Drug-ring feature, modern outlaws, double comedy

Press, 3 February 1987, Page 18

Drug-ring feature, modern outlaws, double comedy

By

DAVID WILSON

The complexities of the New Zealand-linked “Mr Asia” drugs ring scandal are brought into vivid focus in the feature film “Should I Be Good?” (PG) a January release from Kerridge Odeon Amalgamated Video Services. The story explodes into the public spotlight with the brutal murder of Martin Johnstone in Britain at the start of this decade. He had already been dubbed “Mr Asia” by international police, who were about to arrest him as suspected head of a world-wide narcotics smuggling syndicate, when he was killed.

The code-name passed to Terence Clark, alias Alexander Sinclair, who was jailed the next year for the murder of Johnstone, and was then seen as the true mastermind behind the syndicate. But days before he was to present his own expose of the real powers behind the organisation, Sinclair himself died in prison. Police continued to investigate the still hidden syndicate and its activities, and a number of journalists maintained their personal quests to find evidence that would identify and convict the key people. They believed not only that the real “Mr Asia” was alive and well, but that he was otherwise a thoroughly respectable person. The film tells the subsequent story of some of these private efforts to pull down the key villain. Central to it is musician Nat Goodman (played by singer-guitarist Harry Lyon) who was arrested on marijuana charges in a “Mr Asia” sweep-up operation in New Zealand in 1981. When Goodman is released from jail after three years he tries to find his former singing partner, a young Eurasian girl, Anne-Marie (Spring Rees), but he discovers that she is now being used by the syndicate as an Asian courier and is deeply involved in heroin addiction and prostitution. His attempts to free her from the syndicate’s con-

trol get him back into the world of drugs, murder and intrigue. Back on the nightclub circuit, Goodman meets Vicki Strassbourg (Joanne Mildenhall), a television journalist, who is preparing a programme to expose corruption in high places. Together these three bring about their own kind of justice.

“Should I Be Good?” (sub-title “Should I Be Evil ...”) is written and directed by Graham J. McLean. Its running time is 91 minutes.

Lynda Carter, the star of television’s "Wonder Woman,” teams up with Marjoe Gortner in “Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw” (M), one of the latest

releases from Kerridge Odeon Amalgamated Video Services.

Lyle Wheeler (Gortner) is a quick-draw expert who sees himself as a modern-day “Billy the Kid.” He travels from town to town in stolen cars, making a living by gambling his “fast gun.” He meets up with Bobbie Jo (Lynda Carter), a stunning brunette who is bored with the small town life and is looking for excitement. Together with Bobbie Jo’s friend, Essie, her sister, Pearl, and her quick-tempered boyfriend, Slick, they embark on a lawless journey across New Mexico, robbing a bank, outrunning the police, and crashing cars. Slick cons Lyle into a daring robbery, but things go wrong — a guard is shot and killed. From that point on their escapade is running out of control. A determined policeman, Sheriff Hicks, is tipped off by a frightened Essie after another run-in with the law. In a shootout that follows, Essie is killed and the rest of the gang escape a now ruthless and desperate Hicks. But their time is running out, and what started as a joyride certainly does not end that way. Running time of “Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw” is 85 minutes. Other releases from K.O.A.V. this month include the following:— “Carry On England”

(PG) and “Carry On Henry” (PG) — In the first film in this double comedy feature, the privates in an experimental mixed anti-aircraft battery somewhere in England at the start of World War II have so far defied every effort to bring order into their ranks and deviate them from their unremitting determination to “make love not war.” The second film is based on a recent discovery of a manuscript by one William Cobbler, which reveals that Henry VIII did, in fact, have two more wives. Although it was first thought that Oliver Cromwell originated the story, it is now known to be definitely all Cobbler’s — from beginning to end!

The familiar “Carry On” faces line up for these feature films — Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Terry Scott, Windsor Davies, Joan Sims, Barbara Windsor, together with Judy Geeson, Peter Butterworth, Melvyn Hayes and Peter Jones. The running time for this video double is 179 minutes.

“Nothing But the Night” (M) — stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Diana Dors, Gwyneth Strong, Keith Barron and Georgia Brown. A blazing bonfire on a remote Scottish island is the key to a series of bizarre murders and a child’s terrifying nightmares. The mysterious Anna Harb, former prostitute and murderess, is hell-bent on revenge against the wealthy trustees of an orphanage. Definitely one to watch just before you go to bed? “The Incredible Kung Fu Master” (PG) — The Lee brothers, Chun-fei I and Chun-pang argue with each other for the honour of destroying an evil kung fu master, Young-wei. They start their own kung fu school of Young-chun and Wu-hsing techniques. One day, they receive a letter, 50 taels of silver, and a request to attend a meeting at the Ten-miles Slope the next day. They find that Lord Tien-fung wants his two sons to be taught by the brothers: Ta-chiu will learn Young-1 chun, while Shao-chiu will I learn Wu-hsing. They all I agree to meet again two years later to be I rewarded for their teach-1 ing.

In the meantime, an intricate web of honour, treachery and revenge keeps the plot chopping and charging along. Finally, the two years have passed and it’s all on for a ferocious fight at the earlier-appointed meeting place, Ten-miles Slope. The battle that ensues is best described as the martial arts version of “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.” “The Incredible Kung Fu Master” runs for 901 minutes.