Fireback
Encyclopedia
Fireback is a Filipino
low-budget action movie directed by Teddy Page
(Teddy Chiu) and starring Richard Harrison
, Bruce Baron
, James Gaines
, Ann Milhench, Gwendolyn Hung, Mike Monty
, Ronnie Patterson, and Ruel Vernal.
) is a US Army Soldier and Weapons Expert who "can turn an ordinary soft drink straw into a weapon". After being rescued from a POW camp, he returns home only to find his wife missing.
Duffy Collins (Bruce Baron
) is a gangster
who falls for and is rejected by Jack Kaplan's wife Diane, after which he kidnaps and eventually kills her.
Diane (Ann Milhench), is Jack Kaplan's wife who becomes the target of the amorous advances of Duffy Collins. Collins kidnaps her because she denies him. Diane is killed by Collins in a moment of rage after trying to escape.
Eve (Gwendolyn Hung) is a treacherous, bleached-blonde femme fatale
working for Duffy Collins, who works as a dancer in a nightclub. She tries to seduce Jack Kaplan, fails and is accidentally killed by Man with the Golden Hand.
Digger (James Gaines
) is a small-time crook and informer
, who leads Jack Kaplan towards Duffy Collins and is killed for that by the Man with the Golden Hand.
Man with the Golden Hand (Ruel Vernal) is a tracksuit
-wearing hitman
with a "golden hand", working for Duffy Collins. He kills Digger and Eve, after which he is disposed of by Jack Kaplan.
Police Chief (Mike Monty
) goes after Jack Kaplan after he is wrongly suspected of killing a minor bad guy.
Deputy (Ronnie Patterson) is the sidekick
of Police Chief, out to capture Jack Kaplan.
Cat Burglar (Ron David) is a villain working for Duffy Collins, who is killed by Jack Kaplan.
Shadow (Tony Aaron) is a ninja
working for Duffy Collins, who is killed by Jack Kaplan.
, Cambodia
or Laos
(the script is never quite clear on that). Liberated by a "rescue team", he returns home to the United States
only to find out that his wife Diane has been captured by infatuated gangster Duffy Collins. Kaplan embarks on a mission to find his wife, running into characters like Digger, Man With The Golden Hand, and the treacherous femme fatale
Eve. Diane is killed by Collins while trying to escape him, and the storyline turns extremely confusing. Collins sends bizarrely named hitmen like Cat Burglar and Panther out to kill Jack Kaplan, who dispatches all of them. Kaplan ends up suspected of the murder of one of the minor baddies (whom he didn't actually kill) and a fugitive from the law. Mike Monty
and Ronnie Patterson show up as policemen, who eventually track Kaplan down to a junkyard where he's been hiding. Kaplan escapes with the help of his customized car and a combination of a bazooka, a crossbow and a shotgun. The setting switches from the US to "the jungle". Kaplan kills a legion of policemen on his trail and is wounded in the process. He holes up in a "jungle" cave, where he's attacked by a ninja called Shadow, who is one of the henchmen of Duffy Collins. Kaplan kills Shadow, masquerades as him and infiltrates the stronghold of Collins, where he, after a short fight, disposes of him with Shadows samurai
sword.
describing Richard Harrison
to Ronnie Patterson.
"He's heading for the jungle!"-Policemen chasing after Richard Harrison
. (The film is supposedly set in the United States.)
wrote a short piece on Fireback and the Silver Star films for the book Gods in Polyester
, where he recalls his (generally negative) experiences working in the Philippines
, with additional anecdotes on James Gaines
, Teddy Page
and Romano Kristoff
. Beyond that, Fireback has fallen into complete obscurity. Excluding minor notoriety among fans of "no-budget" Filipino Z-movies and Richard Harrison
completists.
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
low-budget action movie directed by Teddy Page
Teddy Page
Teddy Page is a Filipino film director and occasional writer. Page, whose real name is Teddy Chiu, began his career as a young man in the early 1980s, directing low-budget action movies for producer K.Y...
