Excellent but underrated film

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

SHOTGUN is an embarrassing little would-be thriller from the guys at PM Entertainment. Like the rest of the output I've seen from them circa 1989, it's pretty much rubbish, with few redeeming features. An obnoxious-looking cop hunts down a serial killer who enjoys beating prostitutes to death in some ludicrously overwrought sequences which turn the perverse and disturbing into the downright laughable. There's little in the way of action, either, and that which does take place is equally silly, and completely unconvincing. Only lovers of so-bad-it's-good movie-making could get a kick out of this one. Thank goodness that PM Entertainment got considerably better at film-making as the years went on.

Crapendary! Early PM action movie that is so trademark eighties it's almost like a sequence from the Regular Show. Crappy hair-metal soundtrack! Crappy neon lighting! Really crappy acting! Lovable ridiculous story that scratches your bad movie itch. This cost me sixteen pence!Two cops are out to track down some burly bondage guy who's all into smacking hookers about until they can't hook no more for a while. This guy gets this other guy to hook him up, and lo and behold the two of them are embroiled in some shady drugs operation in Mexico too that has little to do with what goes on in the film until the big showdown with the modified kick-arse jeep! Flamethrower-iffic!Either Ian or Max (I can't remember who was who, or even if that was their names) has a sister who is on the game and therefore she's the one the big bondage guy goes too far with (for some reason he adopts a German accent when doing so, even though he's not German…go figure). So Ian or Max are out to get this guy, or the other guy, and get the other guy who gets off the hook by the other other bondage guy, who it turns out is a high flying lawyer. Yep.Crestfallen, the two cops take out their frustrations by shooting a guy about a million times. I almost forgot to mention the internal affairs guy who is out to get them sacked. More brain-damaging stuff happens (like one of them becoming a bounty hunter) before the big explosion packed finale, and awesome freeze frame ending that doth tickle me so.This ain't wall to wall insane hilarity, but bad movie fans should get a kick out of this. Shotgun! Shotgun Jones!

Two cops…two different cops…one white, one black…one officious and one who doesn't play by the rules. Playing by the rules can get you killed.You may have encountered the above scenario a few times before. Shotgun is without doubt a cliché-fest and I love it for it. It's central character is called Ian 'Shotgun' Jones and he is on the hunt for a sadistic misogynistic maniac in a gimp suit. Stuart Chapin plays the title character perfectly with zero irony and humour; this makes him all the funnier of course. This is the joy of Shotgun in general, in that everything is played deadly seriously while at the same time being quite magnificently ridiculous. Take the scenes near the end where Jones and his buddy more or less build a tank out of scrap metal – pure hokum but oh so much fun. This extends to the music too. The soundtrack consists of many guitar solos and a theme song about the title hero. It's pure 80's cheese. Add to this a shot of a man being thrown into a pile of cardboard boxes from three separate angles, a badge handing-in scene, an angry chief, an arrogant lawyer villain, lots of prostitutes, people dancing in suits, a man being set on fire and then run over by a car, etc etc…you get the general idea.As you might have guessed already, Shotgun is essentially a Lethal Weapon rip-off. It follows the basic template quite closely but obviously with hugely lower production values. Oddly enough, this doesn't effect the enjoyment level of the film very much at all, as it's not especially expensive to make an action thriller if you do it without any star names. And I might actually prefer Stuart Chapin and Rif Hutton to Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. I mean did Gibson and Glover ever appear in a drunk scene quite like the one here? In this one, Chapin and Hutton meet for a few beers at the latter's house and all I can say is it looks like they have had their drinks spiked as their acting suggests that they are tripping on acid as opposed to being ripped on alcohol. This is one of the funniest attempts at drunk acting I have ever seen. Another classic moment to look out for is in the corridor of the police station where the film-makers have decided to try and make the small number of extras they hired seem like a much larger group of people – watch characters walk off screen only to return a few seconds later in the opposite direction wearing shades etc. Great stuff.Shotgun is a terrifically entertaining bad movie. It has an agreeable smattering of action, sleaze and unintended hilarity. Definitely a hidden gem of a movie for bad movie buffs. A very entertaining flick overall.

Cowboy charlatan Ian Jones (Stuart Chapin) and his stern cop partner Max Billings (Rif Hutton) must track down a fiendish sex maniac with a lovely penchant for vulnerable whores. Believe it or not...he beats up his victims, who comprise mostly of prostitutes and hookers...to death!This "Basher" is out for a taste of blood. He revels every second in the pleasure of inflicting pain on others. Among the Basher's victims include...Ian's sister. Yes, one of the hookers happens to be Ian's sister. What a big mistake for the masked murderer! Now, Ian has a dead sister to avenge...Unfortunately for those two detectives, they must overcome their problems with alcoholism before they can take their jobs seriously. To make matters worse, when Ian's methods have gone too far, he gets suspended from the force for six months. Ian than takes a second job as a "Skip Tracer." This hot tempered ex-cop turned bounty hunter is enjoying every minute of his new occupation.Now, without having to play by the rules, Ian must continue his pursuit of the Basher. What Ian uncovers though is more egregious... He learns of an underground drug ring operating in Mexico. The drug ring is lead by a wealthy lawyer. He is this twisted lawyer by day...and an evil villain who commands a well-armed fortress South of the Border.Ian's mission is to terminate this drug emperor and destroy his empire and associates...but could this one antagonistic man be working in conjunction with the Basher?Admittedly, when I first saw SHOTGUN, I was anticipating a high adrenaline thriller. Of course, I was crestfallen once again. The most distinct problem with SHOTGUN is that it never holds the viewer's interest. Though the film tries to be sleazy, it teases the viewer more than draws them into the story. The film quality stinks too! Expect lots of laughs in this movie though. There is occasional, unintentional hilarity in this film to keep connoisseurs mildly satisfied. One of the most amusing scenes was the depiction of police brutality. I mean, come on, the actors were not even touching let alone hitting each other. The dancing and party club scenes also evoked a reminder of how the decade of the 80s seemed so...Eighties. Who could forget the irritating rock music, especially the gratuitous heavy metal guitar, which began to get on my nerves?! Also notice how the same damn helicopter keeps appearing in virtually every other PM Entertainment motion picture!Chapin (who kind of resembles Italian exploitation actor Al Cliver) looks and acts like the typically bland, hackneyed ex-policeman with a passion for vengeance. I also saw that actor who played Ian's sidekick somewhere else on TV...I just cannot remember where...Well, I guess that this movie was not all too deplorable. The ending was half-decent even though it seemed to be too derivative of TANGO & CASH (1989). There was also one fast paced car chase. Otherwise, the action scenes were sloppily directed.SHOTGUN does not have the capabilities to be either a thrilling or entertaining movie. It also lacks the drive to keep the momentum going. This is just another forgetful B-movie. I will say no more except to warn action fans to RUN AWAY as soon as they catch sight of this movie.RATING: NO STARS out of ****.