SEVEN
(1979) Blu-rayDirector: Andy Sidaris
Kino Lorber
Before he went all "babes with guns" in the 1980s, Andy Sidaris crashed the waves with SEVEN, on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.
After three investigators (along with the wife of one), a senator (Terry Kiser, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD) and his aide (John Alderman, THE STUNT MAN) are assassinated in quick succession, Harris (Robert E. Relyea) of the CIA surmises that a criminal cartel is plotting to take over the Hawaiian islands and pillage its lands after scaring off tourists and businesses with a hotel massacre staged to look like a hostage situation. Harris approaches cat-loving, high-living mercenary Sevano (William Smith, GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE) to assemble a crack team to take out heads of the islands criminal interests. Model Alexa (Barbara Leigh, TERMINAL ISLAND) – who never goes anywhere without her personal masseuse Jennie (Susan Kiger, HOUSE OF DEATH) – is to target a sadomasochistic extortionist known as "The Hermit" (Reggie Nalder, MARK OF THE DEVIL), "The Cowboy" (Guich Koock, AMERICAN NINJA) is sent after "Butterfly" (Henry Ayau) who uses his surfing stardom as a means of hooking fans onto hard drugs, drag racer T.K. (CLEOPATRA JONES' Christopher Joy, billed erroneously as "Cristipher") targets dockland trafficker Chen (Kwan Hi Lim, UNCOMMON VALOR) who once blew up a freighter of refugees to keep from being caught by the Coast Guard, ballistics expert The Professor (Richard LePore, IN HARM'S WAY) is to remotely seek and destroy mob financial wizard Keoki McDowell (Seth Sakai, THE PERFECT WEAPON) with his bag of high-tech tricks, stand-up comic Kincella (Art Metrano, HISTORY OF THE WORLD: PART 1) is sent to disarm hitman Maderos (Peter Knecht, MALIBU EXPRESS) with humor (followed by bullets), and martial artist Ed Parker (DIMENSION 5) must take on art dealer Mr. Lee (Tino Tuiolosega). Sevano plans to take on the big boss Kahuna (Lenny Montana, THE GODFATHER), whose intelligence spying has kept the criminal syndicate a step ahead of the law, by himself. Well aware of their highly-connected network and their exacting plans for the hotel massacre, Sevano and his crew set a narrow timeframe to complete their job with their seven targets to all be taken out within a half-hour of the first kill; however, they are being watched by an unknown CIA liaison who may be working both sides and could expose them.
Essentially a sexed-up, more graphically violent feature-length episode of HAWAII FIVE-O – seemingly filmed on location during Smith's guest tenure on the show during its twelfth season – SEVEN (the only feature scripting effort of HIGHWAY PATROL's William Driskill and later Cannon editor Robert Baird) has a story that is so simplistic as to be "formulaic" not only in terms of its clichés but its very structure. After a shootout opening, the film then spends its first thirty minutes approaching each member of his team and introducing each of their targets in flashback. This is followed by their arrival in Hawaii and "two days" (actually a few minutes of reconnaissance) – with Cowboy and eye-candy Jennie additionally tasked with taking out Maderos' band of gunmen (THE KARATE KID's Martin Kove, HARD TICKET TO HAWAII's Russell Howell as a skateboarding marksman, BIG WEDNESDAY's Titus Napoleon, and THE UNTOUCHABLES' Nicholas Georgiade) – before SEVANO'S SEVEN (the film's alternate title) implement their plan, intercutting in such as manner as laboriously draw things out rather than raise the suspense. The film still manages to be entertaining, with Smith wooden but athletic, Kiger and Leigh providing skin – along with belly dancer Little Egypt – and Nalder being given a bit more to do than usual. THE OCTAGON's Tadashi Yamashita is criminally underused as Lee's sword-wielding bodyguard. Producer Melvin Simon would later hit his stride with the PORKY'S series.
Released theatrically by American International and on home video by Vestron – followed by a U.S.A. Home Video "Sybil Danning's Adventure Video" line release – SEVEN did not make it to DVD, premiering instead on MGM HD in a version that ran ten minutes shorter. While Kino Lorber's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen transfer is the full version (101:16), it is obviously not from a new master, with what should be more saturated hues looking as dull as the brown and tanned skin while clothing, set dressings, and faces lack much in the way of detail and the blacks of clothing are as undetailed as the shadows. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track is rather unspectacular as well with dialogue recorded (or re-recorded) low in the mix, effects seeming recessed, and the library music (including one piano track also used a stock music in John Carpenter's THE FOG the same year) lacking much presence. There are no subtitles or captions.
Audio Commentary by Steve Mitchell, producer-director of King Cohen, and film historians Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson who also note the similarities to HAWAII FIVE-O (including the presence of actors who "should have" guested in the show if they did not like Kove) and noting that it may be the only film in which Smith got an above-the-title billing. The lively discussion touches upon the careers of the various character actors – with a nice shout-out to Alderman whose career included mainstream bit roles, sexploitation, and non-sexual roles in hardcore films – and Sidaris' career in sports film shows that allowed him to self-finance as well as the innovative techniques employed in those films that he would carry over to his own narrative works (noting that Sidaris might have been inspired to go into film after being brought in by Robert Altman to stage the football game sequence in M*A*S*H). The presence of the three creates a very listenable track since they all have their own input and obsessions, so it is not as predictable as a solo scene specific track. Also included is an interview with the late director's wife Arlene Sidaris (11:45) who discusses his upbringing and his desire to make movies (having compared himself to the young protagonist of CINEMA PARADISO) and his conviction that women should be more aggressive and heroic in movies. She recalls meeting him while he was working on the ABC sports shows, their marriage, and getting into business with him when they were forced to put up their house for collateral on MALIBU EXPRESS (she was working independently from him on THE HARDY BOYS MYSTERIES while he was directing SEVEN) followed by discussion of their subsequent collaborations and her need to assert herself as producer with unions. The theatrical trailer (1:11) is included along with trailers for other films. The cover is reversible, with the inside artwork looking more like a Sidaris production of the 1980s. (Eric Cotenas)