I’ve long been a fan of Greydon Clark’s raunchy 1983 comedy Joysticks. While that particular sense of humor wouldn’t fly in modern films, it remains a cult classic and a guilty pleasure for many film fans. One year later, Clark would return B-movie action classic Final Justice starring Joe Don Baker, who appeared in the aforementioned film. While Baker would continue to appear in films for several more decades, Final Justice may have been his final as a leading man.
Baker plays Texas Sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo, who chases after two mafia hitmen attempting to escape custody by getting across the Mexican border. Geronimo leaps into action and kills one of the hitmen while capturing the other. He’s ordered to escort the surviving killer back to his home country of Italy, where his battle will truly begin. Geronimo will have to fight to survive against the hitman and the Mafia family who employed him.
This film could be called a forgotten gem, but thanks to MST3K and RiffTraxx, Final Justice has been kept alive by poking fun at it. The movie certainly deserves a few jabs, but who doesn’t enjoy watching Joe Don Baker kick some ass? I mean, he completely slayed in the film Walking Tall playing the no-nonsense Buford Pusser and continues his track record with this film.
In a sense, Baker plays Geronimo as a traditional cowboy, and planting the character into modern Italy helps play to the fish-out-of-water aspect up in the film. The international locations help make the setting look much larger than it is. Clark keeps the picture moving fast and fills every frame with action or women, sometimes both.
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MVD Rewind Collection has produced another winner. Never to shy away from the special features, they’ve loaded this disc with a plethora of goodies. There is a ton of info and behind-the-scenes stories from the set and international locations. The ‘Hack the Movies’ team has recorded a fun and informational commentary track for the film. There’s also a brand new 74-min documentary on the making of Final Justice featuring Clark, editor Larry Bock, and cinematographer Nicholas Josef von Sternberg.
MVD Rewind is such a vital distribution label. Films like Final Justice are far too often lost and forgotten. Thankfully, the company rescues these pictures from obscurity, giving them a second life in a beautiful package that includes a retro slipcover and folded mini-poster. Whether you enjoy the film or not, Final Justice is certainly another must-own disc from one of the best labels in the business.
