When the Bullet Hits the Bone

Last updated
When the Bullet Hits the Bone
When the Bullet Hits the Bone (U.S. video art).png
Final U.S. cover art
Directed by Damian Lee
Written by
  • Damian Lee
Produced by
  • Helder Goncalves
  • Julian Grant
  • Damian Lee
Starring
CinematographyGerald R. Goozee
Edited byDavid Ransley
Music byRonald J. Weiss
Production
companies
Amritraj Entertainment
Richmond House
Distributed by Cinépix Film Properties (Canada)
New Horizons Home Video (U.S.)
Release dates
  • April 9, 1996 (1996-04-09)(Canada)
  • March 17, 1998 (1998-03-17)(U.S.)
Running time
93 minutes (original)
82 minutes
(New Horizons VHS)
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

When the Bullet Hits the Bone is a 1996 Canadian action thriller film written, produced and directed by Damian Lee, starring Jeff Wincott, Michelle Johnson, Douglas O'Keeffe and Torri Higginson. It concerns a doctor who turns vigilante after nearly dying in a gang-related shooting, only to discover a vast conspiracy linking the government to the importation of narcotics. In the U.S., it was broadcast as part of the Showtime anthology Roger Corman Presents .

Contents

Plot

Mentally affected by the aftermath of drug-induced violence he had been witnessing at his hospital, emergency doctor Jack Davies errs in the streets of New York in a drunken stupor. He happens upon a quarrel between a man, a woman and a group of mob henchmen who seem to chaperone her. The unknown man gets shot dead. Davies, who is deemed an undesirable witness, gets shot as well when he fails to answer a history question asked by Daemon, the lead henchman and a sadist who likes to torment his victims with increasingly difficult trivia before he kills them. However, he miraculously survives. As he lay in the street bleeding, Davies has an epiphany and decides to drop his identification cards into a nearby manhole, so as to become anonymous and signify the end of his previous life.

Meanwhile, the woman is taken back by her chaperons to drug baron Nick Turner, who keeps her in check by threatening her young daughter. Later, Turner informs Daemon that Davies has survived and sends his men to the hospital to terminate him for good. It is revealed that Turner is a drug baron so powerful that he deals directly with senators. He wants them to pass a law that will de-penalize drugs and increase his business, and he does not hesitate to use violence against one of them when he refuses to support the initiative. Turner's men arrive at the hospital, but Davies manages to escape the hospital under a hail of bullets with the help of a cooperative nurse named Allison.

Allison nurses Davies back to health, falling in love with him in the process. But the latter remains haunted by questions surrounding the altercation that nearly left him dead, and the woman who was at the center of it. However, the mobsters still haven't given up on eliminating Davies, and Allison gets killed in a drive-by shooting intended for him. Now hell bent for vengeance, the mild mannered doctor gets into vigilante mode to get to the men responsible for his predicament.

Cast

Production

When the Bullet Hits the Bone was filmed during parts of June and July 1995 in Toronto, Ontario, which stands in for New York City. [1] It was the fourth and last in a series of films shot in quick succession (although not consecutively) by Wincott for producer/director Damian Lee between July 1994 and July 1995, following The Donor , Law of the Jungle and No Exit . An earlier film, The Killing Machine , was produced by Lee and directed by his close associate David Mitchell in late 1993. As with other films in that informal series, Lee's Toronto-based company Richmond House provided production services. [2] Los Angeles-based Ashok Amritraj receives an executive producer on the boxcovers of the Canadian and U.S. tapes, [3] but not in the film itself where he is only listed as a presenter, and frequent collaborator Alan Bursteen is listed as executive producer. [3]

TV Guide's Charles Cassady surmised that the film's premise was inspired by a series of articles published by the San Jose Mercury News , which accused the Reagan administration of allowing the importation of drugs into the U.S. to finance the Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s. [4] This however, appear to be incorrect, as the film was made before the publication of the first article, which is dated August 18, 1996. [5]

