Pure Danger (1996 Video) User Reviews (8)

Howell loses control.

[DigitalRevenantX7 · 3/10 · 10 August 2015]

A meeting between two groups of gangsters in Las Vegas goes horribly wrong when the leader of one gang tries to stiff the other for the loot – a bag of 'hot' diamonds. The other group of gangsters are massacred except for one who gets away with the diamonds. He reaches a remote diner where he passes the stones to the cook & waitress with explicit instructions to hand them over to a friend who will be coming to collect before expiring. The cook & waitress decide to run with the loot, unaware that both gangs are after them for the diamonds.

C. Thomas Howell is known for starring in B-grade thrillers & genre films, his best role being in the masterpiece thriller THE HITCHER. But what is less well known is that Howell is also a director in his own right. Pure Danger is one of his directorial efforts, produced by the PM Entertainment studio.

Despite having some skill has a director, Howell quickly loses control of the film. Some of the acting is absolutely atrocious – key offender being Rick Shapiro whose relentless mugging of the stage causes the scenes he is in to collapse in ridicule. It is clear that Howell has had a hard time trying to keep the film together when everyone involved in the cast don't seem to be taking things too seriously. The script is a shambles – things happen with little rhyme or reason & the characterisations consist of racial stereotypes & nasty touches like hiding diamonds in a corpse by stuffing them up his anus. The car chases go so far beyond the bounds of credibility that you'll be laughing at them to their detriment. Having said that, the film has an agreeably dark sense of humour that works a little to elevate the film from junk status.

Ok plot, poor lead actress, ok first director attempt from C.Thomas

[Flash-31 · 5/10 · 4 October 1998]

For first attempt as director, ok effort from C.T. but many improvements needed. Storyline ok, lead actress terrible. C. Thomas' acting also weak, not convincing. Seems difficult for him to do the comedy-action role.

C. Thomas Howell goes on the run

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 12 October 2017]

PURE DANGER is a familiar-looking action thriller from PM Entertainment, albeit with an anti-hero lead for a change. B-movie specialist C. Thomas Howell plays a drifter who accidentally comes into possession of some priceless diamonds and goes on the run with a short-order waitress. Trouble looms in the form of rival gangs battling to regain possession of their loot, while a steadfast hit-man - COOL RUNNINGS star Leon - mercilessly hunts them down. As with many PM films, the plot is nothing special here, but there are endless shoot-outs and vehicle chases, all of them lovingly filmed and enjoyable. If that's your bag, you'll have a ball with this one.

See it for the final chase

[udar55 · 7/10 · 8 January 2006]

From the early to mid-90s, PM Entertainment was my favorite exploitation, DTV company. They delivered competent productions that delivered some of the best slam bang action of the time period. Forget the computer enhanced stunts in TRUE LIES or ERASER...PM is where it was at. This crime flick marks the third directorial effort by actor C. Thomas Howell (his second for PM Entertainment after the detective film THE BIG FALL) and is a perfect example of the "everything must be like Tarantino" era in Hollywood in the wake of PULP FICTION. Howell stars as Johnie Dean, an ex-con now working as a short order cook. When a bag of diamonds fall into his lap, Johnie and his waitress girlfriend become targets of several gangs looking to steal the diamonds. Yes, it is TRUE ROMANCE with diamonds instead of cocaine.

Howell and company seem to be having a good time with this production. It never takes itself too seriously (how could anyone take Howell seriously with that mustache?) and features an amazing final chase scene coordinated by Spiros Razatos. Seriously, this car chase is one of the scariest things I have ever seen featuring real cars screeching, exploding and flipping right in front of each other. I am still trying to figure how they got permits to film this stuff on LA's streets and highways. John Landis would be proud. Howell also populates his cast with some familiar faces including Leon (dressed exactly like Samuel L. Jackson in PULP FICTION), Michael Russo, Macrus Chong, Irwin Keyes and Carrot Top!

Hilarious action picture that doesn't take itself too seriously. .

[Wizard-21 · 10/10 · 6 April 1999]

Solid cast, funny, dangerously exciting, excellent action sequences. Script seemed appropriate for this eccentric film noir and cast supported it. C.T. had his hands full.

Poor Dice!

[Crap_Connoisseur · 4 November 2005]

OK, so this film is not high art. The plot is a bit thin, the lead actress is more wooden than my garden furniture and some of the dialogue is a bit embarrassing. Nevertheless, this film does have a lot to offer! Firstly, any film with C. Thomas Howell can't be all bad. As usual, he rises above his material and gives another great performance. I also found his direction to be lively and creative. Somebody give this man a budget and a script editor for his next directing foray and there will be no stopping him!

The film itself is not without charm. I loved the character of Dice. The scene where he tries to fence the diamonds to a mafia boss, while he's sitting on the toilet is worth the rental price alone! Likewise, the scene where Dice's girlfriend comes up with a most unusual hiding place for bounty is a stroke of genius.

Throw in a great final car chase, a couple of completely gratuitous scenes in strip clubs and some so-bad-it's-GREAT dialogue and you really can't go wrong for a fun hour and a half of entertainment. Highly recommended for the more forgiving viewer!

Another "True Romance" knockoff

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 8 May 2014]

B-movie thespian C. Thomas Howell did double duty on "Pure Danger." Not only did he slip behind the camera to helm it, but he also as plays the protagonist. This preposterous but entertaining action comedy may remind you of Tony Scott's "True Romance." Howell plays Johnny Dean, a short-order cook wrongly convicted for a crime that he didn't commit and sent to prison for two years. Dean has another six months left on his probation because he didn't make it punctually to his last appointment with his parole officer. Make no mistake, Johnny is a loser and he drags down a pretty waitress, Becky (Terri Ann Linn of "Fallout") with him when he embarks on a desperate bid to elude mobsters of every description. Meanwhile, several trigger-happy thugs are blasting away each other without a qualm over a fortune in diamonds. The profane DePalma (Michael Russo) leads one gang of well-dressed thugs. An icy cold African-American gangster Felix (Leon of "Waiting to Exhale") clashes with DePalma and pursues Johnny and Becky through the movie. Leon has the best line that is far too profane to repeat here. This outlandish late-night, straight-to-video, shoot'em up boasts a delicious sense of irony. Some of the dialogue by Joseph John Barmettler and William Applegate Jr. isn't bad. Howell directs with a sense of humor and speed, and "Pure Danger" never sacrifices momentum on the way to fadeout. Veteran stunt man Spiro Razatos, who coordinated the stunts on "Swordfish," "Bad Boys," "Fast & Furious 6," and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," stages some explosive, top-notch, car crashes in downtown Los Angeles that will make you sit up and say "Wow!" The acting is a mixed bag, but "Pure Danger" amounts to nothing but pure fun throughout its zany but blood-splattered 99 minutes. The ending is a real hoot, too.

Great pulp action flick

[jjfiggs · 10/10 · 8 February 2011]

This movie is very entertaining and has some great cameos from terrific actors. C.T. Howell is awesome as an ex-con and down and out wise cracking cook who finds himself working in diner hell somewhere in the middle of nowhere. When thugs converge on the remote diner he works at, a black gang comes to take the diamonds from the racist mobsters and a point blank shoot out leave bodies and the bag of diamonds that C.T.'s character and the waitress he works with seize the golden opportunity to get out of their dim existence and make the big time. They know where to cash in the diamonds but their lives are in constant peril as both the mob and the black gangsters are in hot pursuit. The rest of the movie is a thriller action roller coaster that is very entertaining and worth the watch.