Jeff Wincott. plot and lots of action) is considered a failed star of the early 90s. At first, when I came across films with him on TV at that time, I would not agree with these judgments. Is this how it ended up being? I will give the answer at the end of the review of his films.
In general, the situation of the Canadian actor with a black belt in taekwondo is the same as that of many of his colleagues in sports films of the 90s - a lot of low-budget action films with good (not always) fights, but failures in everything else - from the plot to the acting. Children and fans of action films don't care - they watch how well the fights are choreographed - while the rest watch "Titanic" and "Avatar". Jeff, like the others, had a lot of personal quirks and stamps and, it seems to me, a little more than the rest. Classic old action movie with Wincott includes:
- Kali Sticks - Jeff is very fond of these weapons, they are in at least five films with him. Even if for a couple of seconds, Wincott’s hero will pick up two sticks and charge them at the enemy. We must pay tribute - with them in his hands he looks good and produces great combos. Especially - "carpet beating" - it's very nice to look at. In short - if you see Wincott as the main character in the film - get ready for scenes with Kali.
- Long battles with simple enemies. If Jeff started a fight with a couple of gopniks, it could drag on for a long time. The simplest noname or punk can take away at least 5 minutes of screen time from the hero; Yes, the hero will knock him out, but he will get up again and continue while Jeff shoots another sucker. Such fights are a big plus on the one hand, and on the other too. But if you get to the bottom of the plot, the question arises - how can these no-names even hold out against him for so long?
- Lots of high-kicking - Jeff loves to abuse it too much on screen. For those who do not understand, I will explain: this stamp indicates the presence of a huge number of kicks to the face, especially roundhouse kicks. In real life, one or two such hits lead to a dull knockout, and even the creators of A-fighters understand this, allowing only heroes and final bosses to miss more than one hit without consequences. But in B-action films and below this is abused, allowing a no-name gopnik to receive a dozen such blows, this also happens with Jeff.
- A stylish feature in the hero’s clothes and outfit. Somewhere it’s a raincoat, somewhere it’s crocodile shoes, somewhere it’s a motorcycle, and so on. Wincott tries to compensate for everything that is bad with this. It works for children, no doubt about it, we’ll write it down as a plus.
- His films attempt to make a sane plot and present the story from several angles. It's both adding family drama and theme"kill criminals or imprison them", and the theme of betrayal of friends and relatives. The screenwriters with whom Wincott worked did not always succeed, but the end result looked better than his other brothers (the same Daniels and Wilson).
- Often, the plot is about the police and corruption in it.
- Often the same chemical plant is used. After the third time he began to set his teeth on edge.
- Wincott has hackwork in combat. In particular, the lack of blows reaching the enemy’s body is noticeable - but this will not bother the inattentive viewer. There is also shit editing - in his later action films (where he is the main character), which led to the decline of his career in B-action films.
- Wincott is not against sharing screen time with other actors, for example Cynthia Rothrock и Karen Shepherd, giving teammates a lot of screen time. This adds variety to the movie and does not distract from the plot. Also, this helped him not to remain a “hero of a dead genre” and, like Wilson, not to drown in his own shit from action films, where he is “only one Dartagnan, and everyone else is a loafer,” which is why he regularly gets third-rate roles in famous films and TV series . However, sometimes this is a disadvantage - it can distract from the main plot or the actor can perform poorly.
- Wincott is dumb as an actor. Only in "Justice Missions"You believe him.
That's all with the cliches, now let's move on to the selected filmography:
"Deadly Bet" (1991)
A certain loafer Angelo loves to drink and gamble. But one day he bets on himself in a fight with the same, but much more successful loafer Rico and shamefully loses. His woman with the habits of a prostitute immediately leaves him, going to Rico, and the hero, having lost everything, first tries to win it all back in the same gambling games. Then, after a series of failures, he works part-time as a fighter for a small mafioso - right up to the tournament in which Rico participates. Angelo trains, enters the tournament, wins, the woman returns. All.