Release

The film's international sales were handled by Moonstone Entertainment. [6] The original version of the film clocks in at slightly less than 93 minutes. [7] [8] The U.S. home video version was cut down to 82 minutes. [3]

Home media

In Canada, the film premiered on VHS on April 9, 1996, [9] [10] courtesy of CFP Video. [11] In the U.S., the film was initially announced by Roger Corman's New Horizons Home Video for August 20, 1996. [12] [13] A screener, packaged in a little seen dark sleeve, was sent to critics and retailers in the run-up to that date. [12] However, the tape was delayed and only resurfaced on March 17, 1998, under the same SKU but boasting new art. [3] [14] [15] The VHS' delay may be related to the decision to retrofit the film into an anthology of films made by Corman around the same time, and set to premiere on Showtime (see below). The film appeared in the U.K. on May 13, 1996, through Entertainment in Video. [16]

On August 13, 2024, U.S. distributor MVD Entertainment Group released When the Bullet Hits the Bone on Blu-ray disc as part of their "MVD Rewind Collection" of videostore era re-issues. [17]

Television

Although there is no indication that he was involved in the actual making of it, the film was broadcast as part of the Roger Corman Presents anthology produced by Corman for American pay channel Showtime. [13] The eleventh movie of the series' second and last season, it was broadcast on October 12, 1996. [18] Unlike the trimmed version released by Corman on VHS, this one was the original cut. [19] In Canada, the film had its first TV showing on pay channel The Movie Network on December 16, 1996. [20]

Reception

When the Bullet Hits the Bone was negatively received. Writing for the Knight Ridder family of publications, Randy Myers panned the film as "a really bad doctor flick", "sloppily made and boring", and negatively compared it to another Canadian-shot medical thriller released the same week in the U.S., The Surgeon . He gave it zero stars. [21] The BBC's Radio Times deemed it "violent but unerringly predictable", adding that "scripting [was] lazy" and finding Wincott's character "implausible". [22] Canadian media watchdog Médiafilm, historically close to the Catholic church, criticized the film's "gratuitous violence" and "unrefined direction". [23] TV Guide lambasted the film, saying: "a simplistic script, an almost non-existent budget and laughable execution [...] make When the Bullet Hits the Bone a shambles of a straight-to-video action flick." [4] [24] While Ballantine Books' Video Movie Guide wrote that "Star Jeff Wincott has done so many of these lone-avenger films it’s almost hard to tell them one from the other", [25] Videohound found it to be a "[p]articularly nasty vigilante flick". [26]

A discordant voice came from syndicated columnist Joe Bob Briggs, a reviewer with an affinity for so-called "drive-in" films, who extolled the film's virtues in an article entitled Violence, sex, sleaze: action flick has it all. Briggs argued that "[u]nlike most Bronson-type movies, this one moves. It twists, it turns, and doesn't even sag in the middle", while commending the film for its high tally of "[t]wenty dead bodies. Two pistol whippings. Three gun battles". [27]

Soundtrack

As with the predecessor No Exit, the film's score was composed and produced by former Red Rider guitarist Ken Greer. The soundtrack also includes several songs. Among them are "Dying of Love" and "20th Century New Salvation", two songs by Hunter/Greer, the composer's then current project with former Refugee vocalist Myles Hunter. Another song, "No More Cruel World", is performed by Naro, the solo project of Talas singer Phil Naro, who sang the theme song composed by Hunter and Greer for No Exit. [28] The ending song, which is not credited, is "Healing Waters" by Lawrence Gowan. It was later re-recorded when Gowan was commissioned by the BBC to contribute a song to a tribute show for Princess Diana. [29]

Related Research Articles

<i>Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas</i> 1997 American direct-to-video film

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a 1997 direct-to-video animated Christmas musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and Disneytoon Studios. It is the follow-up to Disney's 1991 animated feature film Beauty and the Beast. The film sold 7.6 million VHS tapes in 1997. This is the first of two sequels to Beauty and the Beast that were released, with the other being Belle's Magical World (1998).

