DVDeNewZealand 12/21/02
TALKING OF B-MOVIES
By Tery Hardwicke

Six of the twelve spy-actioner takeoffs on James Bond/Dirty Harry/Our Man Flint et al by director Andy Sidaris, and son Drew, are now out on DVD in the US on all-region discs; Malibu Express, Hard Ticket To Hawaii, Picasso Trigger, Savage Beach, Guns and Enemy Gold. Sidaris's by-line is 'bullets, bombs and babes' and the generous sprinkling of Playboy's Playmates - including the 6' 1" Julie Strain - ensure that plots do not get in the way of a good story....or, the Playmates. I assume this is the sort of fare you find nowadays on late night tv and The Playboy Channel, whatever, they are highly entertaining if you don't take them too seriously and their availability on DVD adds another dimension to any B-Movie Collection worth it's name. The extras include an interesting 'Behind-the Scenes' piece on just how they make different versions for different mediums, e.g. tv, movie theatres and (I guess) videos and dvd's. The irrepressible C Noel Gross reviews the six titles on Cine-Schlock-O-Rama. Oh, I can't imagine these being available anytime soon in Australia and New Zealand. I got mine from JetDVD, a family-owned company in The Catskills, NY. USA who have all six titles in stock ('Savage Beach' and 'Guns' @ US$13.98 each; the other four @ US$10.48 each) and offer 'jet' delivery by FedEx for up to eight titles at US$16.98. From go to whoa (my front door) took just 3 days! And, just like in the tv advert, you can track it on your PC by going into FedEx NZ and entering your tracking number. Indeed, when I looked it up yesterday - 20 December - I was informed that the packet was 'in transit in destination country'. It was. One hour later, it was delivered and this morning I viewed Malibu Express while having an early breakfast. I could go on but .... I have five of the six movies still to watch!