Blindside

Blindside (1987)

Runtime: 101 minutes

Directed by: Paul Lynch

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Lori Hallier, Lolita Davidovich, Michael Rudder, Durango Coy

From: Simcom Limited

Here is a rather obscure movie I stumbled upon Tuesday night (I've been busy this week; I won't return with a review until Sunday) on Netflix Instant. It apparently sat on the shelf before it came out either in 1986 or 1987... I've seen both dates used. This Canuxploitation has been forgotten through the passage of time and in this case, it's not such a crime that has happened. It's not awful, but it's not great either. I say a few words about it in my Letterboxd review below:

Just (on Tuesday) I signed back up for Netflix Instant; I am off and on with that service. I am a part of it again as it will be the main source of the foreign movies I will watch this month. I randomly stumbled upon this film while searching for something else; I had never heard of it and looking around online there aren't too many people who have seen this or admit to have seen it before, if you judge things by sites like this one or the IMDb. I saw that it featured Sarah from the original My Bloody Valentine, Lolita Davidovich, and Harvey Keitel, so that captured my attention. I laughed out loud when I saw that Keitel was the lead and his character was named PENFIELD GRUBER. What a name. The fact that this is a Canadian film that admits it's set and filmed in Canada is nice also, in terms of the March Around the World thing.

Penfield is a former behavioral scientist who is an expert in surveillance but a tragedy in his life led him to running a sleazy crappy motel. He unwittingly gets involved in a war between rival gangs and besides having an exotic dancer “friends with benefits” with the stage name Lusty Lilac, but he falls in love with a girl who is involved with one of the gang members. Things happen... and sadly this is only an average picture. It's on the dark side, which is fine, except that it's just average.

Really, there isn't much else to say about it; things happen, Penfield is still upset by that tragedy in his life (it involved his then-wife), there's some pretty hammy acting, there is a surprising ending, the guy who directed this also directed the original Prom Night, and the screenwriter not only still works today but what he's written includes such prestigious Steven Seagal pictures as Maximum Conviction and Force of Execution.

Sometimes, a movie is forgotten through the passage of time and it's unfortunate that the people of today don't know about it. Other times, it's perfectly alright if something is forgotten; this picture is the latter, as there is nothing noteworthy about it which would make me want to tell everyone to check it out. It's not poorly made; it's just unexciting.