SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 249 - Stone Cold (1991)

[europe1]

NOTE to NON-MEMBERS: Interested in joining the SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB? Shoot me a PM for more info!

Here's a quick list of all movies watched by the SMC. Or if you prefer, here's a more detailed examination.

Our Director
Craig. R Baxley

Craig Baxley is a third-generation filmmaker. After starting his career in front of the camera, working his way up as a successful stunt coordinator and second unit director on films like Predetor (1987), Reds (1981), The Long Riders (1980) and The Warriors (1979) (with such talented directors as Don Siegel, Alan J. Pakula, Warren Beatty, Norman Jewison, Walter Hill and Steven Spielberg), he transitioned making his directorial debut on the acclaimed hit series The A-Team (1983). His first feature film as a director was Action Jackson (1988) for Joel Silver and was the beginning of a very diverse career working in many genres. He later went on to direct Dark Angel (1990) (a.k.a. "I Come In Peace") starring Dolph Lundgren, Stone Cold and a number of mini-series, including Stephen King's Storm of the Century (1999), Skräckens hus (2002), The Triangle (2005), The Lost Room (2006) and King's television series Kingdom Hospital (2004), on which he directed every episode of the series.

Our Star
Brian Bosworth

Film Overview



Premise: A tough Alabama cop is blackmailed by the FBI into going undercover in a violent Mississippi biker gang.

Budget: $25 million

Box Office: $9.1 million

Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)
​

* In a Q&A with the audience after a special screening of the film in Austin's Alamo Drafthouse in 2014, Brian Bosworth talked about how original director Bruce Malmuth was fired due to some "personal issues that he couldn't control which poured out on set", and his firing caused all the original backstory for Bosworth's character to be removed and changed after Craig R. Baxley was hired to direct. About four weeks was spent filming scenes with Bosworth's character and his family (wife, child and sister), which in the end were completely axed out after $4 million was spent shooting them.

* Lance Henriksen wrote his own lines for every scene.

* Brian Bosworth has said in an interview that as a keen biker, he had previously built the bike that his character rides in the film and suggested that it be used instead, since he was more comfortable with it.

* Chains states, "God forgives, The Brotherhood doesn't." This is based on the slogan of The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, an actual outlaw motorcycle club.

Members: @europe1 @MusterX @Scott Parker 27 @JayPettryMMA @Yotsuya @HARRISON_3 @Bubzeh @the ambush @HenryFlower @Zer @Dirt Road Soldier

 

[BisexualMMA]

Chains Cooper, the most underrated cinematic villain of the entire 1990s. Henriksen was flirting with Best Supporting Actor nomination quality with his performance if you ask me.

The movie as a whole deserved better than being the vehicle for trying to make a star out of a popular athlete. Still, Bosworth did all right with the role, better than the quality we usually see from athletes turned actors.

 

[Sonny Qc]

That movie is entertaining tbh.

 

[DC23]

It’s on YouTube for any peasants like me.

 

[therealdope]

@JSN

 

[JSN]

There is a Rifftrax version on Prime. I highly recommend it. Pairs well with an edible or two.

 

[HARRISON_3]

Where can I find this one?

 

[the ambush]

Stone Cold (1991) - The Boz is an undercover cop infiltrating a southern biker gang. Lance Henriksen and William Forsythe co-star as the movie's antagonists. Stone Cold is a primo action movie.

 

[europe1]

Where can I find this one?

3 posts up

 

[Scott Parker 27]

Fucking awesome piece of 80s cheese. Chains was awesome, always loved him in hatchet man, that was a good flick. Bosworth pulled it off pretty well, surprised he never did a part 2. I'm going to watch the Charlie sheen biker movie next that was also nominated. Who doesn't love some cheesy biker shit.

 

[HARRISON_3]

Chains Cooper, the most underrated cinematic villain of the entire 1990s. Henriksen was flirting with Best Supporting Actor nomination quality with his performance if you ask me.

The movie as a whole deserved better than being the vehicle for trying to make a star out of a popular athlete. Still, Bosworth did all right with the role, better than the quality we usually see from athletes turned actors.

I haven't seen this one yet, but given the storyline, it seems like it was taylor made for Lyle Alzado.

 

[Dirt Road Soldier]

It wasn't a bad movie at all. Kinda cheesy, but nothing so over the top as to qualify as real cheese. THis movie was more a block of velveeta kinda cheese.

Bosworth wasn't as bad as he could have been in it, but he wasn't great eithers. Henrikson was the real star of the movie as Chainz, he just nailed his role perfectly. The rest of the cast wasn't bad, but they weren't very memorable. This was all about Bosworth and Henrikson, and they somehow managed to have some chemistry.

The story was pretty cliche for a late 80s/early 90s film. You saw a lot of 'cop going undercover to save his career' movies around that time so that didn't really stand out to me at all sadly.

Lots of titties though, and even a quick glimpse of bush. Kinda odd for an early 90s flick, but I wasn't gonna argue.

 

[the ambush]

One thing I would like to add is how in the movie the viewer picks up each time a person re-racks and re-loads their firearm. Some movies do not bother with this at all. A small detail but one I do noticably consider.

 

[europe1]

. Chains was awesome, always loved him in hatchet man, that was a good flick. Bosworth pulled it off pretty well

Bosworth wasn't as bad as he could have been in it, but he wasn't great eithers. Henrikson was the real star of the movie as Chainz, he just nailed his role perfectly.

I think Bosworth looked the part but... yeah he's kind of mediocre on the acting front. Especially when he has to have dialogue with the other characters. One of the films bigger problem is just that... why would a guy like Chains take to Bosworth so easily? It doesn't really feel convincing how he just makes him a member of the inner-circle from out of the blue.