Is it necessary to watch this? It’s not worth it, the film is quite hacky in terms of editing and acting (for a B-action film); besides, I had no empathy for either the dunce-hero, who did nothing but drink and gamble, or his slut woman. The bright spot is Stephen Vincent Lee (who also carried Circle of Fire with Dragon Wilson); Gary Daniels appears here briefly at the beginning, having had a tense but sloppy fight with some black man.
There is also not enough action here (less than 30% of the film) and it is staged in the “best” traditions.”Full Contact"(Both Trimblovsky and Drakonovsky).
"Curfew 2: Undercover" (Martial Law II: Undercover, 1992)
This is a police thriller about confronting corruption and bandits. According to the plot, the heroes Wincott и Cynthia Rothrock - partners, the best cops in their department, as usual. But Wincott is transferred to another department - his help is more needed there. separating partners. In the new department, the leader is faced with the blatant corruption of local cops and begins to get to the bottom of the truth, simultaneously breaking a dozen faces. Fortunately, his partner is going on vacation and has enough time to help him.
This film is not bad and worth watching. There are a lot of fights here, they are long, using a variety of weapons - from Kali to a shotgun; albeit not without some extra high-kicking. Cynthia Rothrock is given enough screen time here, and she is not lost against the background of Wincott - her fans need not be afraid. The epoch-making villain Billy Drago is also present, but alas. He's just a corrupt police chief and there's almost no action with him.
There are also disadvantages - the fights with the main bastards in the dull factory are not convincing enough; The fight between Cynthia and Sherry Rose could have been cooler, and the charismatic Evan Lurie was also dumped, albeit spectacularly, but it could have been better.
But, I repeat, the action movie is not bad - both for Cynthia fans and Wincott fans (of which, of course, there are fewer).
"Mission of Justice" (1992)
Also a police thriller with attempts to talk about the dangers of “sects” and corruption in city authorities. The main character is policeman Curt Harris, who prefers to punish criminals with force rather than with the law. Together with my partner (Karen Shepherd) they are trying to restore order in the town. But one day, having lashed out at his boss and become disillusioned with the police, the hero goes to his old boxing coach. However, another misfortune awaits the hero - the trainer is brutally killed by Professor Larkin (Brigitte Nielsen) and her brother Titus (Matthias Hughes) - the heads of the strange semi-sect "Mission of Justice", who are trying to achieve Larkin's victory in the mayoral elections through not entirely legal means. Kurt decides to infiltrate the Mission and, after passing severe tests, begins an investigation.
I consider this film to be the best of Wincott's filmography and highly recommend it to all fans of hand-to-hand action films. The choreography may be inferior to the Chinese and some of the A-action guys, but the film is cool: a lot of furious action from Jeff and Karen (who is as cool as Cynthia Rothrock), both with and without guns; a brutal catfight at the end between Karen and Sydney Pass, the villains' assistant; the presence of a bunch of stars of that time: Wincott, Nielsen, Hughes, James Lew, Shepherd; undoubtedly memorable scenes with Kali in the training halls during the “exam” and a good presentation of the plot about the transformation of a hero irritated with villains into a just cop for this genre.
There are some downsides, but mostly these are complaints about plot points. For example, why do the heroes, who have undergone severe tests in the exams upon entering the Mission, spend too much time messing around with punks and gopniks, who can even resist them? Why didn't the black witness go to the police? Why did Larkin decide to kill the Champion in person, shining openly in a room where there could be witnesses? And so on.
However, it won’t hurt to watch it, which is what I recommend you do in your free time.
"Outlaw Cop" (Martial Outlaw, 1993)
Another police thriller from Jeff and his team, this time with elements of an “action movie about brothers.” The main character, an experienced cop Kevin White, is sent to his hometown to confront the Russian mafia. There he reunites with his brother, the karate cop Jack, and it would be the end of all Russian Ivans, but there is a problem: Jack is a corrupt bastard, and would rather put a spoke in his wheel than help his brother. Eventually they will all meet and fight each other.
