Brothers in Arms (1989/I)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

George Bloom

Writers:

D. Shone Kirkpatrick (written by) and
Steve Fisher (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Two brothers on a hike in the woods, one of them with a hidden motive, get in trouble with hill-billies, when they save a girl from rape. |

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

Todd Allen	...	Joey
Charles Grant	...	Dallas
Dedee Pfeiffer	...	Stevie
Jack Starrett	...	Father
Mitch Pileggi	...	Caleb
Dan Bell	...	Aaron
Shannon Norfleet	...	Cody
Jay Richardson	...	Abbott
John Durbin	...	Henry
Buddy Farmer	...	Harry
Tony Travis	...	1st Hunter
Robert Clotworthy	...	2nd Hunter
Wally K. Berns	...	Jack
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tom Dugan	...	William

Directed by
George Bloom		(as George Jay Bloom III)

Writing credits
D. Shone Kirkpatrick		(written by)
Steve Fisher		writer

Produced by
André Boissier	....	executive producer
Mark Gordon	....	producer (as Mark R. Gordon)
Jan Erik Lunde	....	executive producer
Christopher Meledandri	....	producer

Original Music by
Alan Howarth

Cinematography by
Kim Haun

Film Editing by
Chuck Weiss

Casting by
Billy DaMota

Production Design by
Kirk D. Phillips

Makeup Department
Bruce Barlow	....	special makeup effects artist

Sound Department
Brian Risner	....	sound effects editor
Brian Risner	....	sound re-recording mixer

Stunts
Bob Ivy	....	stunt coordinator
Bob Ivy	....	stunt double: Mitch Pileggi
Frank Torres	....	stunts

Editorial Department
Ron Gerber	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Alan Howarth	....	musician

Other crew
Paul Carrera	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Ablo
• Jel

Distributors

• Guild Home Video
• Republic Pictures (II) (199?) (USA) (video)

Also Known As:

24 Stunden gejagt (West Germany) [de]
Due contro tutto (Italy) [it]
Fratelli di sangue (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

Brazil:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:18 (cut) | USA:R | Norway:18 (video premiere)

Company:

Ablo

An actual walk in the wilderness is more entertaining

While there are scattered good moments (the opening shot really catches your attention), this is overall an especially poor rendering of the "city folk vs. hillbilly" formula. The technical side is really poor, with some poor editing during the action sequences, and a REALLY OBVIOUS boom mike at one point. There is also one of the most blatant continuity errors I've seen in ages, involving a sweater that suddenly disappears from one character.

But what really hurts the movie is an especially lame screenplay. There are obvious holes. For example, how did the hillbilly get motorbikes and gas cans up there? How were they able to transport the female character up there? Where's the missus? How come the clan's leader has such inbred idiot sons after we find out his past? It's not just the hillbillys that are written so badly, but the two brothers, who are developed so badly that they each seem to be composed of multiple pieces of greatly different characters. And I won't get to the pretty perverse nature of some nastiness the hillbillys dish out (or try to).