<i>No Exit</i> (1995 film) Canadian film

No Exit is a 1995 Canadian action film directed by Damian Lee, starring Jeff Wincott, Sven-Ole Thorsen, Richard Fitzpatrick, Joseph Di Mambro and Guylaine St-Onge. Wincott stars as an anti-violence academic who ends up killing a man responsible for the loss of his unborn child, and is abducted by a millionaire to star in his illegal, fight-to-the-death TV program. In the U.S., the film was re-titled Fatal Combat.

Damian Lee is a Canadian film director and producer. A former competitive skier, he transitioned to televised sports events, and later to feature films. A fixture of low-budget genre movies during much of the 1980s and 1990s, Lee re-emerged as a director of more dramatic fare in the mid-2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Wincott</span> Canadian actor (born 1956)

Jeffrey Wincott is a Canadian actor and martial artist best known for his lead role in the television series Night Heat.

<i>Snake Eater II: The Drug Buster</i> 1991 film by George Erschbamer

Snake Eater II: The Drug Buster, also known as Snake Eater's Revenge, is a 1991 action film directed by George Erschbamer, starring Lorenzo Lamas, Larry B. Scott and Michele Scarabelli. It is the sequel to 1989's Snake Eater. Lamas returns as ex-Marine Jack "Soldier" Kelly, who teams with new sidekick "Speedboat" to protect an inner city neighborhood from drug traffickers.

<i>Deadly Heroes</i> 1994 film by Menahem Golan

Deadly Heroes is a 1993 Israeli–Canadian action film directed by Menahem Golan, starring Michael Paré, Jan-Michael Vincent and Billy Drago. Paré stars as a former Navy SEAL trying to rescue his wife from a terrorist group who fled with her to North Africa after he attempted to thwart their attack on a Greek airport. Available date listings suggest that Deadly Heroes was the last 21st Century Film Corporation production released during the company's existence, although Crime and Punishment was belatedly released in 2002 by another entity.

<i>Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms</i> 1998 television film directed by Jeff Woolnough

Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms is a 1998 Canadian—American made-for-television science fiction film directed by Jeff Woolnough and starring Matt Battaglia, Chandra West, Jeff Wincott and Gary Busey. It is the second installment in the Universal Soldier franchise. The film recasts all returning characters and introduces a long-lost brother to the hero, played by Wincott. It was followed in the same year by Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business. In 1999, Universal Soldier: The Return, a theatrical sequel once again starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, retconed the plotline of the TV sequels.

<i>Papertrail</i> 1998 film by Damian Lee

Papertrail is a 1998 Canadian thriller film produced, co-written and directed by Damian Lee, starring Chris Penn, Michael Madsen and Chad McQueen. In it, a loner detective is brought back to the unsolved serial killer case that once destroyed his social life, when he is asked to attend a therapy group whose psychiatrist has been receiving phone calls from the perpetrator. On North American home video, the film was renamed Trail of a Serial Killer, while it is known as Serial Cops in the U.K.

Crackerjack is a 1994 Canadian action film directed by Michael Mazo, and starring Thomas Ian Griffith, Nastassja Kinski and Christopher Plummer. In it, a troubled cop (Griffith) and a tour guide (Kinski) attempt to prevent a high-stakes robber (Plummer) from burying the mountain hotel hosting a wealthy mobster—whom both cop and robber are after—in an avalanche. The film was part of a wave of 1990s Die Hard imitators, and is often regarded as one of the better-made independent efforts in that subgenre.

<i>Time Runner</i> 1993 Canadian film

Time Runner is a 1993 Canadian science fiction action film directed by Michael Mazo, starring Mark Hamill, Rae Dawn Chong and Brion James. Hamill plays a 21st century soldier who is unwittingly teleported to 1992, and teams up with a scientist (Chong) to prevent an alien race from gaining an advantage in its future war against mankind.

<i>Red Scorpion 2</i> 1994 film directed by Michael Kennedy

Red Scorpion 2 is a 1994 Canadian–American action film directed by Michael Kennedy, starring Matt McColm, John Savage, Jennifer Rubin and Michael Ironside. The film is a sequel to the 1988 film Red Scorpion, although the cast is different and the story largely unrelated. It pits a ragtag commando unit against a neo-Nazi group, whose leader believes that the legendary Spear of Destiny can seal his ascent to power.

