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Rating:  - a true buried treasure for the action/adventure afficiando
Released in 1981 HIGH RISK suffered the "back of the bus" treatment while higher profile adventure epics like DRAGONSLAYER, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, CLASH OF THE TITANS, and an obscure little flick called RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK took the best seats with reviewers and moviegoers. And it's a bloody shame because this "DELIVERANCE for chuckles" features a crackerjack cast (James Brolin, Cleavon Little, Chick Venera, Lindsay Wagner, Bruce Davison, Anthony Quinn, James Coburn and Ernest Borgnine) all at the top of their game; a tight plot and swift sure-handed direction by Stewart Rafill (THE PHILADELPIA EXPERIMENT); a fast paced Latin-Jazz flavored score by Mark Snow (THE X-FILES); and a cheerful glee in toying with every action/adventure movie cliche' in the book ("what would really happen if you tried to knock someone out with the butt of pistol" - hilarious.The only drawback is in the VHS tape itself - most available versions are recorded in the LP mode and the colors aren't as crisp as they should be. But if you can find a used SP version or you've got to have a grade-A action adventure fix ... you can't do much better.
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