Jack Starrett Movies

Not to be confused with the 1987 movie of the same name, this is one of the early films that Tom Laughlin directed before he became famous from his series on Billy Jack, an anti-hero of his time. Laughlin also stars in this uneven teen drama as its only developed character, Christopher Wotan, a high-school athlete who starts out as essentially a normal young man faced with the tyranny of a brutal coach, and the vagaries of romantic and sexual challenges. Because Christopher's father has been trampled by failure and alcohol abuse, questions arise about the son's fate as he takes on life's obstacles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

One of the first recognizable "vigilante" films in American cinema, The Born Losers tells the story of Billy Jack (writer-director Tom Laughlin), a half-breed ex-Green Beret and Vietnam veteran who makes it his business to rescue a cute mod girl from a crew of vicious bikers. Much to his chagrin, however, he finds his lethal training gets him in as much trouble with the racist cops as with the bikers, and he soon becomes embroiled in a violent struggle against all parties involved. There is blood-letting and bone-breaking to burn in The Born Losers, not to mention lots of preaching on the part of Laughlin. However, it still tops the more famous sequel, Billy Jack, and it qualifies writer-director-star Laughlin for the status of true auteur. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Two young men pretend to be gay when they are asked to pay a visit to the local draft board. Danny (Kevin Coughlin) and his pal Elliot (Larry Casey) camp it up in front of Army recruiter Dixon (Jack Starrett). When the two return to their apartment to celebrate with their girlfriends, they are shadowed by the suspicious officer. Danny and Elliot move into an apartment complex that caters to homosexuals. Comedy ensues when the two must pretend to be gay and confusion reigns among family and friends. The two end up losing their girlfriends but have a secret admirer in the macho military man this ribald comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this actioner, a government agent must stop a South American arms-smuggling operation that has been providing firearms to a fanatical sect in Texas. Along the way he meets a wanderer who helps the undercover agent join the gang. The drifter begins impersonating a sailor and meets a prostitute whose lover receives the smuggled arms. The sailor manages to hook up with the head smuggler. When he finds the agent stabbed and dying beneath a dock, the sailor realizes their whole cover is about to be blown. Still he helps the gun runner move the arms ashore; he then kills the ring leader and his gang, and blows up their ship. When he gets back on shore he finds that the hooker and her boyfriend have been killed. The wounded agent is very impressed with the drifter's good work and offers him more, but the drifter is disgusted by it all and wanders away. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bikers, Nazis, Mafiosi, and the FBI all clash in this wild and wooly exploitation picture from director Al Adamson. Mark Adams (John Gabriel) is an FBI agent who has been assigned to infiltrate an organized crime ring that has obtained a set of printing plates that will allow them to produce nearly perfect counterfeit 20-dollar bills. The plates were made in Germany during World War II, and were discovered by a radical right-wing group hoping to restore the Nazi Party to power. The American gangsters are in cahoots with a group of wealthy American neo-Nazis sympathetic to the new German cause, led by fugitive war criminal Count von Delberg (Kent Taylor); the count has in turn recruited a vicious motorcycle gang, the Bloody Devils, to do his dirty work. Also featuring Broderick Crawford, John Carradine, and Col. Harland Sanders (the latter in a shameless plug for Kentucky Fried Chicken), Hell's Bloody Devils was produced under the titles The Fakers and Operation M as a straightforward espionage thriller; when distributors balked at the finished product, Al Adamson and producer Samuel M. Sherman added the biker subplot, and gave the product a more exploitive title. Shorn of the motorcycle gang footage, the film was also released as Smashing the Crime Syndicate. Nelson Riddle co-wrote the film's theme song, and Laszlo Kovacs and Gary Graver were among the cameramen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Telling the story of his early life in flashback, a former prospector (Joel McCrea, with flashback sequences featuring son Jody) explains his brutal massacre of a tribe of Indians. The only survivor (Marie Gahua) agrees to lead him to a secret gold mine. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

