered months prior.
He bumbles around for an hour trying to find out how the guns got on the streets, despite the fact everyone, including local news organizations and FBI agent Bill Bryant (Richard Roundtree, Inchon), keep telling him the guns were stolen from the armory. Eventually he sort of tries to go undercover to buy more guns from mob boss Joe Marks (a totally unhinged Cameron Mitchell, Silent Scream, The Swarm).
After some double-crossing and other bullshit, Mark’s cronie Nighthawk (pro-baseball player turned actor, Stack Pierce) tries to take control and sell the guns. Then everyone dies, or something like that. Oh, and we never really hear much more about Long’s dead wife and child. This movie makes no goddamn sense.
Worth Mentioning:
– Seriously, Cameron Mitchell looks and acts like I imagine Mickey Rourke acts at home: Ascot, loaded gun, surrounded by small dogs, oversized sunglasses, hot tub. It’s really a bizarre character.
– Richard Roundtree is barely in this movie.
– Directed by Frank Harris (Low Blow, The Patriot)
– There’s a scene filmed inside of a bar called the Candy Cat Too, which has topless dancers and dim lighting. It appears to still be in operation.
Poster and Box Art: Holy cow, does this US poster make the movie look exciting:
This looks like a violent movie you would want to watch, but then you push play and know immediately you’ve been bamboozled.
This foreign videocassette release is more accurate because it’s fucking terrible:
Availability: Released on a 9-movie DVD pack in 2006 and a 12-movie DVD pack back in 2011, or used VHS on eBay.
Dude I just watched the patriot, which is also a garbage film that makes zero sense. But it’s got sweet art like this one.