Everybody was talking about how great the new MINI DV cameras were, so I was convinced to shoot a movie with one. I was not overly impressed.
In this movie. the hero cop literally becomes a homeless bum and has to figure out how to fight his way back inside. I treated the piece mostly as a film noir/ action comedy. My job was to keep it moving and I think the final shoot out scene is pretty good for a truly no budget film.
I did meet new actors who I liked and who would appear for me again very soon thereafter. As the cop’s wife, Karen Mayo Chandler, was at the time famous/infamous for her real life role as Jack Nicholson’s girlfriend and for a Playboy Magazine layout she did. Despite her reasons for being known, she had much experience as an actress and was great to work with. She hated guns and her screams during the film’s final shoot out are real. She was pregnant by the time I did my next film or I would have loved to have her be the female lead in IRON THUNDER.
One of the supporting gangster characters was named Elvis because his mother loved the King. How can you not make a film with a character named Elvis in it?
Officer Jack Scanlon’s job on the Los Angeles Police Force is to arrest crooked cops. He’s considered a traitor by his fellow officers, but he’s got his job to do, and one he believes in.
Jack witnesses an informant being hurled off a building by fellow detective to protect a vast conspiracy. Out-gunned, Jack has to flee the scene. His rivals on the force immediately label him a cop-killer and now everyone wants him dead.
On the run and unable to trust anyone, Jack must somehow expose the high level corruption before he can turn himself in. Homeless, on the street, and constantly on the run, Jack becomes a tabloid news sensation and America’s most wanted.
He can clear his name, if he doesn’t lose his life first.
Directed by: Jay Woelfel | Written by: Scott Spears, Jay Woelfel
Cast: Don Hughes, Sara Matthews, Ike Gingrich, Dyrk Ashton, Don Bass
Karen Mayo-Chandler, T. Bruce Page, Frank Ruotoio, Chad Theroux
Produced by: Albert Gordon, Mark J. Gordon, David S. Sterling | Music: Jay Woelfel
Cinematography: Scott Spears | Film Editing: Lewis Schoenbrun