(Teddy Chiu) and starring Richard Harrison
Richard Harrison (actor)
Richard Harrison is an American B-movie actor and occasionally a writer/director/producer.Harrison was very prolific and worked with most of the better-known names in European B-movies during the 1960s and 1970s, branching out to exploitation films shot all over the world in the early 1970s...
, Bruce Baron
Bruce Baron
Bruce Baron is an American movie actor.Born in New York, he graduated from Cornell University . He starred in several Asian movies, playing over a dozen lead roles in Hong Kong and Manila productions, including among others, in Godfrey Ho's "Ninja" features and Filipino low-budget action films for...
, James Gaines
James Gaines
James Gaines, birth name James Larry M. Gaines Jr., is an African-American-Filipino character actor, writer and director with dual nationality, born on May 18, 1955, in Maui, Hawaii. He was sometimes also credited as Jaimes Gaines, Jim Gaines, and James Gainers...
, Ann Milhench, Gwendolyn Hung, Mike Monty
Mike Monty
Mike Monty was an American character actor, born in 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee as Michael O'Donahue but he changed his name to Mike Monty late in life....
, Ronnie Patterson, and Ruel Vernal.
Characters
Jack Kaplan (Richard HarrisonRichard Harrison
-Politicians:*Richard Harrison , British Quartermaster-General to the Forces and Inspector-General of Fortifications*Richard Harrison , former Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives...
) is a US Army Soldier and Weapons Expert who "can turn an ordinary soft drink straw into a weapon". After being rescued from a POW camp, he returns home only to find his wife missing.
Duffy Collins (Bruce Baron
Bruce Baron
Bruce Baron is an American movie actor.Born in New York, he graduated from Cornell University . He starred in several Asian movies, playing over a dozen lead roles in Hong Kong and Manila productions, including among others, in Godfrey Ho's "Ninja" features and Filipino low-budget action films for...
) is a gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
who falls for and is rejected by Jack Kaplan's wife Diane, after which he kidnaps and eventually kills her.
Diane (Ann Milhench), is Jack Kaplan's wife who becomes the target of the amorous advances of Duffy Collins. Collins kidnaps her because she denies him. Diane is killed by Collins in a moment of rage after trying to escape.
Eve (Gwendolyn Hung) is a treacherous, bleached-blonde femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
working for Duffy Collins, who works as a dancer in a nightclub. She tries to seduce Jack Kaplan, fails and is accidentally killed by Man with the Golden Hand.
Digger (James Gaines
James Gaines
James Gaines, birth name James Larry M. Gaines Jr., is an African-American-Filipino character actor, writer and director with dual nationality, born on May 18, 1955, in Maui, Hawaii. He was sometimes also credited as Jaimes Gaines, Jim Gaines, and James Gainers...
) is a small-time crook and informer
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
, who leads Jack Kaplan towards Duffy Collins and is killed for that by the Man with the Golden Hand.
Man with the Golden Hand (Ruel Vernal) is a tracksuit
Tracksuit
A tracksuit is an article of clothing consisting of two parts: trousers and a jacket usually with front zipper. It was originally intended for use in sports, mainly as what athletes wore over competition clothing and would take off before competition. In modern times, it has become commonly worn...
-wearing hitman
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...
with a "golden hand", working for Duffy Collins. He kills Digger and Eve, after which he is disposed of by Jack Kaplan.
Police Chief (Mike Monty
Mike Monty
Mike Monty was an American character actor, born in 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee as Michael O'Donahue but he changed his name to Mike Monty late in life....
) goes after Jack Kaplan after he is wrongly suspected of killing a minor bad guy.
Deputy (Ronnie Patterson) is the sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
of Police Chief, out to capture Jack Kaplan.
Cat Burglar (Ron David) is a villain working for Duffy Collins, who is killed by Jack Kaplan.
Shadow (Tony Aaron) is a ninja
Ninja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
working for Duffy Collins, who is killed by Jack Kaplan.
