Jake Speed (1986)

Best movie ever!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Most people (36) gave this movie a 10 and those who don't are being too critical or maybe expected something else. This is one of my favorite movies from the 80's, it grows on you, and has it all. I just got it on DVD and 20 years later it still does not disappoint, having plenty of action, drama, romance, and even comedy. Add to that the great car chases, automatic weapon shootouts and lots of stuff blowing up and you have a fun, edge of your seat experience! You will even be humming or whistling the main theme song for days after seeing this. You can watch this movie with your wife/gf and you will both enjoy it lots. The premise is that of a paperback book hero, like Doc. Savage, really existing and helping people fight evil so he can write the story is almost true to life here. The actor Jake Speed is also a director, producer and writer of many films. In THIS film Jake Speed (the character) is an Indiana Jones adventurer type, he usually uses his head to get out of sticky situations but will sometimes resorts to brute firepower (yay!,and sheer dumb luck too!). Keep an eye out for his one "James Bond" hi-tech equipment, the ultimate road warrior SUV dropping out of the sky.The heroine is the very beautiful young love interest from the early Jim Carey vampire movie "Once Bitten" and here she is a little older and still a knockout even compared to her teenage blonde little sister.The bad guys are "real bad" men and are the worst lowlife villainous scum you love to hate. The ending is just perfect and can stand alone or invite a sequel, sadly never made - but you can just imagine what would happen next!You have to see this movie just because it will entertain and amuse you and that's worth the price of a ticket.

Is this a movie worthy of Oscar buzz? No, but it is a fun little film.Unlike other people's comments, I do not think that this film intended to pretend that it was Indiana Jones; it was meant to entertain in the genre of fictional hero with human frailties, and in that respect Jake Speed succeeds. No one wants to believe he exists, and he has an over-the-top archenemy, played to the hilt by John Hurt. Karen Kopins does fine as the "heroine" who just wants to get her sister back from white slavers and finds herself caught up in the strange world of a hero whose books are based upon his real-life adventures. And Dennis Christopher tries to hold the adventure together while dealing with Jake's ego and Karen's disbelief.For escapist fun without the need to invest mentally or emotionally, Jake Speed fits the bill.

"Jake Speed" was NEVER meant to evoke "Indiana Jones" in any way shape or form. This film is both a satire and an homage to the great pulp-fiction adventures of the cheap paperback literature series....ala` "Doc Savage",and the more contemporary exponents such as "The Destroyer" and other similar adventure series. In that light, the movie succeeds admirably,and should not be dismissed by those who came looking for Harrison Ford and did not find him......

So what's the big fuss out of making an INDIANA JONES wannabe when you have an actor who's cast as a fictional dude from adventure storybooks who doesn't want to go out on an adventure??? Whoever wrote the script for JAKE SPEED was probably fired, but for whatever reasons possible, this movie greatly lacks in excitement! That doesn't mean it has no action, but look on the dark side of the picture. This has got to bare no resemblance to INDIANA JONES or other action-adventure thrills containing cliffhangers and narrow escapes, and JAKE SPEED was promoted that way using clever propaganda to make me and several others interested in it! Besides, I've never heard of the guy, so who needs his attention?