I mean... in the very first scene that they meet each other, Chains is giving Bosworth his main fly girl. Wtf? Does he have cucking fantasies or something?<45>

I'm going to watch the Charlie sheen biker movie next that was also nominated.

My own favorite Biker movie.

Though it feels more like a forerunner to Easy Rider then something like this.

The story was pretty cliche for a late 80s/early 90s film.

Yeah this movie is pretty good but it just couldn't help but feel very paint-by-numbers.

Part of the problem is the "Mafia angle". We get this big scenes setting up the bikergangs feuding with the mob but it just gets dropped halfway through. Either make that a big thing or drop it entierly so to deepen the rest of the film. There is just a big drop of momentum happening midway through because of it, and because the "romance" just doesn't go anywhere. Bosworth joins the gang and then stops it at the end, and all the stuff happening in-between that feels rather inconsequential. Killing the love interest was surprising and all, but it made the middle and end feel rather disconnected from each other.

Where the movie succeeds is just capturing that hardcore, raw-raw, action-movie energy. Like the biker's partying. They're introduced shooting beer-bottles off each other's shoulders and laughing about it! And then there is that tracking-shoot through their encampments that includes naked models showering right out in the open amongst bikers and children running around and everything. Or Chain's right-hand-man getting a viking motorcycle funeral.

 

[DC23]

Spent the weekend watching old Westerns so this was a refreshing change. That being said... I watched For a Few Dollars More the night before this, which had the same "join the gang and attack from within" game plan which just irks me for some reason. The ease of it all just screams lazy writing and I'm not a fan of that plot at all. But anyway...

Thought the main guy (Brian) was awesome - reminded me of a cross between Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar. Cool guy. I don't think any acting had to be award worthy in a 90's action flick like this so not going to say that was bad or anything. Chains was great too though, really did a good job in coming across as unlikeable. (Just reading IMDB now and why did Brian go 5 years without a job after this? Any politics around it or people just thought he was garbage?)

Best parts of the film for me were the opening 15-20 minutes and then the final 15-20. Rest was a little bit meh at times I thought. Typical, classic American 90's flick though and surprisingly a fair bit of wild action scenes. Glad I watched it. Might watch that Charlie Sheen one too next.

Spoiler

Scene where the Mexican came back and then the woman ended up getting shot in the head was intense.

 

[europe1]

Just reading IMDB now and why did Brain go 5 years without a job after this? Any politics around it or people just thought he was garbage?)

That be easily explained!

Budget: $25 million

Box Office: $9.1 million

 

[Zer]

I thought this movie was badass. It was kind of like the film adaptation of a hypothetical Sherdog thread where ts infiltrates a biker gang

First of all what a great cast (Even spotted Mac's dad from Sunny and the cigar biker guy from T2). This is a really memorable Lance Henriksen performance. He's very charismatic and charming but can turn on the homicidal biker shit in a snap. That dude is amazing, he's so good in this and he joins the long list of awesome 90's action movie baddies. I really loved William Forsythe as Ice as well. He's another actor who always stands out to me - I remember him from The Devil's Rejects and as the little dick guy from Deuce Bigalow where he kind stole the movie from Rob Schneider imho. He looks like Josh Brolin's evil twin they found in an attic somewhere. Sam McMurray as the FBI agent also stood out to me as a promising comedic foil for Bosworth, I wish those two had a bit more screentime together. I loved McMurray's shtick in this he's the kind of guy who'd be giving you missions in GTA

As for Brian Bosworth, this was my first encounter with him and I thought he did an awesome job. He looks the business and has immediate screen presence, he does great with his lines and he has a jock lunk headedness that makes him likeable in a similar manner to Stallone. Some of the clothes he has to wear in the movie are something else. For all the shit Christian Bale will do for a role I'd love to see someone throw Brian Bosworth's wardrobe from Stone Cold at him. The hair speaks for itself, and it made me wonder if John Stone ended up smoking so much pots he ended up in Hudson Hawk as Butterfinger



They did a great job with the biker gang as well and kind of set them up as a Mad Max like faction with their compound and shit. The early parties set them up nicely and you can't complain about all the titties on display

Obviously it's not Doctor Zhivago in terms of storytelling, and it conveniently skims over a lot of details. Didn't bother me because it keeps the film ticking along at a steady pace and it doesn't get bogged down. I had a great time watching this and enjoyed it from start to finish

 

[Dirt Road Soldier]

One thing I really enjoyed was how it went from being a normal, cliche biker gang movie to this over the top action flick in the final act. A massive, well planned invasion of the court house seemed way more than they were capable of, especially the stealing of a damn army helicopter. But it was all great, and I loved it. And the "NO SON, ITS LOADED" line was fucking amazing, and really showed how completely unhinged Chainz was.

I just wish they explained why they were killing priests in the first place, if they did I didnt catch it.

 

[BisexualMMA]

The opening pre-credits scene was terrible and I think that just set a bad tone for the movie with critics etc. The movie had to spend the next while recovering from that scene, which it did. But they should have just left it out and opened with the bikers or filmed something else as an opening.

 

[BisexualMMA]

This is a really memorable Lance Henriksen performance. He's very charismatic and charming but can turn on the homicidal biker shit in a snap. That dude is amazing, he's so good in this and he joins the long list of awesome 90's action movie baddies.

You can really tell he has that quality on screen. Even in awful movies with no other redeeming qualities like Survival Quest he is carrying the thing just with screen presence and charisma.