Catch the Heat

A whiskey stream of consciousness review. As others have said, Tiana Alexandra-Silliphant's is adorable as an undercover narc. Her charisma takes a grade D movie and makes it watchable, Best lines of the film: "Federal agents do not kick people in the head" and "Now you give names or I give you a *." Pretty good stunt work in first main chase scene. Cinderella Poo is the cover name?! Lol. Recently seeing Raw Head Rex, pretty neat seeing David Dukes in another genre. Dudes haircut looks like a piece. Not as obvious as Rod Steiger of course. Second best line of the movie might be: "You no want to be cinderellas friend? Your loser not me!" This film has a lot of pretty good Grade A heavys IMO including Brian Thompson, John Hancock, and Brian Libby. Rod Steiger plays a pretty good main baddie, but sometimes moves through his scenes like oatmeal. Any movie with Sub Zero (Professor Tory Tanaka) is a movie for me. The drug smuggling operation plot device has to be one of the most original I've seen. End sequence has a lot of cheese and unimpressive stunts and staging. Honestly with a better ending, this movie is a must see for 80s action fans. If only it had been handled like the first 2/3rds of the film. The final death scene, although subtle, works pretty well. Ultimately, Tiana's cuteness carries the day and makes it watchable. Enjoyed with a dram of Knob Creek Single Barrel. Cheers!

source: Catch the Heat

Checkers Goldberg (Alexandra), who apparently is the original Whoopi Goldberg, is a San Francisco-based federal agent. Her beauty and charm have led her into dangerous undercover work, such as dealing with drug-dealing scumbags like Danny Boy (Thompson). But she gets her biggest undercover job to date when she and partner Waldo Tarr (Dukes, who apparently is the original David Duke) must go to Argentina to stop big-time drug lord/talent scout Jason Hannibal (Steiger) and his army of goons such as Dozu (Tanaka). Evidently crucial to this crimefighting process is Goldberg's transformation into Cinderella Pu, a stereotype-Chinese character with a thick accent. Will Waldo and Checkers be able to bring down their criminal empire...and fall in love in the process? Yes...WALDO and CHECKERS. This movie is very, very dumb, not to mention stupid. It's directed by Joel Silberg, the director of the first Breakin' (1984). All we can say is...stick with Breakin'. Like Breakin', this movie does feature some noteworthy music on the soundtrack (such as theme song "Captive in the Heat"... not Catch the, but Captive in, for those keeping score at home) and cool 80's fashions. But the Martial Arts is pretty watered down and the humor is lame. This is surprising considering the movie was written by famous, lauded writer Stirling Silliphant. Alexandra is nice to look at, but she's no female Sho Kosugi, as this movie seems to be grooming her to be. Her line readings are so bad they're funny, but maybe it's supposed to be that way. Rod Steiger is on hand for some reason as the main baddie. It's a total paycheck role for this normally fine actor. They don't make him do anything too strenuous for fear that his wig might fly off. While this movie isn't totally without its merits, and has a nice cast, including fan-favorite Brian Thompson in a small role - yes, Yahoots Magoondi himself - and the always-lovable Professor Toru Tanaka - Catch the Heat (whatever that means) shouldn't exactly be a priority for your collection. For more action insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

At some point in the 1980's I guess the Shoot 'em up genre was considered to be guaranteed box-office gold. That fact must have been on the minds of the producers of this horribly made 1987 action movie. Instead of gold what we have here is pure Hollywood hokum. At its best, it is an extremely dated, nonsensical, wholly unappealing movie with the flimsiest of plots. At worst, it's downright racist with the female's lead stereotyping Asian women and their 'in-abilitee to no-talk-ee good EN-grish.' Rod Steiger does nothing to help, sleepwalking through his role as a South American drug smuggler / talent scout (yes,...really). The inane "A-Team" style, rock 'em - sock 'em, kung-fu action interspersed throughout the film does nothing to salvage this sinking ship. Neither does the attempt at a love story between the male lead and his Asian co-star. Even a hot, kung-fu kicking babe can't save this rambling, boring, beast of a movie from the weight of its own lumbering storyline, painful dialogue and grindhouse acting. Don't waste your time.It would be more entertaining to go down to the local Chinese deli and spend the evening watching the clerk clean the meat slicers.

If you're a fan of movies of strong and beautiful women and also enjoy a taste of the 80s, this is a must. I don't understand all of the negative reviews. This is a typical action flick of its time with nothing at all wrong with it. Storyline: Undercover police woman has a task to figure out how drug smugglers and murders are getting away with their crimes. There's a nice romance subplot between her and her partner and their growth is endearing. Tiana Alexandra-Silliphant plays the police woman. It's the only action movie she ever stared in and it's a shame because she's an excellent and realistic martial artist. What I mean is that unlike other movies where it's kind of obvious the woman would lose the fight in reality, Tiana's fights are believable. And often, the big guy she's fighting overpowers her and her ways of winning the fights are believable. Quick pros and cons: I really liked how the writers used realistic fight sequences. As a fan of 80s music, that was okay, too. However, the guns scenes were a bit ridiculous. Everyone had machine guns and used them like toys. This movie is not a gun movie though. Every scene with Tiana was charming and her character was adorable and fun. As a fan of movies with women who can fight, you should watch this and you won't be let down. It's free on YouTube. Just look up "Catch the Heat 1984" there. Also, give this a thumbs up if it helped you, or down if you're an Aussie (I know that means "like" to you people).

