Kicks (VHS)

I bought this movie on ebay solely because I am a huge Shelley Hack fan. Granted, she will never be revered for her acting abilities. That's not why I am a fan. Certainly she can act but it is her beauty, style and presence that draws me in. Kate Jackson may have been the better actress but Shelley was the far more beautiful.

This uneven and at times monotonous little film (a direct to video I believe) does have it's moments of action and tension. But they are muddled down by poor direction and script. Anthony Geary's character is meant to be (and in several scenes shown to be) quite evil and heartless. But he does not have the charisma nor acting prowess to capably pull it off. Easily hired due only to his fame on tv's General Hospital. Who cares.

Shelley's character is so all over the place. She is suppose to be a strong, risk seeking diva but later on in the film certain action scenes show her to be anything but. She is strong. No wait, she is weak, No wait she is a complete victim. This is not Shelley's fault but the fault of the writers and director. How is she on any level suppose to be a counterpart to Anthony's character? Not one bit believeable. She pets seemingly angry and vicious dogs (who turned out to be anything but). He acts like his sports car is dead in the worst part of town and is attacked. Only he turns the tables around and attacks the attackers. Knives are pulled, fists are thrown. Not exactly equal.

Later on the uneven-ness shows up again when she makes him breakfast and a deadly cobra is involved. Again, a poor script & and poor direction really take the wind out of the sails on this one. I kept envisioning this to be a early cousin to Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Not that I enjoyed that clunker but the action was tight and crisp. Script was mostly top notch. And the director knew what the hell he was doing.

On a purely cosmetic point- Shelley. Oh sweet Shelley. Who convinced you to cut your hair into that horrible bob style?!! NOT flattering my love. Take it from a gay man- NOT flattering. I love ya, hon. Just not the hair in this one.

This rare and lost gem is purely for DIE-HARD Shelley Hack or Anthony Geary fans. Anyone less will be let down. One interesting connection to this film- Shelley and co-star Tom Mason would again co-star a year later in the short lived "sophisticated" dramedy "Jack & Mike" on ABC. Let's hope that was a better deal. No matter how long it was or wasn't around.