Kind of Watching It DVD's: Strike Force

Hey! I got a letter to preview the 1975 television movie. So what if I wrote the letter myself, Jason wants Jason to review this epic tele-film. Fantastic! The '70s were a great time for TV movies, they took it so seriously despite the often being monetarily constrained and edited for the non-movie going audience. This genre classic had an interesting premise. A cop, a Fed and a state trooper (good old Walter) all get together under the auspices of the Strike Force to fight crime. While the covers of this DVD features  Richard Gere as the star of this movie, he wasn't. The star was one Cliff Gorman. You remember Cliff, he was a short actor, did Broadway, movies but seemed to be one step away from the big time. Here he plays Joe "Joey" Gentry. In all honesty, Joey has to be one of the most Italian characters ever committed to film. The Fed was played by Donald Blakely, ha, kind of looked like Ramsey Lewis. And really, Ripley was a real snarky character, hilarious...


The big draw here according to the folks at Digiview is Richard Gere. Now, the name is familiar, but I really couldn't place him. What work has he done? Let's check IMDB to see if all is well. Anyway he played someone named Walter (really Walter), a young state policeman who had the geographical inside track of the movie's murder/crime. The movie didn't quite know what to do with Walter so they finally parked him in front of surveillance videos, well until he has to hit the road with the gang.

The final moments of this genre classic made me cry. It was such poetry and stuff fighting in that city dump. Oh the seagulls and boat-like automobiles! This was done in New York and did it ever look filthy. The conclusion of this was open-ended, like this possibly could have been a series. If the series was successful, there could have been Kenner action figures and Topps trading cards. "I'll trade you my Inspector Ripley for Big Jim..." Jason thinks about the possibilities and chokes back a sob...


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Part 2: This movie was filmed in 1974 and was really on point, not at all behind the times like a lot of crime movies were of the era.
<--------Look!! It seems that Strike Force has become a favorite for fly by night companies that specialize in public domain movies. It's a doggone shame. Here's yet another non-truthful cover about this movie and its contents. And that's One To Grow On!

The Gary Coleman Chronicles (For Fellow Dyslexics)

Oh hi. I was on my vacation (prison) when I got the stomach turning news about Gary Coleman. This is what I know so far.

Gary Coleman was in his Utah residence making a little 'ol "sammich for his wife when she heard a thump. Oh goodness. I bet Gary made some nice sandwiches too, was it liverwurst, pimpento loaf, we'll never know. Anyoo, his wife Shannon Price ran downstairs to see Gary on the floor  with blood running from his cranium/head. Price, clearly not a Mensa candidate, at least untangled her wires and called 911. From the call we hear she is afraid to act as a life saver and whatnot. She's afraid of blood and yells at Gary Coleman while his on the ground and stuff. From my investigations, I'm not sure Shannon put pressure on Gary's head or did anything helpful. The die was cast right there.The ambulance arrives, Price says at home...

Flash up to a little later. Coleman's not doing great. Shannon decides to pull the plug because Gary's injuries have alledgedly left him a vegetable, like Muhammad Ali. Oh, she's so learned. In the midst of all of this someone plays Scavullo and starts taking pics of Gary in his hospital state, Shannon is by his side...


In the days since his demise, his ex-wife has wanted money for interviews and for the pics of Gary connected to machines. Also the funeral is going to be a hefty bill that Shannon wants someone else to pay. To make matters worse, Coleman has apparently left a few wills. His former manager Dion Mial has one. Todd Bridges has a version. I've got one. Of course Shannon has one too that has Gary leaving everything to her. That's a shocker...



The Bright Side: There is none? Gary Coleman seems like the one entertainer who just couldn't find a long stretch of peace. He remained a punch line when he wasn't even an actor anymore and clearly didn't have the skill set to exist without entertainment and or the public (good and bad) making appearances in his everyday life. From the looks of it, he married a woman who actually had more problems than he did and all but begged him to work in circumstances that were psychologically destructive.

 Was He Pushed?: Here's a sticking point. Since Gary reportedly had a seizure condition, that might explain the fall yet little was said in this regard. What happened? Did Gary just lose his footing on a slippery floor with sandwich in hand or was it something more sinister. 

The Legacy: Who knows. Reportedly even Gary's train sets are up for fight too. While one of this wills leaves them to shops and businesses that Gary enjoyed, Shannon Price wants these too even though they fought over them.That's why I'm glad I'm not married, if something happened, my wife would sell my action figures. Oh no, please not my GI Joes (Jason chokes back a sob thinking about his "friends" being prepped for eBay....)

What I Think Should Happen: There's a lady named Anne Gray in the mix too, Gary left some shit, stuff to her too. Me? I'd split the will between Mial and Gray and wouldn't give Shannon one thin dime. Ha! I'm a romantic.