There comes a time when we have to stand up and be counted. This is the story of one man who did.
Though not a box office success when released in 1980, Defiance has fall in somewhere between guilty pleasure and cult favorite thanks to runs on cable networks Encore, Showtime, and The Movie Channel, and now, it has come to DVD.
Future Hollywood power-player Jerry Bruckheimer co-produced the film with Jan-Michael Vincent as Tommy Gamble, a merchant seaman who takes up residence in a troubled New York neighborhood, where the people there are being harassed and victimized by a gang called the Souls, who is led by Angel Cruz (Rudy Ramos).
Just looking to pass through until he gets a ship, Tommy tries to mind his own business, but he slowly cares for them when he gets into a romantic relationship with Marsha (Theresa Saldana), becomes friends with the Kid (Fernando Lopez) and Carmine (Danny Aiello), and is called an hero when he stands up to the Souls, and ends up being a target himself. When his ship is finally called in, Tommy must make a difficult choice: set sail from New York or stay and fight the Souls ... even if may means taking on all of them by himself.
Today, Jan-Michael Vincent has been plucked to obscurity due to being on the B-list with a string of straight-to-video releases over the years, not to mention years of alcohol dependence, drug abuse, and charges of domestic violence. But back in the mid-1970s and through the mid-1980s, he was in the ranks of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as an actor and heartthrob on the big (The Mechanic, Vigilante Force, Big Wednesday, Hooper), and small (The Winds of War and Airwolf) screen.
With a good disco-rock soundtrack from Gerald McMahon, Defiance is High Noon meets Death Wish: a lone, reluctant hero who must enforce his own brand of justice against the bad guys in order to free the neighborhood from their terror.
Order Defiance online at Amazon.
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