<i>Bone Daddy</i> 1998 film

Bone Daddy is a 1998 Canadian–American crime thriller film directed by Mario Azzopardi and starring Rutger Hauer and Barbara Williams. In it, a forensics expert turned novelist is challenged by the perpetrator of the real-life crimes he used for inspiration, a serial killer who robs his victims of their bones while they are still alive. In Canada, the film was released as Palmer's Bones. It was commissioned by HBO for broadcast as part of its "Friday World Premiere" collection in the U.S.

<i>The Haunted Sea</i> 1997 American film

The Haunted Sea is a 1997 American horror film directed by Dan Golden, starring Krista Allen, James Brolin, Joanna Pacula and Don Stroud. It was originally intended as an installment of the television anthology Roger Corman Presents, but was rejected by the series' broadcaster and instead premiered on home video on November 11, 1997. It shares part of its title with Corman's 1961 film Creature from the Haunted Sea, but similarities are limited to the supernatural marine theme.

<i>The Killing Machine</i> (1994 film) 1994 Canadian film

The Killing Machine, also known as The Killing Man, is a 1994 Canadian-American action-thriller film film written and directed by David Mitchell, starring Jeff Wincott and Michael Ironside. In it, an amnesiac contract killer seeking to escape the clutches of a shadowy government agency allies with a whistleblower, who may have uncovered a conspiracy regarding the human engineering of the AIDS epidemic.

<i>Murder by Phone</i> 1982 American film

Murder by Phone is a 1982 science fiction slasher film directed by Michael Anderson. Its plot follows a series of murders committed by a disgruntled phone company employee who designs a device that kills victims when they answer their telephones.

<i>The Donor</i> 1995 Canadian film

The Donor is a 1995 Canadian medical thriller film produced and directed by Damian Lee, starring Jeff Wincott and Michelle Johnson. Inspired by a popular urban legend, it features Wincott as a man searching for one of his kidneys, which has been stolen from him following a one-night stand.

<i>Law of the Jungle</i> (1995 film) 1996 film by Damian Lee

Law of the Jungle, also known as Jungle Law, is a 1995 Canadian-American martial arts film film written, produced and directed by Damian Lee, starring Jeff Wincott, Paco Christian Prieto and Christina Cox. Wincott stars as a lawyer who has fallen on hard times, and must fight in underground tournaments organized by a mobster (Prieto) who was once his childhood friend. The film was retitled Street Law for its U.S. release.

<i>Last Man Standing</i> (1995 film) 1995 film by Joseph Merhi

Last Man Standing is a 1995 American action film written, produced and directed by Joseph Merhi, starring Jeff Wincott, Jillian McWhirter, Jonathan Fuller and Jonathan Banks. Wincott and McWhirter star as a cop and his banker wife, caught in a crossfire between a gang of robbers who clean Los Angeles' vaults and the husband's corrupt colleagues, who are in league with the bandits.

<i>Cyberjack</i> (film) 1995 film by Robert Lee

Cyberjack is a 1995 Canadian–Japanese science-fiction action film directed by Robert Lee, starring Michael Dudikoff, Brion James and Suki Kaiser. Dudikoff stars as a traumatized cop turned janitor trying to stop a violent anarchist terrorist from injecting himself with a revolutionary techno-organic virus, which would make him all-powerful. For its North American video release, the film was retitled Virtual Assassin.

<i>Back in Action</i> (1994 film) 1994 film by Steve DiMarco and Paul Ziller

Back in Action is a 1994 Canadian action film directed by Steve DiMarco and Paul Ziller, starring Billy Blanks, Roddy Piper, Bobbie Phillips and Nigel Bennett. Blanks and Piper play contrasting types on a mission to take down a criminal cartel who threatens the former's sister, and killed the latter's police partner.

