Not every bullshit action film released at the height of the Action Bullshot Golden Years hit the bullseye. Take Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man, an action thriller from MGM that was highly tauted as a blockbuster even in it's pre-production stages before crashing and burning with audiences and critics upon its 1991 release.
It's got a lot of elements to get excited about. There's the upfront talent in the form of classic, laid back leading man Don Johnson (making the leap from TV's Miami Vice to motion pictures) and the raw, edginess of a youthful Micky Rourke. Chuck in up and coming stars like Tia Carrera, Chelsea Field, Tom Sizmore, Kelly Hu and Vanessa Williams, a cool rock soundtrack (the opening titles open to the magnificent Wanted Dead Or Alive by Bon Jovi), slick director in Simon Wincer fresh off the superb Quigley Down Under, and a revisionist western plot about two gunslingers trying to hang onto their past and you've got an exciting mix.
And while it's well made, amusing in parts and full of action it doesn't work as a whole. Basically it's too dull. There's endless scenes of Micky and Don discussing their future and what they're going to do...but it's so poorly written that it's rarely compelling drama. The action is weakly staged, the humour seldom hits the mark and the bullshit plot at odds with the character mechanics in play. Worst of all is the Fat Baldwin, aka Danial Baldwin, as the leader of the henchman. A contemporary Western this may be but someone had the bright idea of dressing the dead eyed plank in a futurist full length trench coat like a visitor from The Matrix. Harley Davidson might think of itself as a bullshit action classic but it's not bullshit enough to content with a chubby Baldwin.
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