Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Guns Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson March 12, 2020

The films of husband-wife Andy and Arlene Sidaris are a cross between a high-octane '80s action picture and the beaches of Baywatch. But the A&A duo began making films of this ilk long before the popular TV series became a hit. Ever since their debut feature Stacey (1973), the Sidaris team created a little cottage industry of low-budget features that mixed softcore sex with B-movie action scenes. The filmmakers knew that their work had a small theatrical window and mostly relied on the drive-in theaters to get them exposure. The Sidaris also had the foresight that their movies would play on midnight cable and enjoy an extended life on VHS. 1990's Guns is one of their most straightforward and accessible offerings. Juan Degas (Erik Estrada) heads a gunning operation which ships high-powered weapons originating from China to South America courtesy of a clandestine base in Hawaii. Degas earns the nickname "Jack of Diamonds" because he or his henchmen leave such a calling card in a dead victim's mouth. He hires two hitmen, Tito (Richard Cansino) and Cubby (Chu Chu Malave), to take down two Mo­lokai-based femme federal agents, Donna Hamilton (Dona Speir) and Nicole Justin (Roberta Valesquez), who are working under cover. Tito and Cubby cross-dress in disguise and interrupt a luncheon at a beach restaurant. They think they've shot one of the correct DEA agents but after their getaway learn it was a different woman! Degas is livid and hatches a new scheme to kidnap the blonde bombshell mother of one of the agents who's the attorney general.

Did Dirty Harry come back as a woman?

The Sidaris employ six of the Playboy Playmates from their stock company in good and bad girl roles. Devin DeVasquez steals the show as Degas's very beautiful but deadly girlfriend, Cash. When I first watched Guns, I immediately recognized George Cheung as Degas's partner in crime, Sifu. Cheung portrayed a VC prison camp guard in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), which I've seen countless times, and had even played a VC leader before that in The Exterminator (1980). Cheung has a lesser role here but it's still great fun to see him again. Guns moves at a fast clip with wall-to-wall action and muscular, busty babes kicking some major butt.

The Daily (NY) News even did a write-up of Guns, calling it "the A&A Team's funniest flick to date." Joe Bob Briggs, a drive-in movie critic for Creators Syndicate, penned a trivia-packed review that received syndication across some pretty big newspapers across the US.

Guns Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Guns makes its global debut on high-def on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50 courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment. The film was first released on DVD by Millennium Entertainment in 2003 as part of The Andy Sidaris Collection: Volume One, a six-disc box set. It was presented in 1.33:1 from the original negative. Mill Creek advertises this new scan as struck "from a 4K widescreen restoration." I don't know definitively the original exhibition ratio but I'd guesstimate 1.85:1 so this 1.78:1 seems closest to the theatrical framing. The picture is very bright and takes full advantage of Hawaii's warm spots. Aqua, hot pink, salmon, yellow, and green plants predominate this palette. Nighttime exteriors and indoor scenes are often photographed in downtown Las Vegas. We see plenty of bright lights in the big city. Interiors primarily contain azure, black, and shimmering pink. The print retains a very thick and coarse grain for evening scenes (e.g., see the limo meeting between Degas, Tito and Cubby in Screenshot #16). Print damage is most conspicuous during two extended scenes. See the thin vertical tramlines in capture #24. The feature sports an average video bitrate of 34999 kbps. My video score is 3.75/5.00.

The 96-minute film comes with a dozen chapters.

Guns Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Guns was recorded in Ultra Stereo and since the Millennium disc kept the stereo mix, it's surprising that Mill Creek has downsampled it to a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1565 kbps, 24-bit). I didn't really notice the downmix all that much since gunshots, choppers, jeeps, and other f/x are fairly enveloping at times. Dialogue is cleanly presented and I didn't discern any intelligibility issues with spoken words. Composer Richard Lyons crafts a propulsive, synth-heavy score that keeps pace with the action cues.

Optional English SDH are available.

Guns Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Andy Sidaris and Producer Arlene Sidaris - husband and wife discuss how Guns was brought together, use of the Hawaii/Vegas locales, the actors and their other roles (as well as their off-screen lives), and challenges various scenes presented. They complement and overlap the other's remarks very nicely. Andy repeatedly gets caught up with commenting on his Playmates' beauty, which becomes redundant. In English, not subtitled.

• Intro by Director Andy Sidaris (1:29) - a quick intro by Sidaris who's soon joined by the bare-breasted Julie Strain, a Penthouse Pet whose appeared in other Malibu Bay Films productions but not Guns.

• Behind the Scenes Featurette (58:13, 480i) - a compilation of archival material featuring Sidaris, Devin DeVasquez, Gerald Okamura, Julie Strain, and Roberta Vasquez. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailer (1:30) - a full-frame trailer for Guns.

• Bonus Trailers - previews for six other Malibu Bay titles.

Guns Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Guns was surprisingly much better than I expected and fans of the Sidaris' Seven (1979), which Brian reviewed very favorably, should check it out. Mill Creek has restored the original luster of the Hawaiian colors but some additional frame-by-frame cleanup would have made the transfer cleaner. Supplements duplicate the Millennium Entertainment DVD. RECOMMENDED.