Truly Dreadful Film

Load of rubbish!!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

My uncle actually helped filmed this movie and my dads buddy was a co-writer as i understand it. if you are interested, i am not sure of the exact location of the filming but i know that it was filmed off the Big Bay peninsula about a half hour from where i am from. The premier was at my hometown theater of Manistque. They brought over a bunch of actors from new york to do the film. all no names. you are correct when you say that this was a low budget film. As i recall, my uncle provided his services for free. I was surprised to see that this movie was even on-line and that someone had actually taken the time to write a review on it. How entertaining!

My dad was an extra in this movie (one of the disgruntled fisherman who had a whole line in this movie) and his scene was shot in Fairport Michigan (on the Garden Peninsula) on the docks where he was an actual commercial fisherman. Other scenes were shot in a different location (maybe New York). It's a generally awful film, but we'd like an original if anyone knows of one out there- we have a version that we taped off of the TV, but my dad's part was cut (because he swears in the film). If they redo/update the movie, they may have to change the title to "Pacified Joe Bass" after the government bought all of the "white-man" licenses and gave them to the Native American fishermen. Maybe this movie started the whole process...

This unjustly obscure and pretty good quintessentially 70's "fight back" revenge drama could easily be subtitled "Billy Jack Goes Fishing." Earnest, taciturn, fiercely self-reliant and independent no-nonsense blue collar Native American fisherman Joe Bass (firmly played with a pleasing blend of stubbornness and a steely backbone by Henry Bal) fights tenaciously for his fishing rights at a tiny North Michigan lakeside hamlet, butting heads with all-powerful rich racist jerk George Hanson (a perfectly hateful Mike Millner). The already tense rivalry between Bass and Hanson intensifies to a dangerous fever pitch when Bass falls in love with Hanson's rebellious young daughter Karen (sweetly essayed by the pretty Molly Mershon). This in turn leads to Joe being further harassed by the corrupt local authorities, who push Bass around so severely that he eventually has no choice but to exact a harsh revenge on Hanson and his cronies. Cleanly directed by Thomas G. Reeves (who also produced and co-wrote the insightful script), with plain cinematography by Bob Baldwin, a fine bluesy country and western score (the harmonic theme song sung by Elizabeth Perry is quite catchy), sound acting from a solid no-name cast, a strong lone autonomous man standing up to the crooked, imposing system central theme, a few thrilling outbursts of brutal violence, a well-observed depiction of small town social dynamics, a shockingly downbeat ending, and plenty of surprisingly tough-minded commentary on how the wealthy go out of their way to keep the oppressed poor in their place (there's some equally meaty remarks about the white man's vile loathing towards and gross mistreatment of Native Americans as well), this modestly produced, occasionally a bit too slow and talky, but overall still gripping yarn packs a really potent wallop.

This was sitting and gathering dust on the one of the shelves at my local video store, so I decided to rent it one day. Set in northern Michigan (where I'm from), this is a pretty forgettable, dirt-cheap revenge yarn. Bass is a native American fisherman who is having his fishing grounds taken away by the big, bad IL' white man. What does Angry do? Well, he goes nuts in a limited-budget way and wreaks half-handed havoc across the wilderness, including "accidentally" causing a man to chainsaw his leg off, and the Sheriff to scream "BAAASSSSS!" about 20 times. Without giving away the ending, Bass and the corn-fed Sheriff have a brutal showdown on a fishing boat, involving a shotgun and more screaming. I wonder where this was filmed, IF it was filmed, in Northern Michigan. None of the locations look familiar, neither do the names in the cast. BAAASSSSS! Sorry, couldn't help myself.