Tough guys can have serious problems, even tough guys played by Charles Bronson, one of the greatest icons of toughness in 1980s cinema. In Murphy’s Law, 1986 action thriller directed by J. Lee Thompson, Bronson plays Jack Muprhy, LAPD detective who has recently suffered series of humiliations in his professional and private life. One night he sees someone stealing his car, but his attempt to deal with the situation ends miserably when the perpetrator, young car thief Arabella McGee (played by Kathleen Wilhoite) kicks him in the groins. Murphy has recently divorced from wife Jan (played by Angel Tompkins), who later decided to support herself by working as a stripper in a sleazy night club. Murphy tries to deal with it with excessive drinking, which makes things even worse during his attempts to stalk Jan. When she gets gunned down with her boyfriend, Murphy is the obvious suspect. By some chance, he ends handcuffed to another prisoner who happens to be Arabella. When opportunity arises, Murphy manages to escape and tags Arabella with him, while attempting to clear his name and find who framed him. He suspects Frank Vincenzo (played by Richard Romanus), powerful mafia don whose brother he had recently killed during arrest attempt. The real killer is, however, Joan Freeman (played by Carrie Snodgress), resourceful but clearly insane woman who has recently been released from custody and now wants to exact cruel revenge against all those who had her incarcerated many years ago.
Made by Cannon Films, studio (in)famous for making cheap exploitation films in 1980s, Murphy’s Law delivers everything fans of low budget action films at the time expected – nudity, sleaze, high body count, gory killings and plenty of mayhem on the streets of Los Angeles and surrounding area. J. Lee Thompson has already made plenty of films with Charles Bronson, who was at the time one of Cannon’s biggest stars, and it reflects in steady direction and economic approach towards plot and characters. Thompson nevertheless tries something different in this film – protagonist is more troubled than in most Bronson’s films and the final showdown is set in Bradbury Building, famous location used in many films, most notably during the final segments of Blade Runner. This, however, works against Murphy’s Law, because the inevitable comparisons between two films make Thompson’s work looks cheaper, messier and simply worse than science fiction classic.
What makes this film watchable is a script by Gail Morgan Hickman which, apparently aware of the collection of police thriller cliches, tries to counter by adding little bits of feminism into the story. Partially inspired by success of 48 Hrs, another film that paired two protagonists from opposite sides of the law, she makes Murphy’s partner a woman, and a woman whose in the opening scene shows that she is male protagonist’s equal. Another nod to feminism is use of a woman as the main villain, something that was innovative in 1980s, but it is quite rare in our “politically correct” times. Hickman uses a lot of creative energy in Arabella’s dialogue, which is made of inventive and entertaining insults directed at Murphy. They also work well because Kathleen Wilhoite, one of the more interesting Hollywood actresses, here in one of rare leading roles, plays her character well. She also good chemistry with Bronson (with whom she, apparently, had good relationship on the set) and script, while employing all possible cliches, avoids the worst one by making relationship between Murphy and Arabella platonic. She is also responsible for most of the humour in this film which makes this usually dark and violent story more digestible and enterating for viewers. Carrie Snodgress is also quite effective as psychotic villainess, although some of supporting players also do a good job, most notably Richard Romanus as powerful gang leader who turns into pathetic wreck when confronted with Murphy. In the end, all those who like Charles Bronson’s 1980s films will probably like this one and, despite its flaws, it could be recommended even to modern audience that likes unambitious and simple mix of action and some comedy.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417 Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