If it were not for spunky heroine, "Checkers Goldberg", played by Tiana Alexander, "Catch the Heat" could be dismissed as just another mindless shoot em up to fill the drive in theaters. Her performance is so upbeat and entertaining however, that it overcomes the "I've seen it all before" plot. The first hour is the best part of "Catch the Heat", with "Checkers" kicking and killing "Professor Toru Tanaka". The late David Dukes is along for the ride as Alexander's partner, but his performance is completely forgettable. The same could be said for Rod Steiger, who plays a geriatric villain. The movie is not to be taken seriously, and comes across as more or less mocking itself. - MERK

It's hard to believe that acclaimed writer Stirling Silliphant wrote this lame screenplay until you find out that the movie's star, Tiana Alexandra, was his real life wife. He didn't do her any favors with this vehicle that failed to make her a star. Apparently she realized the awfulness of this movie during production, because throughout she gives a performance that comes across as being extremely p*ssed off about being there. Her bad performance is a big reason why the movie fails, but the movie also suffers from being extremely boring. There are only two (brief) action sequences in the first half of the movie, and those action scenes as well as the action in the second half come across as extremely flat and without any excitement at all. The only thing of interest in the movie is that it was filmed on location in Argentina, which does occasionally give a backdrop that's eye-catching.

I am amazed that this spicy, action-full movie, received such bad reviews. I loved it so much that when the excellent MGM DVD wound up, I watched it again. The plot engages our interest right from the start. The movie is chock full of action. The director makes great use of his real locations. All the players, especially Tiana Alexandra and Rod Steiger, deliver excellent, hard-hitting performances. Best of all, the movie was lensed on a top budget, making great use of all the fascinating, real-life settings. In fact, all the action at the climax must have cost a fortune to film. The many stunts we see are just incredible! The script holds the attention all the way from the tense opening scenes to the rousing climax. I thought that Tiana Alexandra was a real find. No angel could be more super-beautiful or more skilled in both attack and defense in the movie's many fight scenes.

"Catch the Heat" tells the story of top narcotics cop Checkers Goldberg - no kidding, that's really what they call her, played by Tiana Alexandra. After a bust she and her partner Waldo Tarr (David Dukes) get the name of a major drug supplier, Jason Hannibal (Rod Steiger), who doubles as a talent scout. They travel to Buenos Aires to take Hannibal down as well as any other criminal scum with whom he associates. The movie, incredibly, was written by Oscar winning screenwriter Stirling Silliphant, who was married to the Saigon-born Alexandra at the time and wrote the movie basically as a vehicle for her. It has a knowingly tongue in cheek, cheesy quality about it, which may satisfy some B movie lovers, but the truth is that "Catch the Heat" doesn't offer much that people haven't seen in numerous other B action movies. Still, it's not without its moments. Just witness as Checkers, in a fury, decides that opening a door by twisting the door knob isn't nearly as much fun as kicking the door down. The dialogue is often pretty priceless, and one has to believe Silliphant was parodying the genre at times. As a vehicle for Ms. Alexandra, it works well enough; whatever she lacks in acting chops is made up for with her spunk and sex appeal. (She looks cute and sexy wearing various revealing outfits). Dukes's performance is positively goofy, but Steiger ends up wasted in a rather boring villainous part. Still, it's fun to note the number of familiar faces in supporting roles: Brian Thompson, John Hancock, Brian Libby, and Professor Toru Tanaka. None of this is ever particularly exciting, but it manages to be oddly watchable just the same. The location shooting is one asset, and the obligatory pop theme song is good for some chuckles. One would have to be a pretty undemanding and easygoing genre fan to really dig this, especially as its ending isn't all that satisfying. Overall, it's not exactly "good", but not all that bad either. Six out of 10.

Yet another of those not so brilliant films about the life of a female cop. This one however, is Chinese but American raised, and she is known as something of a Kung-Fu expert (originality!). Her latest mission is to pretend to be a singer from Hong Kong called Cinderella-Poo (!) in order to infiltrate a gang of drug smugglers who hide their stash in women's breasts and pretending that they're silicon implants (!!). This bizarre plot is further complicated by the fact that one of the criminal gang has been arrested by our heroine before, and shock, horror! Her commanding officer is secretly in love with her! How will all this be resolved? Does anybody care? Well, 'Feel The Heat' is noteworthy for one thing. It features the worse use of pigeon English I've ever heard, when Miss Poo puts on her act of being an illiterate foreigner for her undercover mission. Nobody with an IQ of more than a single digit would be fooled by this pathetic facade, but these so-called professional crooks fall for it hook, line and sinker. This isn't the only situation where suspension of disbelief is essential, as our 5'5 cop policewoman starts felling huge bad guys with just one kick, and people can run for ages despite being shot in the leg and stomach. But of course, we can overlook all that nonsense if it was actually entertaining. Sadly, there's nothing here you haven't seen a million times before in better action movies, with budgets of more than a few thousand. The gunfire, the explosions and the martial-arts fights will just inspire a distinct feeling of deja vu which will last till the ending credits roll. I can only recommend it if you've already seen every other movie in the genre ever made. And just how likely is that?! 3/10