Obviously, the image of Jack was borrowed from an old Soviet Eastern film"Hatred"(perhaps the actor Skomorovsky, who played the main villain in the action movie Jeff, suggested it) - there was a similar bastard brother, who also stood his ground until the last and eventually betrayed his brothers, later changing his mind and taking a bullet for it. I may be wrong, but the images very similar - especially since Gary Hudson he coped with this role perfectly, overshadowing the cardboard Wincott.
There are quite a few good fights in the film from both Hudson and Wincott; the long scenes in the Russian bar and the “Russian circle” (which is a reference to the duel “Carousel”) are good. In fights, scenery is broken, various weapons and objects are used. Brotherly drama is also present - Jack still does not want Kevin to die and saves him at the last moment - but the heroes are not shown very well as brothers: there is little joint action, the brothers often fight separately.
The final showdown also spoils the impressions. The fight with the muscleman Sergei (Stefanos Miltsakakis) could have been better, as well as the final showdown between the brothers, which looked not like a spectacular fight (especially after what the heroes had done before) at the end of an action movie, but like a fight with a passable boss at the end of an episode of some kind. some cheap police series about "It's hot in Los Angeles".
Regarding the Russian mafia, I didn’t see much cranberries, except for the church and a forgotten cranberry stamp about cutting off fingers for joints (it was in the cool horror movie “Wishmaster-2” and somewhere else, I forgot), otherwise the Russians look like ordinary villains from action movies, the same , like everywhere else, only with a certain touch of sportiness (hello to Ivan Drago).
Conclusion - quite watchable; nevertheless, all Wincott clichés, both positive and negative, are here. On a personal note, I got hooked from the moment where Hudson knocks out the idiot with the Russian newspaper.
"Open Fire" (Open Fire, 1994)
An action movie in the style of "Die Hard" - terrorists seize a chemical plant, and the main character, again a cop (Wincott), tries to save everyone and kill the villains in one person.
Alas, Jeff Wincott also became a victim of the transition of B-action films from the hand-to-hand genre to the shooting genre, and again, this did not go well. No, there are fights here, especially at the end, with a colorful Patrick Kilpatrick, in place of the same killing of reptiles with improvised elements and landing on the scenery, and out of habit, Wincott picks up two sticks - but only for a couple of seconds in order to take away the pistol and shoot the next reptile. The gun will be knocked out again - but not for long.
The dull scenery of the factory, cheap shootouts and by that time a hackneyed plot do not add advantages to the film (against the background of the same “Mission” or at least “Wrath” with Daniels), besides, there is a lot of unnecessary chatter in the plot.
Hack and predictor Aviator - starting with this film, Wincott began to deflate as an action hero. Still, it's worth watching, as long as you're a big fan of the Terrorist Capture genre and an equally big fan of Wincott. The rest are gone.
"Last Man Standing" (1995)
An action shooter about a policeman trying to avenge his best friend (played by a then-unknown Jonathan Banks, whose finest hour would come many many years later in “Breaking Bad”), who was killed by corrupt officials. In addition, there is a very evil and arrogant gang operating in the city, which is at one with these cops.
A standard shooter action movie of the second half of the 90s: a bunch of long (and therefore very annoying) chases, a lot of weak shootouts and a couple of fights (short for Wincott) with not the best editing. There is little left of Wincott himself with his signature chips - he could have been completely replaced by Wilson, Daniels, Jeff Fahey, Speakman and so on - no one would have noticed the difference.
Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend watching it, even though there’s plenty of action.
After the last film I decided that I had more Jeff Wincott there is nothing good (in those films where he is the main character) and I stopped watching. This, of course, also dawned on Wincott, because he, like Jerry Trimble, has become more selective in his roles and appears in all sorts of fairly well-known films and TV series in second or third roles. To summarize, Jeff Wincott really didn’t take off and the reasons for this are the cardboard and monotonous nature of the actor and his lack of development on the screen. This coincided with the decline of the era of hand-to-hand B-fighters and led to this result.
