Terminal Island

Minor drive-in classic concerns the replacement of capitol punishment with exile to a guarded island. Men and women alike must fend for themselves in this rugged terrain(which looks like paradise to me).

TERMINAL ISLAND takes full advantage of it's many opportunities to present titties and sexual situations. If, for some strange reason, that doesn't manage to hold your attention, there's equal portions of violent action for good measure...it's a more professionally appointed example of it's type, and should manage to please many folks outside the trash-cinemaphile radius.

A sleazy, cheesy champion of drive-in splendor. 6/10.

This movie was fine, great, if you're a Tom Selleck fan. Personally, I like Phyllis Davis (who starred later in "Vegas" with the late Robert Urich). The "DVD" version; which is available from Canada, produced by Legacy Entertainment, is a "ripoff" (if you'll pardon an old slang word). It is cut for language, and other material, featuring Ms. Davis, and another actress (separate scenes, not together), involving nudity. I know, because a) I have a book called "The Bare Facts" by Craig Hosada, which reviews these scenes. b.) I have a tape called Famous T & A, I'm not making it up, which features an uncut/uncensored excerpt from the movie which shows what was cut. I am getting a VHS, used, from another place, from a different manufacturer, and hoping it hasn't been "cut". Although rated "R" originally, and even though it says it's been edited (which I didn't look to see, until after I viewed the movie; which if I had done, I'd have returned it) I feel I was cheated. So, this is a warning to any potential buyers. If editing doesn't bother you, then, by all means, buy it. In fact, I'm trying to resell my copy, as it was played once.

The Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty. California created Terminal Island from San Bruno Island to exile the death row inmates. Bobby killed his bank robbery posse. Lee Phillips blew up a bank. A.J. is a cop killer. Bunny Campbell killed her parents with an ice pick. Julian Dylan is a biker. Joy poisoned her husband. Dr. Norman Milford (Tom Selleck) committed a mercy killing. Roy Teale is a serial killer. Carmen is the new inmate sent to Terminal Island. Bobby rules the main camp with an iron fist and Monk (Roger E. Mosley) is his second in command. The women are used as sex slaves.

I wanted to check this out after Selleck mentioned it on a late-night talk show. It's a violent low-budget exploitation T&A B-movie. There is a surprising number of hot babes serving death sentences. It's cheesy bad but it is almost watchable for its badness. The acting is generally weak and the overall filmmaking is poor. Selleck has a full beard. It doesn't keep my interest all the way to the end.

The early 1970s B picture "Terminal Island" has an effective premise with which to work. In the "future", the Supreme Court has declared the death penalty unconstitutional. In its place, criminals are now dumped on an island 40 miles off the American coast. Here they're (mostly) left to fend for themselves. The latest arrival is a young woman, Carmen (Ena Hartman), who's just in time to witness an uprising. Some of the convicts are tired of the tyranny of their "leaders" Bobby (Sean Kenney, "The Corpse Grinders") and Monk (Roger E. Mosley, "The Mack"). So a small group splits off from the main group, and plots revolution.

Co-written by James Barnett, producer Charles S. Swartz, and director Stephanie Rothman ("The Velvet Vampire"), "Terminal Island" is pretty good for this kind of exploitation fare. It fulfils its requirements - violence, sex, nudity - adequately, and is simply beautifully shot (by Daniel Lacambre, "Humanoids from the Deep") on some pretty locations. While it naturally has its trashy moments, it never really wallows in unpleasantness, and it does have a sense of humour, to boot. (Watch how the horny character, Dylan (Clyde Ventura, "'Gator Bait") is dealt with.) The story is a little thin, but is also provocative on occasion. (Dr. Milford, played by a young Tom Selleck, was convicted of the mercy killing of a patient.)

The cast is full of then-stars, stars-to-be, and familiar character faces. Also appearing are Don Marshall ("The Thing with Two Heads"), Phyllis Davis ("Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"), Marta Kristen ('Lost in Space'), Barbara Leigh ("Junior Bonner"), Geoffrey Deuel ("Chisum"), James Whitworth (Papa Jupe in Wes Cravens' "The Hills Have Eyes"), Richard Stahl ("Nine to Five"), Sandy Ward ("Cujo"), and Albert Cole ("The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant"). The film gained newfound attention when Selleck and Mosley found later fame on 'Magnum P.I.'. Kenney and Mosley are particularly fun as the antagonists of the piece.

Full of solid squib action and some satisfying explosions, "Terminal Island" is worthy of discovery by devotees of the B pictures of decades past.

Seven out of 10.

Remember Escape From New York? Eight years previously, in 1973, Terminal Island did the exact same idea. Not nearly as well, but hey - being first count for something, too! TI is an exploitation film when being an exploitation film was cool. As such, it has certain shortcoming inherent to the genre, such as street talking tough black guy, the psychotic white chauvinist pig, and the heroic woman, overcoming oppression with sagacity and perserverence. I can live with those stereotypes, but I can't bear the background music leftover from a 1970's porn movie!

Marta Kristen finally gets to play the part of an action hero - quite a leap from the laid back Judy Robinson role she is best known for. She fights and blows things up and knows how to create gunpowder from nature. Very cool.