How many of you have ever seen or even heard of the movie Kill Slade? The reason I ask is that it just so happens to be a longstanding favourite of mine, yet whenever I mention this film to anyone I am almost invariably met with a blank stare and a shake of the head. So here is my bold bid to bring what imho is yet another unjustly neglected 1980s movie out of the cold and into the limelight.
Directed by (D.) Bruce McFarlane, and released in 1989, Kill Slade is a (very) little-known South African action/comedy film that falls fair and square into the Raiders of the Lost Ark/Romancing the Stone genre of adventure movie, and which I've watched several times and always thoroughly enjoyed. Yet because it was very low budget, it has never attracted a fraction of the attention that those above-noted blockbusters have done.
Kill Slade stars Patrick Dollaghan as the eponymous Slade, a former American mercenary now turned wildlife ranger, living and working in the (fictional) poverty-stricken central African country of Congella (filming actually took place in South Africa). Despite trying to lead a reformed, trouble-free existence, however, Slade remains still very much in the sights of various of his far from salubrious erstwhile associates, and one day he is contacted by just such an acquaintance, Flannigan (played by Danny Keogh), who is being troubled by a tenaciously nosey and seriously feisty female journalist named J.J., short for Jennifer Jameson. (Lisa Brady).
Because J.J. is due to arrive in Congella where Slade resides, in order for her to report upon a nefarious scheme to divert much-needed United Nations food aid from its intended legitimate source (a scheme that had already led to J.J.'s photographer partner being murdered after he'd attempted to snap pictures of some incriminating evidence), Flannigan calls in a favour. He offers to pay a financially embarrassed Slade handsomely if he will simply kidnap J.J. and keep her hidden for a few days. Although he fails to give Slade a plausible explanation as to why he needs this to be done, Slade is more than attracted by the sum of money being offered to avoid jeopardizing it by asking potentially awkward questions.
What Flannigan also fails to mention to Slade, however, is that he is covertly operating as the chief henchman of Mannie Kostas (Anthony Fridjhon), the shadowy mastermind who is heading the food aid scam, which will divert the United Nations funds into Kostas's own account. Moreover, Flannigan is the person who secretly murdered J.J.'s partner, once again at Kostas's behest.
Similarly, in order to save Kostas's scheme, and therefore himself as well, Flannigan will have no compunction in permanently removing Slade and J.J. too, once Slade has abducted her for him. Nothing personal, of course, but dead men (and women) tell no tales, and all that… Needless to say, however, as is true in all such movies, things do not go according to plan, especially when Slade realizes that he is being lethally double-crossed by his old compatriot.
Not only that, Slade and J.J., who initially loathe each other with a passion, soon discover that if they are to get out of this exceedingly dangerous situation alive, evading death at the sundry weapons of a deranged band of albino hunters on Flannigan's pay roll, not to mention the mixed ministrations of the local tribal shaman, they will actually need to work together and trust one another – which is when the sparks really begin to fly!
I don't ever recall seeing Kill Slade in the TV schedules here in the UK, but, happily, long after originally hiring it out from a video rental shop way back in the early 1990s when such shops were hugely popular in Britain, I succeeded in buying an ex-rental big box video of it at a closing-down sale of one such shop when the fad for renting videos ultimately passed. And as I still own a fully-functional VCR, every so often I play this and various other obscure videocassette-format movies that I own and enjoy. Time for another viewing of Kill Slade, methinks.
Speaking of which: is it just me, or have you also noticed that in the front cover illustration of the official Kill Slade video pictured here, J.J. inexplicably appears to lack a lower torso and legs, and the crocodile seems to be seizing hold of Slade's leg with a prehensile tail! All very weird...
Anyway, if you'd like to see an official trailer for Kill Slade, please click here (sadly, the reproduction quality is not too good, but you'll get the basic idea).
And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!
I've never heard of this movie but hope to watch it on streaming someday! It definitely gives me "Romancing the Stone" vibes and brings me back to that time.
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