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Bloodstone
Helldance
USA / India 1988
produced by Nico Mastorakis, Sunanda Murali Manohar (executive), Ashok Amritraj (executive) for Omega Entertainment
directed by Dwight H. Little
starring Brett Stimely, Rajinikanth, Anna Nicholas, Charlie Brill, Jack Kehler, Christopher Neame, Tej Sapru, Bob Christo, Deep Dhillon, Carol Teesdale, Laura Albert, Marjean Holden, Dhanushkodi, Bill Marley, Janet Lord, Anish Trivedi, Hussiani, Sudhir Ahuja, Aparna, David Soul (voice)
story by Nico Mastorakis, screenplay by Nico Mastorakis, Curt Allen, music by Jerry Grant, Ilaiyaraaja
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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On a traintrip through India, newly wed rich couple Sandy (Brett
Stimely, voiced by David Soul) and Stephanie (Anna Nicholas) meet Paul
Lorre (Jack Kehler giving a passable Peter Lorre impression), who's just a
little too nervous for his own good, and seems to be a little too
interested in the theft of the Bloodstone, a priceless ruby and national
treasure. As it transpires (just to the audience), Lorre has actually
stolen the Bloodstone, but as police Inspector Ramesh (Charlie Brill) is
already on his trail, he now needs to get rid of the thing - and hides it
in Stephanie's luggage. So when they all get off the train and the
inspector searches Lorre's stuff, he finds nothing. But he somehow manages
to let his accomplices know the stone is with Sandy and Stephanie. And
soon enough, these accomplices search Sandy and Stephanie's hotel room -
but come away empty handed, as the stone has actually fallen out of the
luggage in the cab they were taking. Of course, the baddies and their
leader, super rich Van Hoeven (Christopher Neame) don't know that, think
Sandy and Stephanie are playing a crooked game, and thus Van Hoeven has
Stephanie kidnapped and gives Sandy an ultimatum to hand over the stone.
Of course, Sandy has little idea what Van Hoeven is talking about, but
fortunately, the cabbie, Shyam (Rajinikath), has found the stone in the
cab and now offers his assistance to Sandy - for a price of course. After
much to and fro, during which Lorre is killed by Van Hoeven's men, Sandy
and Shyam get to the meeting point for the handover - but walk into an
ambush. They manage to overcome Van Hoeven's mercenaries though and gain
info about how to enter Van Hoeven's vast mansion unseen - but chances are
they'll just walk into an even bigger ambush ... Now Bloodstone
isn't a film of great depth - actually quite the contrary, it's a very
straight forward action flick set in exotic locale, with some spirited but
mostly bland dialogue, and some slapstick comedy (especially the scenes
with Inspector Ramesh) that doesn't always sit well with the more serious
action stuff - but the whole thing is pretty well-executed, nicely paced,
and it's above all lots of fun, a typical product of its time when a man
was still a man and political correctness wasn't yet high on the agenda -
so of course, from today's point of view, much about this film is
questionable, but as a nice trip down memory lane, you'll probably find
this one most satisfying.
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