Band of the Hand

For my brother, "Billy Jack" was the film that was low budget, cheezy and darn good when it came to telling a story you really WANTED to hear. For me, it was "Band of the Hand."

Though I was in the ultimate conservative environment (1st school after Marine Boot Camp), I couldn't help but love the melding of "the establishment" and a bunch of kids who were definitely from the "wrong side of the tracks." Most important, it let someone show some teens that they could make a difference, even if the method might have been a bit much.

One more thing: Lauran Holly may have been "eye candy" for the movie but she DID have a powerful albeit limited role, and that impression has positively affected my opinion of her in later roles. James Remar (you ladies know him from Sex and the City) did a good psycho role as well.

Trashy, brainless, and oh-so-80s action melodrama stars Stephen Lang ("Avatar", "Don't Breathe") as Joe, an American Indian & Vietnam veteran who runs a program to reform troubled youth. Five punks - Ruben (Michael Carmine), J.L. (John Cameron Mitchell), Carlos (Danny Quinn), Moss (Leon), and Dorcey (Al Shannon) - are dragged out to the Everglades and deposited there, where Joe teaches them survival instincts and teamwork. Once back in Miami, the gang is *somewhat* more mature, and they go up against vicious drug runners including Cream (Laurence Fishburne) and Nestor (James Remar).

To be honest, "Band of the Hand" is a hard slog for a while, since it's hard to give a damn about our protagonists for an extended amount of time. (This IS an overlong movie.) But things improve as "Band of the Hand" progresses, and debuting feature director Paul Michael "Starsky" Glaser gives this production a certain amusing amount of 80s excess. It bears the mark of its executive producer, 'Miami Vice' creator Michael Mann. It's noisy, it's silly, it's violent in a sometimes cartoonish way, and it's got a hip soundtrack. The centerpiece of said soundtrack is a priceless, catchy rock ditty written and sung by Bob Dylan, with Tom Petty's band The Heartbreakers backing him up.

The acting suits the material. Top billed Lang is fine in a low key portrayal. The young cast is lively, with a cute Lauren Holly playing Carlos' love interest. Remar is okay as our primary villain, and other familiar character actors like Paul Calderon, Bill Smitrovich, Michael Gregory, and an unbilled Martin Ferrero all turn up as well.

This is a decent, fun movie overall, even if the script ain't so hot. As was said before, it goes on a bit too long, but for the most part, it's *not* boring.

Seven out of 10.

This is such a wonderfully dorky, cheesy movie. I have always liked it, and I've watched it many times. I love the clothes, the soundtrack, the hairstyles, everything. The story is pure crap, but I enjoy it nonetheless. Perhaps the best part of all is the actors who've achieved so much since then: a pre-Matrix Laurence Fishburne, a pre-Jim Carrey Lauren Holly, and best of all, a pre-Hedwig John Cameron Mitchell! Who could have imagined that cute little silent Crazy would grow into the singing, song writing victim of a botched sex-change operation? Not I. It just makes Band of the Hand more fun. And was there ever a cooler Indian than Joe? I think not. My siblings and I giggle like mad whenever he appears on screen.

This is one of those movies that you had to see when it first came out. It also helps I think if you were the same age as the kids in the movie. The locations were magnificent. And some of the performances were not too shabby either I might add. This was an atypical 80's movie, set in Florida (do you think that a Miami Vice relation was intentional?). When I was a kid I loved this movie, and upon watching it again recently, I didn't even remember how cheesy it was. I just remembered these 5 deadbeat kids, forced to work as a group to survive, and everyone thinking that it would never work. Even now that I've seen it and know how cheesy it is, I still just remember it the way I used too.

"Band of the Hand" has no trouble standing on its own; it's jammed with plot, the cast is colorful, and the very notion of using society's rejects to clean up the streets somehow fits right in with the time. That sort of DIY community- outreach angle mixed with coming-of-age urban drama . . . and "Lord of the Flies"? How the hell do you pull that off? I enjoyed this because it does pull it off, and you'd be surprised at how well that's done. Also, that's one hell of a soundtrack.

But the best way I can describe this movie is "Miami Vice-adjacent", which suits me perfectly. This has the feeling of an episode from the show's first couple of seasons. Most of the cast are carry-overs from the series (as well as the filmmakers), and it captures the gritty style, whether you're sweating to death in the 'glades or staying alive on the neon streets. All of it's seedy, and none of it's especially light - even though we're talking about a teen movie. In its own way, this is a treasure.

7/10