This action picture directed by Armand Mastroianni has a reactionary message, which caters to the right to bear arms lobby. During the escape from a bank holdup Joe Dallesandro loses his accomplice robber brother, and Leigh McCloskey, as a bystander, his pregnant wife. However in these days of slippery lawyers and even slippier laws, Dallesandro gets off, since the stockinged mask the bandits wore does not allow for a positive witness identification. Since Dallesandro holds McCloskey to blame for the death of his brother, via enabling him to become a police target, and McCloskey blames Dallesandro for the death of his wife, the stage is set for the titular battle. Mastroianni has little of quality to work with here, with a screenplay that is the standard of "They grow up so fast. One day I left home and she was in diapers, and when I came home she was in her wedding dress", and concerning newspaper gossip "If somebody writes it, somebody reads it". However he does manage to slip in a few nice touches, like the repeated use of the America song - campingly played on a jukebox in a climactic shootout, Dallesandro stubbing out his cigarette in food to show how tough he is, a montage of quick cuts of "No" testimony from the witnesses in the trial, and the opposing parties allow for parallels and cross-cutting. He also alludes to the western in his staging of some scenes - a bar has swinging doors and screens a John Wayne title on TV - and there is an aerial view of the two men approaching each other before the face-off. Although the only actor who gives a reasonable performance is Richard Rust as the put upon County Sheriff, Dallesandro provides the hunk appeal. Still a handsome man all these years after his legendary nude appearances for Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey, he's certainly the sexier of the two men in their matching tight jeans. Dallesandro's gay epithet to McCloskey at the trial gets the required response, even if McCloskey appears to lack the imagination for it, and Mastroianni's tongue is in full cheek when he has Dallesandro buy a child an ice cream cone.
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petershelleyau4 November 2001
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timlucero20 November 2018I enjoyed watching the actor LEIGH MCCLOSKEY in this movie about two men wanting to avenge the loss of their loved ones during a bank robbery shoot out. Without evidence to convict the robber JOE HALSEY (who owned a 1960s Ford truck), he is released and sets out on his mission to make MICK TAYLOR pay for getting his brother killed by the police. Meanwhile, MICK begins to practice his gun shooting skills with the help from his father-in-law in order to protect himself and avenge the murder of his wife. Meanwhile, a deputy named BURT persuades the woman (and childhood friend) ANGIE CORELLO to come to the police to help them convict JOE and get him out of her house. Overall, this movie is a must have for all action lovers. I got this for Christmas 2012 and glad of it. I loved this since I first saw it in 1992, the year I was graduating from high school. This and god knows how many other movies should be released on DVD. Another movie that I would like released on DVD is MY MOTHER'S SECRET LIFE, which I first saw the same year as DOUBLE REVENGE, with AMANDA WYSS & LONI ANDERSON.
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lor_24 May 2023My review was written in June 1990 after watching the movie on Republic Pictures video cassette.
This unconvincing action picture ws released on a regional basis in the south in 1988 and belatedly pops up in video stores.
The first of two back-to-back assignments for Joe Dallesandro for the indie Smart Egg Pictures, "Double Revenge" casts the former Warhol str as an unredeemable critter. Named Joe (so he can show off his real-life tattoo left over from the '60s), he's just out of prison and drags his young brother Chris Nash along on a savings & loan robbery.
During their escape, Nash is killed when innocent bystander Leigh McCloskey intervenes. McCloskey's wife is killed by Dallesndo; latter is apprehended and gets off on a technicality.
This begins a vendetta between McCloskey and Dallesandro, directed in heavy-handed fashion by horror specialist Armand Mastroianni to be a commentary on the legal system. Far too many American flag shots and a phony ending hammer home the film's cynical theme.
Acting is okay, but Dallesandro was better in the more challenging Smart Egg's "Blood Lesson". Composer Harry Manfredini gives his "Friday the 13th" music a rest, but unwisely copies Ennio Morricone soundtracks.