On Sunday May 4th, 2014, The Alamo Drafthouse once again made magic happen. Programmer Greg MacLennan managed to bring an extremely rare 35mm print of Stone Cold to Austin, AND The Boz himself, Mr. Brian Bosworth, the star of the film and former NFL superstar/notorious bad boy. I’ve written about Stone Cold in my Action/Adventure Section column and I encourage you to read my take there. Here, I’ve avoided revisiting that review in order to bring you fresh thoughts on the film after this screening and excellent Q and A. Enjoy!
Stone Cold is a genuine A-picture. With a real cast of actors assembled to back up the fledgling football star and non-actor Brian Bosworth in his big screen debut, a seemingly large budget to disperse awesome action sequences throughout the run time, a power metal soundtrack that’ll kickstart puberty, a remarkable team behind the camera who crafted wonderful fights, eye-brow singing explosions and chases, and deft camera work to capture it all.
The necessary elements for a great action film are surprisingly readily available here with this team, so in many ways the biggest question mark would have to be The Boz himself. But never fear: for a guy who dreamed of nothing but football and never wanted to be an actor… Bosworth is a remarkable screen presence. With more natural charisma than many of his action hero contemporaries, and the bulk and good looks to match, it is a shame he hasn’t done more films.
Boz plays undercover cop Joe Huff, who specializes in biker busts, but OBVIOUSLY plays by his own rules and begins the film under suspension… which we learn after a James Bond-esque mini adventure in which Huff foils a grocery store robbery and wraps it all up with a quick “clean up on aisle 4” joke. Boz nails the one-liners better than many of his contemporaries ever did as well.
Soon the higher ups start manipulating things, as they always do, and pressure Huff into infiltrating the villainous biker gang called The Brotherhood, under threat of majorly extending his suspension. Headed up by Lance Henriksen as a dude named Chains Cooper, and his suspicious right-hand man called Ice played by William Forsythe, the Brotherhood’s code is straight G.F.B.D. “God Forgives, Brotherhood Doesn’t”. And when Boz goes undercover as John Stone, he’ll move quickly up the ranks and find a way to take down both The Brotherhood and the mob, all in one massive bust.
But, as most people named Chains Cooper tend to do, Henriksen’s constantly laughing biker general is growing increasingly unstable. And Ice grows more suspicious of him all the time. So, a little mistrust here, and a little dash of murder there, and the next thing you know, The Brotherhood is storming City Hall with a fleet of motorcycles and a particularly mean helicopter, taking hostages and killing Senators named “Whip” Whipperton in order to break one of their brothers free. Chains’ plan is the work of a crazy person. Clearly you don’t run a full frontal offensive on a federal courthouse, take hostages, and then plan to ride into the sunset, right? But Chains’ poor plan not withstanding, he actually largely accomplishes what he sets out to do in killing a Senator. Humorously, Stone is able to kill a ton of bikers and put an end to their crazy siege, but he hardly saves the day or anything.
Look, none of that really matters. What does matter is that the climax of this movie allows for something truly special. Director Craig R. Baxley (Action Jackson, The A-Team) oversees an orchestra of mayhem with a climactic set piece that feels right out of James Cameron’s playbook as bikers drive up and down marbled steps, automatic weapons fire every which way, a helicopter swoops right down through main street with an old school, mid-air fist fight captured in the helicopter mid-flight… and then a freaking motorcycle WILL get launched through the air into that helicopter in the peak of the film’s climax.
Stone Cold is funny when it wants to be, tough as nails when it is trying to be, endlessly entertaining without being eye-rolling, and the whole affair is backed up with top notch work from cast and crew. The whole thing was a star vehicle for Brian Bosworth and this stunt casting somehow never hobbles the end result, but rather results in something inspired. (This is no guarantee… just ask Dennis Rodman about how well his “charisma” translated onto the big screen). Plus… as I may have mentioned… there’s a bloody biker siege on city hall which can’t possibly disappoint you even AFTER I’ve hyped it up.
I love this movie, and won’t offer it as an ironic recommend, or a guilty pleasure. Stone Cold is a balls-out action thriller with laughs that hold up, a throbbing metal soundtrack, and a mean streak matched only by the quality of the action and practical stunt work on display.
The Event
After the lights went up, The Boz took the stage for an absolutely wonderful Q and A which gave all kinds of insight into the background of the film and the production. Bosworth remains a mountain of a man who could easily still command a screen presence and should probably be cast in an Expendables movie, or even something that is actually really good. The guy is massive, and majorly forthcoming about his life.
A few highlights included:
When a woman asked The Boz how many women he had slept with and what he was doing later that night, I couldn’t help but be impressed with her boldness, or be sympathetic to Boz when he turned beet red and suggested he probably shouldn’t answer the question since his wife and son were in the audience.
Actor Magic Schwarz also took the stage and told all about the finale shot at the Arkansas State Capitol and how they didn’t tell any officials what they really planned to do and then spent three days driving motorcycles around the capitol and crashing a flying motorcycle into a helicopter. He joked that some people involved in giving them permission to shoot there were fired, and I’m not sure he was actually joking.
Boz opened up significantly about his personal life and journey. He was clear that being an action star or an actor was never his goal, and that his NFL career-ending injury sent his life out of control. He claims to have been largely lost in life over the duration of his film career and says that a relatively recent embracing of Christianity has given him peace about his career not working out as he always dreamed. This is a guy who has lived a very public life, filled with controversy and some amount of failure, and he just puts it all right out there in the open. You’ve got to respect that. And I really mean you’ve GOT to, because he’ll break your face open if you don’t.
Regarding the actual production of the film, apparently another director was in charge for 4 weeks and was fired, with much of that footage being totally scrapped and the whole character of Stone being re-written and streamlined to be a loner instead of a family man. So despite the film appearing to have a highly professional sheen of filmmaking craft over top of it, it really was dashed together quickly. Boz even said many of the character’s clothes (including a fascinating t-top/thong-type garment he wears at one point) came out of his own personal wardrobe!
He also said that his character’s pet iguana in the film wasn’t his idea, but, if you were wondering… yes, those kinds of iguanas DO defecate explosively 100% of the time.
This was an action fan’s dream of a night, with Greg and The Alamo serving as MC and gracious hosts respectively, Brian Bosworth being a class act and great entertainer, and a miracle of a movie that clearly shouldn’t have turned out as well as it did, and also deserves a resurgence of popularity and a proper high definition home video release. Let’s make that happen, fellow Actionites!
“He’ll burn you cold”
And I’m Out.