However, this does not stop me from re-watching “The Mission” with pleasure every time it comes across on TV.
Peace to all and bye!
Author: uranium
Especially for Fight-Films.Info
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Tags: Deadly Bet, Last Man Standing, Martial Law II: Undercover, Martial Outlaw, Mission of Justice, Open Fire, Gary Daniels, Gary Hudson, Jeff Wincott, Karen Shepherd, Curfew 2, Matthias Hughes, Justice Mission, Open fire, Outlaw cop, Cynthia Rothrock, Deadly bet, Stephen Vincent Lee
Tags: Deadly Bet, Last Man Standing, Martial Law II: Undercover, Martial Outlaw, Mission of Justice, Open Fire, Gary Daniels, Gary Hudson, Jeff Wincott, Karen Shepherd, Curfew 2, Matthias Hughes, Justice Mission, Open fire, Outlaw cop, Cynthia Rothrock, Deadly bet, Stephen Vincent Lee
"Mission of Justice" turned out to be more or less sane in terms of action, first of all, because it was handled by a very interesting fight coordinator Jeff Pruitt, who played the role of Sal there - a rather bright supporting character who, IMHO, overshadowed the main character in the garage duel.
Pruitt is known for coordinating work on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Power Rangers (and many others; his latest acting work to date is the post-apocalyptic film with Lundgren, Battle of the Damned). He also starred with Wincott in the film Curfew 2.
Pruitt is the husband of Sophia Crawford (quite famous in the 90s as a stuntwoman and actress of female fighters).
Working with Wincott:
Ravenside, cool video!
Wave,
Pruitt is actually very cool when he does something on screen, and not just behind the scenes. I can say that in technology he was even ahead of his time. And even more so, it was ahead of the Wincott woodworking plant.
Ravenside,
By the way, I came across an interesting interview with Pruitt -> http://budomate.com/jeff-pruitt-exclusive-interview/
DIV,
In fact, it should be translated. But right now I don't have time. If no one takes the risk, I'll do it myself.
uranium,
Oh... I wish I could get to Dacascos' interview... :(
Ravenside,
Thank you for the video! Yes, sometimes it’s necessary to tag other guys in reviews, but I’m more of a spectator, not such a deep reviewer. But there is also Art Camacho and Garrett Warren.
The mission is not only put together well like a fighting game, there is also a smooth plot, no frills, with progress towards the finale, an attempt at character development and a final boss, as well as themes. that you believe Wincott more here. If only there was more advertising for this movie, I would put it in an A-action movie.
Has anyone seen taekwondo in his film? In my opinion, he is the same taekwondo athlete as Eric Roberts, about whom they wrote that he has a black belt.
jean,
By the way, it's a good question. I tensed up and began to remember - there were a lot of kicks in addition to high kicks, but I didn’t remember any taekwondo combinations, and neri-chagi and other similar kicks exist in karate.
"Undercover" and "Mission of Justice" still look good for b-action films. There is something about these movies that is good and intriguing. Although Wincott never tried to play. He looks much better as a character in modern TV series in minor roles than in the 90s in the main roles. This is such a metamorphosis...
DIV,
He plays minor roles in more famous works. And whether you like it or not, they will force you to play.
There is another Kali lover, also Jeff Speakman. The film "The Perfect Weapon", oh, it was hot there and the main villain is colorful - Mako.
Elbrus Nukite,
And we'll get there)
In addition to the films of the early 90s, I watched on TV-6 the Canadian sequels of “Universal Soldier” with Battaglia and Wincott. At that moment it seemed good, but then I didn’t reconsider it.
Mery,
Yes, I saw one of them, Grace Jones also appeared there. They were considered official continuations, there was even some kind of quarrel with VanDamme on this topic.
Many old films are not worth re-watching, let them remain in pleasant memories.))
barsug,
Exactly!