My review was written in November 1992 after watching the film on Columbia TriStar video cassette.
Pretension and gratuitous vulgarity sink "Leather Jackets", a youth drama about San Francisco marginals. The 1990 production is bypassing theatrical release for a direct-to-video splash domestically, probably a wise decision.
Fiml was shot after "The Godfather Part III" and before Bridget Fonda went on to starring parts. Here her talents are wasted in an underwritten role.
D. B. Sweeney toplines to little effect as a nebbishy guy leaving town for a big job in Los Angeles, who gets childhood friend Fonda to say she'll marry him and come along, too.
Film is built around a farewell stag party for Sweeney thrown by longtime buddy and romantic rival Cary Elwes, a leather jacket-wearing gang member whose activities cause ultraviolence with police and rival VIetnamese gang members, leaving Elwes wounded and on the run.
Here writer-director Lee Drysdale lets the picture go off on a tangent, with Sweeney postponing marriage in order to assist Elwes' escape. Accompanied by Fonda and old pal Christopher Penn, the foursome hit the road with plenty of soul searching. This leads to a well-acted but needlessly vulgar humiliation of Fonda, forced to recount her unsavory sexual exploits.
Film payoff has the Vietnamese led by Craig Ng showing up to waste our heroes, resulting in a very glum ending. Making Ng a one-dimensional heavy is one of the script's major defects.
Pic is also hampered by Elwes' mannered performance, striking poses similar to those he later mocked in "Hot Shots!".
Pretension and gratuitous vulgarity sink "Leather Jackets", a youth drama about San Francisco marginals. The 1990 production is bypassing theatrical release for a direct-to-video splash domestically, probably a wise decision.
Fiml was shot after "The Godfather Part III" and before Bridget Fonda went on to starring parts. Here her talents are wasted in an underwritten role.
D. B. Sweeney toplines to little effect as a nebbishy guy leaving town for a big job in Los Angeles, who gets childhood friend Fonda to say she'll marry him and come along, too.
Film is built around a farewell stag party for Sweeney thrown by longtime buddy and romantic rival Cary Elwes, a leather jacket-wearing gang member whose activities cause ultraviolence with police and rival VIetnamese gang members, leaving Elwes wounded and on the run.
Here writer-director Lee Drysdale lets the picture go off on a tangent, with Sweeney postponing marriage in order to assist Elwes' escape. Accompanied by Fonda and old pal Christopher Penn, the foursome hit the road with plenty of soul searching. This leads to a well-acted but needlessly vulgar humiliation of Fonda, forced to recount her unsavory sexual exploits.
Film payoff has the Vietnamese led by Craig Ng showing up to waste our heroes, resulting in a very glum ending. Making Ng a one-dimensional heavy is one of the script's major defects.
Pic is also hampered by Elwes' mannered performance, striking poses similar to those he later mocked in "Hot Shots!".