Running Scared (1980 film)
| Running Scared | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Paul Glickler |
| Produced by | Paul Glickler |
| Written by | David Odell |
| Starring |
Ken Wahl Judge Reinhold John Saxon Bradford Dillman Pat Hingle Lonny Chapman Annie McEnroe |
| Edited by | Robert Q. Lovett |
| Distributed by | Goodtimes Home Videos |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Running Scared is a 1980 action film/adventure directed by Paul Glickler and starring Ken Wahl, Judge Reinhold and introducing Annie McEnroe.
Plot
Taking place in 1961, prior to the proposed Bay of Pigs Invasion, two soldiers LeRoy Beecher (Judge Reinhold) and Chaz McClain (Ken Wahl) are just finishing a two year Infantry tour in the Army in Panama. They hitch a ride on a military C-47 back to their home state, Florida. LeRoy has stolen a footlocker full of surveillance equipment (punishable with time in Leavenworth) and during the flight to Florida the plane makes a brief stopover on some secret Caribbean island base. While at the island LeRoy goofing around unwittingly takes photographs of the base and of Chaz (thereby identifying him) with an infra-red camera and leaves the tear-off part of the negative on the C-47's floor. The plane then continues on to Florida where Leroy and Chaz disembark and workers (presumably anti-castrist Cubans) sweep up the aircraft and find LeRoy's camera tear-off. The workers take the negative to two superiors (John Saxon and Bradford Dillman) who are planning an invasion of Cuba from the secret island base. They develop LeRoy's negatives and now can visually ID Chaz.
The anti-castrists know the plane was heading to Florida and now think that LeRoy and Chaz are spies sent to give away the secret of the island base and presumed invasion. Saxon and Dillman assemble a large number of armed men and proceed to search for and locate LeRoy and Chaz throughout the Florida Everglades. When Chaz and LeRoy return home they try to re-adjust to civilian life. They thumb a ride with a teenage boy who is on his way to school and drives a suped-up hotrod car. The boy, who has fantasies of joining the army himself, converses with and gives Chaz and LeRoy a crazy high-speed ride through the back country dropping them off in town. Afterward they go to a diner where the latest music from Del Shannon ("Runaway") and Ronnie Dawson ("Decided By The Angels") is playing on a jukebox and they encounter two young high school girls with a stationwagon. The boys go to a secluded spot with the girls and 'score' with the girls before they go off to school. However the boys are not off the plane too long before Saxon's armed men, having identified them in the diner, are chasing and shooting at them in the night. LeRoy makes it out of the first ambush and gets back to his parents home. Chaz loses contact with him but survives the ambush. The next morning Chaz is searching for LeRoy when a fancy convertible driven by an attractive and rich young woman named Sallie Mae stops to give him a lift. Sallie Mae at first refuses to take Chaz to LeRoy's parents house and he then threatens to cut up her car seats with a penknife if she abandons him on the road. Sallie Mae then consents to take Chaz to LeRoy's parents house deep in the Everglades swamp where her car breaks down in the driveway. LeRoy, Chaz and now Sallie Mae are reunited and it's learned LeRoy's father "Pa" Beecher (Lonny Chapman) runs an illegal Moonshine operation. The Beechers, Pa and Ma, have been out shopping and return to encounter Chaz and Sallie Mae who helps Ma Beecher with the groceries. Pa Beecher's temper hits the roof when he sees Sallie Maes broken down convertible in the driveway as it easily gives away the location of his home and that he's running an illegal liquor operation. The soldiers track Chaz and LeRoy to LeRoys's parents home after spotting Sallie Mae's car.
At this point a shootout occurs at the Beecher home, with Mister Beecher getting pissed off that his Moonshine secret is out, and curses his son LeRoy. LeRoy angered, along with Chaz and Sallie Mae, steal one of Mister Beecher's airboats and an exciting long chase continues through the swamp. Chaz later returns to his own father's (Pat Hingle) house and encounters his old girlfriend. The girlfriend seeing Sallie Mae thinks that Chaz has impregnated Sallie Mae. Sallie Mae also returns with Chaz to her parents (who are vacationing in Europe) palatial estate and the two clean themselves up. After much adventure eluding Saxon, Dillman and their men, LeRoy and Chaz eventually overcome them. A romance has developed between Chaz and the wealthy Sallie Mae.
Notes
This film is known under several titles for home video, cable TV and foreign market. Two are "Desperate Men" and "Back in the USA". Once readily available on cable and videotape, the film is impossible to find on DVD. It can be streamed for a $fee on Hulu, Youtube, Amazon etc.
The film is finally due for DVD release on Tuesday September 26, 2017 from CodeRed video.[1]
Cast
- Judge Reinhold as LeRoy Beecher
- Ken Wahl as Chaz McClain
- Annie McEnroe as Sally Mae Giddens
- Bradford Dillman as Arthur Jaeger
- John Saxon as Captain Munoz
- Pat Hingle as Sergeant McClain
- Lonny Chapman as Pa Beecher (*billed as Lonnie Chapman)
- Tom McFadden as Colonel Williams
- Tim Brantly as Kid in Jalopy
- Mary Lawson as Ponytail
- Lisa Felcoski as Sandy
- Francine Joyce as Robin Winston
- Malcolm Jones as Storekeeper
- Tom Tully as Pilot of C-47
- Roger Pretto as Commando Lieutenant