cult film freak: MEMORIAL BAGFUL OF JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT ARCHIVE REVIEWS

Jan-Michael Vincent and Robert Mitchum Year: 1971 Rates: ***

GOING HOME: This obscure drama, bordering on intentional page-turning melodrama and centering on a war hero, Robert Mitchum, who violently murders his wife (Sally Kirkland) witnessed by his four-year-old son, now grown-up in the form of brooding rebel Jan-Michael Vincent, is passably entertaining fare...

Robert Mitchum (who'd star with Vincent in THE WINDS OF WAR a decade later) resides with miscast trailer-trash girlfriend (she seems too upper-middle suburbia for lowlife) Brenda Vaccaro, while Jan-Michael, having just returned home, seems either bent on revenge or forgiveness for his aged, yet still tough as nails, pop as they hang out bowling and drinking: making up for lost time. The best moments involve jarring situations that seem vividly real but aren't really happening (seen in Vincent's mind)... one has Mitchum destroying a pick-up-truck with a tire iron... or flashbacks viewed in present-time locations ala IN COLD BLOOD. It's a breezy character-study but without much character-development, neither Mitchum or Vincent becoming fully realized, nor their past fitfully resolved, but it's nice seeing the two steely mavericks together either way.

Jan-Michael Vincent in Hard Country YEAR: 1981 Rates: ***

HARD COUNTRY: One of those blue collar beer guzzlin' factory worker films where if you're not one of the endearingly-flawed good guys, you're a shady, sinister rich jerk... with no in-betweens: Plot centers on a disgruntled factory worker, played by Jan-Michael Vincent, who loves drinkin' and lovin' his girlfriend – in that order – and his better half, a young Kim Basinger, who wants to move to California for a better life: one that doesn't include drunken cowboys and bar fights.

This movie can't get any more predictable but the two leads carry things decently enough till the end, which you'll see coming for miles. Michael Parks is Vincent's real estate mogul brother who, once he spouts a racial epitaph out loud, you know he'll eventually fall by the wayside. Tanya Tucker is Kim Basinger's famous country singin' older sis who plants the seed that Texas is a place to get out of while the gettin' out is good. Daryl Hannah is Kim's younger sister who digs Texas fine enough – just as long as there's another car to fix. And character-actor Gailard Sartain, usually cast as an uptight stuffed-shirt (the fat cop in HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS), plays Vincent's comic relief buddy. Meanwhile, up front, Jan-Michael provides his usual slow-burn cool, and, donning a Bronson-tough mustache, is as great to watch as ever – as long as you don't mind the simplistic and forced classy envy undertone.

Jan-Michael Vincent w/ Joan Goodfellow 1974 Rates: ***1/2

BUSTER AND BILLIE: Even in the good times, a touch of melancholy permeates the idyllic existence of Buster, played by Jan-Michael Vincent: Good looking and friendly, he's different than most cinematic popular high schoolers, hanging with town outcast Whitey (Robert Englund), he dates the lovely and uptight Margie (Pamela Sue Martin) and shoots pool, hustling young locals more envious than loyal...

When Buster meets a quiet backwoods girl named Billie, who’s been around the block with all of Buster’s friends, the shift changes into a melodic, strange love story. Their scenes together, spending time in the plush woodsy exterior, feel like two people with nothing left on earth but each other; while the romance, with few words spoken, is never corny or melodramatic: This is one of Jan-Michael Vincent’s best performances: he’s intense, caring and tough at the same time. But it’s Joan Goodfellow’s Billie that mesmerizes not only our smitten hero, but with her subtle beauty and sad eyes, provides a gentle substance – like she's caught in a daydream. All leading to an explosive doubled-edge climax both shocking and tragic, albeit you’ll see it coming for miles.

Jan-Michael Vincent Year: 1977 Rates: ****

DAMNATION ALLEY: Regarded by most critics as a horrible science-fiction post-nuclear film... it isn't: An adventurous and creative plot centers on a group of military survivors in and outside of a large all-terrain desert vehicle called "The Landmaster" battling killer cockroaches, giant crabs, and mutated hillbillies...

A terrific ride that keeps you interested in the fate of the military men played by Jan-Michael Vincent (the dirt bike riding rogue), George Peppard (the leader), Paul Winfield (the artist), and the civilians they pick up on the way: Dominique Sanda (the babe) and Jackie Earle Haley (a rock throwing kid): Scenes involving the vehicle plundering across the barren desert avoiding lighting storms, tornadoes and floods are riveting and intense, as are the frequent stops at seemingly deserted gas stations and towns where various antagonists, man and beast alike, try killing them. It's a post-nuke RAT PATROL that kicks ass from beginning to end. Perfect imperfection.