Hot Summer in Barefoot County (1974)

Before the Dukes of Hazzard there was this... the babes of Barefoot. Stella (Tonia Bryan) and her three daughters including Mary Ann (Sherry Robinson) are making hooch in a secret still in the woods and running moonshine across county lines in hot rods - basically living one version of the American dream! The hapless and heavily bearded sheriff Bull Tatum (Charles Elledge) tries his best to stop them but usually ends up in the ditch in disgrace. However the Feds in the state capital are starting to get impatient...

Agent Jeff (Don Jones) is sent undercover to try and discover what is going on but he gets run off the road when he reaches Barefoot. He is injured and nursed back to health by Mary Ann and her daughters. Jeff falls in love with one of the daughters / suspects and falls foul of the local imitation hard case Culley Joe (Jeff MacKay)...

It isn't a great film by any stretch of the imagination, being rather poorly made and a bit predictable, but is fairly harmless trash. If you like seeing beat up hot rods being chased down country roads by police cars with a banjo soundtrack then this is the film for you.

Fun and Fury (1992)

A fast paced action comedy of the type HK churned out by the score in the 1980s and early 90s.

Leon Lai plays a Singaporean cop who is in love with Vivian Chow... who is the daughter of Kent Cheung, a HK Triad boss! Well of course daddy doesn't want a son-in-law who is a cop so he concocts a plan to frame Leon as a womaniser using the rather fetching young wench Sharon Kwok... 

So Leon and Vivian fall out and Leon has to enlist the help of his buddy Frankie Chan to mend matters. But while all this is happening another Triad boss (whose brother was killed by Leon or something like that - its not fully explained, these films do tend to have complicated and convoluted plots) moves in and with the help of a large black man wielding an RPG and a kung fu blonde babe with an assault rifle proceed to kick ass...

The plot is very simple and predictable but the action is great with some really good inventive kung fu fights and plenty of explosions especially in the cool final showdown. The film doesn't take itself too seriously which is why it works.

Dick Tracy (Serial) (1937)

A wonderfully over the top action serial, just how a comic hero adaptation should be of course. In this serial version of the comic story Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) is a federal agent and battling The Spider Ring crime organisation...

Now The Spider Ring which is led by the Lame One has some cool toys, including a sonic weapon he has mounted aboard a fabulous looking flying wing, though their plans seem rather suspect and often easy to foil. The Lame One is assisted by the rather sinister Doctor Moloch (John Picorri) who performs surgery on Dick's own brother George (Richard Beach) to turn him into a brainwashed thug (Carleton Young)...

Dick has plenty of help, and needs it as the evil plots come thick and fast. Among his assistants are Gwen (Kay Hughes) - who plays the Tess Trueheart role - and Mike (Smiley Burnett).

Bush Pilot (1947)

Red North (Austin Willis) is making a reasonable living hauling cargo in his floatplane up in the Canadian Great White North, and also keen on Hilary (Rochelle Hudson). However the arrival of Red's arrogant brother Paul (Jack La Rue) shakes everything up. Paul is keen to move in on Red's territory, and his dame...

The death of Red's mechanic Chuck (Frank Perry) hauling nitroglycerine hurls Red's life into chaos and turns Hilary against him. Can Red win back Hilary and sort out his brother?

A neat little film, rather melodramatic at times but a decent story if without any surprises. It is also interesting to see Jack La Rue in a role where he isn't a two-bit gangster.

This was one of the first Canadian movies to be made in English.

Non-Stop New York (1937)

A wonderfully energetic, but at sometimes quite odd, crime drama. Jennie (Anna Lee) is a showgirl down on her luck in New York, she chances upon a lawyer who works with the mob but who wants to get out. When the lawyer is bumped off a tramp Able (Arthur Goullet) is blamed but Jennie (now back in Blighty) knows he is innocent...

She needs to get back across the Atlantic to tell the police what happened and stop Able being executed. The gangster Brant (Francis Sullivan) must stop Jennie getting back to New York. She is travelling on a futuristic flying boat along with Brant and police detective Jim Grant (John Loder) who thinks something is up but isn't sure quite what...

Although quite far fetched this is a highly enjoyable crime drama / adventure set aboard a flying boat. A great collection of characters including prototype-geek Arnold (Desmond Tester) and plenty of good sharp dialogue.