Plot
Jack Kaplan is a US Army Soldier and Weapons Expert kept as a POW somewhere in VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
or Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
(the script is never quite clear on that). Liberated by a "rescue team", he returns home to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
only to find out that his wife Diane has been captured by infatuated gangster Duffy Collins. Kaplan embarks on a mission to find his wife, running into characters like Digger, Man With The Golden Hand, and the treacherous femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
Eve. Diane is killed by Collins while trying to escape him, and the storyline turns extremely confusing. Collins sends bizarrely named hitmen like Cat Burglar and Panther out to kill Jack Kaplan, who dispatches all of them. Kaplan ends up suspected of the murder of one of the minor baddies (whom he didn't actually kill) and a fugitive from the law. Mike Monty
Mike Monty
Mike Monty was an American character actor, born in 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee as Michael O'Donahue but he changed his name to Mike Monty late in life....
and Ronnie Patterson show up as policemen, who eventually track Kaplan down to a junkyard where he's been hiding. Kaplan escapes with the help of his customized car and a combination of a bazooka, a crossbow and a shotgun. The setting switches from the US to "the jungle". Kaplan kills a legion of policemen on his trail and is wounded in the process. He holes up in a "jungle" cave, where he's attacked by a ninja called Shadow, who is one of the henchmen of Duffy Collins. Kaplan kills Shadow, masquerades as him and infiltrates the stronghold of Collins, where he, after a short fight, disposes of him with Shadows samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
sword.
Memorable lines
"He can turn an ordinary soft drink straw into a weapon."-Mike MontyMike Monty
Mike Monty was an American character actor, born in 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee as Michael O'Donahue but he changed his name to Mike Monty late in life....
describing Richard Harrison
Richard Harrison (actor)
Richard Harrison is an American B-movie actor and occasionally a writer/director/producer.Harrison was very prolific and worked with most of the better-known names in European B-movies during the 1960s and 1970s, branching out to exploitation films shot all over the world in the early 1970s...
to Ronnie Patterson.
"He's heading for the jungle!"-Policemen chasing after Richard Harrison
Richard Harrison (actor)
Richard Harrison is an American B-movie actor and occasionally a writer/director/producer.Harrison was very prolific and worked with most of the better-known names in European B-movies during the 1960s and 1970s, branching out to exploitation films shot all over the world in the early 1970s...
. (The film is supposedly set in the United States.)
Reviews
Fireback has never been reviewed or featured in print much of anywhere. The IMDb gives it a votes average of 4.9. Richard HarrisonRichard Harrison (actor)
Richard Harrison is an American B-movie actor and occasionally a writer/director/producer.Harrison was very prolific and worked with most of the better-known names in European B-movies during the 1960s and 1970s, branching out to exploitation films shot all over the world in the early 1970s...
wrote a short piece on Fireback and the Silver Star films for the book Gods in Polyester
Gods In Polyester (film book)
Gods In Polyester: A Survivors' Account Of 70's Cinema Obscura is a cult film book covering mainly American obscure, low-budget, and independent film horror, sci-fi, exploitation film, Blaxploitation, Spaghetti Western, and action films that were created between 1970 and 1981.This book was...
, where he recalls his (generally negative) experiences working in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, with additional anecdotes on James Gaines
James Gaines
James Gaines, birth name James Larry M. Gaines Jr., is an African-American-Filipino character actor, writer and director with dual nationality, born on May 18, 1955, in Maui, Hawaii. He was sometimes also credited as Jaimes Gaines, Jim Gaines, and James Gainers...
, Teddy Page
Teddy Page
Teddy Page is a Filipino film director and occasional writer. Page, whose real name is Teddy Chiu, began his career as a young man in the early 1980s, directing low-budget action movies for producer K.Y...
and Romano Kristoff
Romano Kristoff
Romano Kristoff was a Spanish-born B-movie actor working in the Philippines in the 80's and early 90's. He was also credited as Rom Kristoff, Ron Kristoff, Run Kristoff, Ron Krastoff, and other similar variants...
. Beyond that, Fireback has fallen into complete obscurity. Excluding minor notoriety among fans of "no-budget" Filipino Z-movies and Richard Harrison
Richard Harrison (actor)
Richard Harrison is an American B-movie actor and occasionally a writer/director/producer.Harrison was very prolific and worked with most of the better-known names in European B-movies during the 1960s and 1970s, branching out to exploitation films shot all over the world in the early 1970s...
completists.