References

  1. ↑ Shot in Ontario Master Spreadsheet (Up to 2021) (Report). Ontario Film Commission. August 9, 2022. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Projects: Films". hdsound.fr. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "When the Bullet Hits the Bone NH00637 – New Horizons Home Video". vhscollector.com. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Cassady, Charles (1997). Grant, Edmond (ed.). The Motion Picture – 1997 Annual (The Films of 1996). New York: Cinebooks. p. 410. ISBN   0933997000.
  5. ↑ Bromwich, Michael R. (December 1997). "I. Introduction". The CIA–Contra–Crack Cocaine Controversy: A Review of the Justice Department's Investigations and Prosecutions (Report). U.S. Department of Justice – Office of the Inspector General. p. 1.
  6. ↑ Une Balle dans la peau (VHS) (in French). France: Amritraj Entertainment; Moonstone Entertainment; Fravidis. 1996. 93 minutes
  7. ↑ "Une Balle dans la peau v.o.: When the Bullet Hits the Bone". Province of Quebec – Ministry of Culture and Communications (in French). Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Thursday Evening". The Leader-Post TV. Regina. July 19–25, 1997. p. 37  – via newspapers.com (subscription required).
  9. ↑ "Sorties de vidéos en avril". Le Régional (in French). Hull. April 3, 1996. p. 12.
  10. ↑ "New releases on video". Nanaimo Daily News. April 8, 1996. p. 5B  – via newspapers.com (subscription required).
  11. ↑ When the Bullet Hits the Bone (VHS). Canada: CFP Video. 1996. 11987.
  12. 1 2 Full length screening copy. When the Bullet Hits the Bone (VHS sleeve). United States: New Horizons Home Video. 1996. NH00637. Archived from the original on October 2, 2024. Street date: 8/20/96; Order # NH00637
  13. 1 2 "When the Bullet Hits the Bone: Notes". tcm.com. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Super Video advertisement". The Morris News. Vol. 90, no. 11. March 12, 1998. p. 7  – via newspapers.com (subscription required).
  15. ↑ "What to Rent Tonight". The Record. Hackensack. Chicago Tribune Services. March 21, 1998. p. YT-3  – via newspapers.com (subscription required).
  16. ↑ "Video Choice". Retford, Gainsborough and Worksop Times. May 16, 1993. p. 10  – via newspapers.com (subscription required).
  17. ↑ "When The Bullet Hits The Bone". mvdb2b.com. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  18. ↑ "Roger Corman Presents". Showtime Entertainment Guide. Showtime Networks. October 1996. pp. 6E.
  19. ↑ "Movies". The Jackson Hole Guide. October 9, 1996. p. D14  – via newspapers.com (subscription required).
  20. ↑ "Monday, December 16". The Kingston Whig-Standard/TV Times. December 14, 1996. p. 32  – via newspapers.com (subscription required).
  21. ↑ Myers, Randy (August 23, 1996). "Stereotype flicks and you could miss a good one". Messenger-Inquirer. Owensboro. Knight Ridder. p. 7C  – via newspapers.com (subscription required).
  22. ↑ Fane Saunders, Kilmeny, ed. (2003). Radio Times' Guide to Films (4th ed.). London: BBC Worldwide. p. 1551. ISBN   0563487542.
  23. ↑ "When the Bullet Hits the Bone". mediafilm.ca. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  24. ↑ "Review: When the Bullet Hits the bone". TV Guide. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  25. ↑ Martin, Mick; Porter, Marsha (October 2001). Video Movie Guide 2002. New York: Ballantine Books. pp. 1216–1217. ISBN   0345420969.
  26. ↑ VideoHound. "When the Bullet Hits the Bone". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  27. ↑ Briggs, Joe Bob (August 2, 1996). "Violence, sex, sleaze: action flick has it all". Orlando Sentinel. New York Times Special Features. p. Calendar 16  – via newspapers.com (subscription required).
  28. ↑ "When the Bullet Hits the Bone Soundtrack (1996) OST". ringostrack.com. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  29. ↑ Vernon, Jaimie. "Gowan, Lawrence". The Canadian Pop Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.