A typical gangland killing has an unusual outcome when the victim's son comes looking for justice in this violent blaxploitation action drama. Slaughter (Jim Brown) is a former Green Beret who is a decorated war hero, but while he's devoted his life to fighting for right, his father followed another path as a gangster. However, while Slaughter's dad was a career criminal, his mother played no part in his actions, and when they're both killed in a car explosion, Slaughter is determined to get revenge. Slaughter is convinced a rival crime boss ordered the bombing, and plans a daring raid where he kills the suspect. Slaughter is captured by police, and angry detective A.W. Price (Cameron Mitchell) tells Slaughter he had the right idea but the wrong man. Slaughter is persuaded to team up with undercover detectives Harry (Don Gordon) and Kim (Marlene Clark) as they travel to Puerto Rico in hopes of infiltrating the operations of hot-headed mobster Hoffo (Rip Torn). The cops have learned that Hoffo and his cronies are computerizing their operations and they're looking for hard evidence, but Slaughter is more interested in taking down Hoffo, and he'll do whatever it takes. The rivalry between Slaughter and Hoffo becomes all the more bitter when Slaughter becomes involved with Ann (Stella Stevens), the gangster's beautiful girlfriend. Featuring a dynamic theme song by Billy Preston, Slaughter was a major box-office hit in 1972 and one of the most popular films of Jim Brown's screen career; it spawned a sequel, Slaughter's Big Rip-Off, which appeared in 1973. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Tamara Dobson stars as Cleopatra Jones in Jack Starrett's blaxploitation programmer that, in its own way, deals effectively with the ravages of drugs in inner-city black communities. Cleopatra Jones is a jive female James Bond, a special drug agent for the United States government who wears sleek and hip clothes, drives a fancy car with a submachine-gun compartment in the front door, and travels all over the world to stomp out drugs at their source. Cleopatra has a loving relationship with Ruben (Bernie Casey), the well-meaning head of a drug rehabilitation clinic in Los Angeles. When Cleopatra travels to Turkey to oversee the destruction of poppy fields owned by Mommy (Shelley Winters) -- a lesbian drug dealer -- Mommy becomes upset. She exacts her revenge on Cleopatra by having the police close down Ruben's drug clinic. Nevertheless, Cleopatra continues to wreak havoc upon Mommy's drug business, and Mommy continues to try to do Cleopatra in, until finally there is a major confrontation between Cleopatra and Mommy and her minions. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This novel fusion of car-chase film and spooky horror became a surprise box-office hit in 1975. The story begins with car enthusiasts Frank (Warren Oates) and Roger (Peter Fonda) taking their wives, Kelly (Lara Parker) and Alice (Loretta Swit), on a vacation in a recreational vehicle. Their camping trip goes horribly awry when Frank and Roger accidentally stumble upon a group of hooded cultists committing a human sacrifice. The cultists give chase and the two couples barely escape with their lives. They go to the local police for help, but the officers can find no evidence to back up the story and send the two couples on their way. As they try to continue their vacation, strange events continue to occur that culminate in four protagonists and their cultist tormentors having a brutal automotive showdown on the open road. The end result of all this genre-hopping suffers from a lightweight approach that downplays the story's darker and more interesting elements, but still manages to deliver plentiful action and a few genuine chills. As a result, Race With the Devil became an unexpected success for 20th Century Fox and remains something of a cult favorite. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

Desperate to make his own film, an actor accepts production money from the Mafia. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In this detective drama, two gumshoes are engaged by a millionaire father who wants to find his daughter who has been kidnapped. The film is also known as Love For Ransom. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Fatal Chase stars Lee Van Cleef as taciturn U.S. marshal Ike Scanlon. Designed as the pilot for a weekly series, the film finds Scanlon escorting a mob witness (Tony Musante) to a federal trial. Since the witness is a hit man, there are plenty of people both inside and outside the Mob who'd like to see him dead. Featured in the cast are Fatal Chase's producer/writer Edward Anhalt and director Jack Starrett. Originally telecast as Nowhere to Hide on January 5, 1977, Fatal Chase has also been released as Scanlon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide