#beverly gray

Beverly Gray at the World's Fair (Beverly Gray #6). Clair Blank. New York: A. L. Burt; Blue Ribbon Books, 1935. First edition. Original dust jacket.

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Full Contact is the revisiting of a martial arts revenge story filmed some four years prior – Bloodfist. The remake sees the setting move from Manila to Los Angeles, and Don Wilson replaced by fellow kickboxer Jerry Trimble. Considering it’s a noticeably less ambitious picture, Full Contact holds up surprisingly well.

The story: A martial artist (Trimble) arrives in the city to find that his brother’s been murdered while participating in an underground fight circuit. Under the tutelage of an unconventional trainer (Marcus Aurelius), he prepares to enter the fights to uncover the killer’s identity.

Director Rick Jacobson was, at the time, busying himself with mostly run-of-the-mill action features, so it’s surprising how much he ends up getting out of this. With the help of engaging camerawork and a script that firmly establishes its characters before dropping them into the heat of action, the filmmakers get the most out of their limited resources. Despite the presence of some bad acting (that’s nevertheless counterbalanced by some decent chemistry between Trimble and Aurelius), it feels more like a genuine movie than many other video releases – not to be mistaken for a theatrical feature, but it could definitely be aired on some channel other than SyFy,

Surprisingly, the action content ends up being a minor disappointment. It’s not that the ample fighting is bad – Trimble’s fights are always highlights, thanks to the star’s excellent kicks – but despite having no less than three choreographers working on them, the fights tend to meld together, with not nearly enough variance in fighting styles or combatants’ personalities. The story’s strong enough that this doesn’t kill the film, despite its genre, but it’s ironic that the time I should choose to browse my phone during a karate movie is during the karate scenes.

This one’s not worth buying a VCR for, but if you already own one, give Full Contact a look – especially if you’ve been impressed by Trimble in other movies.

Beverly Gray- author of  “Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Biography of the Godfather of Indie Filmaking”  joins Ron on Law Review Radio.   Beverly Gray served as Corman’s story editor for nearly a decade.   She takes you behind the cameras for an insider’s look at the man and the mogul.  Beverly Gray edited scripts, wrote publicity material, and cast voice actors for New World Pictures

After leaving New World Pictures, Beverly wrote about theatre and film for Performing Arts magazine,Theatre Crafts, The Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times.   Beverly then went to spend eight years at Concorde-New Horizons Pictures as Corman’s story editor and development expert, overseeing the making of 170 low-budget features.  Along the way she earned six screenwriting credits and played several cameo roles.

“Beverly Gray, Reporter”

Awesome!

“Beverly Gray’s Romance”