Theme Song: Jay Ferguson, writer of AM Gold gem “Thunder Island,” handles the music duties for Quiet Cool. I hope you like blazing guitar, scorching sax, and a lot of synth, because that’s what’s going on here.
There’s also a pretty intense theme song creatively titled, “Quiet Cool,” by Ferguson and Joe Lamont.
This stuff rules. All that punk shit sucks.
Interesting Dated References: Marijuana farming being a super-shady business operation involving white gangs, booby traps, meddling kids, upset old people, and corrupt town officials.
Best Line: In reference to bundles of marijuana that are in danger of catching fire and need to be relocated closer to the other stuff — “Save the grass! Get it over there with the other stuff!”
Social Context: As the price tag on established action heros increased, there was a scramble in the mid-’80s to find newer and cheaper leading men. Be a man, look sort of brooding, maybe a little smarmy, and you were qualified to star in your very own action film. For every success (Bruce Willis in Die Hard) there were dozens of failures (Michael Pare in anything starring Michael Pare). Quiet Cool, starring James Remar (Dexter’s dead dad), is definitely in the latter.
Summary: Loose-cannon loner cop Joe Dylanne (Remar) lives in a loft apartment full of stop signs and motorcycle parts.
It’s the ‘80s bachelor pad starter kit; the only thing missing is a neon beer sign.
As soon as he steps outside he stumbles upon a roller-skating purse-snatcher whom he chases through the subway and all over town before catching him. There’s a lot of vintage New York in these scenes.
Joe then gets a call from his ex-girlfriend, Katy, in Northern California, and immediately leaves town to be with her. Once in the sleepy town, Joe finds Katy and immediately starts deep-French kissing her with no regard for what she ate for lunch. Later they get a drink and she explains that drug dealers have moved into town and started planting dank nugs everywhere, ruining their chill vibe, corrupting the government, and listening to terrible music at all hours.
While all of this is going on, Katy’s brother, Adam, is hiding in the woods after witnessing the weedians kill his parents and getting thrown off a cliff. Eventually he crosses paths with Dylanne, and they set all the Earth’s weed on fire.
Then, instead of it getting everyone blazed as fuck from all the weed smoke permeating the globe, the bad guys get mad and burn down Katy’s cabin (and her original Jaws hardcover book), killing her.
Dylanne and Adam decide to kill the baddies by pulling a giant tree lengthwise through their cabin as if it were a giant joint everyone could smoke. This was a pretty cool action set piece, but I didn’t bother to take a picture. Then it is revealed one of the local town matriarchs was behind the entire operation and we’re supposed to act all surprised.
Worth Mentioning:
– The trio of bad guys is color coded for no reason whatsoever: Nick Cassavetes (Black Moon Rising, The Wraith) as Valence, the guy in all black, Chris Mulkey (Twin Peaks) as Red, the guy in all blue, and Brooks Gardner (best known as “Elevator Operator” in Raw Deal) as Pink, the guy in all white.
– Adam is stabbed in the chest but saved by a Realistic-brand Walkman.
Poster and Box Art:The New World video cassette release really tries to narrow in on Remar with a pretty lame photography treatment:
Seriously, why go with that when this piece of art was already created and ready to go from the theatrical poster?
Sure, there are some proportion issues going on with Remar, but the composition is great and it features a bunch of weed. There are also a few foreign posters, which miss the mark a bit, but get points for trying, including the French version, which goes for a straight-up Rambo vibe.
Availability: There’s some weird DVDs of this available but they look to be grey-market releases. You’re best bet is tracking down a videocassette.