Sloane (1985) Poster

(1985)

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3/10
Never fear, Sloane's here! Who?!? Sloane, dammit!!
Coventry28 February 2010
(B-movie Messiah): Good people of this incredibly petrified world, you don't need to fear any longer. Sloane's here! (Astounded crowd): Who the hell is Sloane? (B-movie Messiah): You people don't know who Sloane is? THE Sloane? (Astounded crowd): No … (B-movie Messiah): Sloane!!! He's the guy Chuck Norris has nightmares about! The dude Steven Seagal hides for! The bloke Arnold Schwarzenegger bows down to! The action hero prototype for whom Sylvester Stallone retires back to his jungle! (Astounded Crowd): Never heard about him…

"Sloane" is a 100% obscure, undiscovered and unloved early 80's action movie and that's what it will remain always and forever. This is the type of movie that probably will never get a DVD release and only the deranged people with a passion for lousy, low-budgeted exploitation will take the effort of seeking stuff like this out on VHS. Around that time there were numerous movies like "Sloane", all of them clearly intending to cash in on the success of such films like "Rambo". What you needed was a handsome beefcake protagonist, an inexhaustible army of hideous bad guys, a handful of sexy female love interests and a couple of testosterone-packed action stunts. Everything else is of minor importance, like a plausible plot and half decent production values. This movie is great entertainment, as long as you are very tolerant towards stupidity and if you can gather some friends, beer and pizza.

"Sloane" is a massively clichéd action movie. The titular character himself is also a tremendous stereotype. Sloane – here on the movie page fully credited as Philip Sloane even though I don't recall anyone at any point addressing to him by his first name – is a suave and virile blond God who used to be a cop in Manila, but now resides in California where he lives on a yacht and practices martial arts. He's called back to the Philippines because his ex-girlfriend got kidnapped and her husband brutally murdered. As soon as he lands in Manila, Sloane pretty much instantly turns into a pig. He hangs around bars, sleeps with local jailbait prostitutes, insults the girl he's supposed to work together with and starts random fights. Sloane also bites off the heads of snakes whilst he's in the middle of high speed car chases and he has the worst action hero one-liners I've ever heard. The plot is unimportant throughout three quarters of the film, and then all of a sudden there's a lot of confusing drivel about religious cults, secret hideouts in caves, cannibalistic midgets (!) and betrayal. Cheap and very amateurish action flick with unimpressive staged action sequences and too many dumb twists to name. There's a good reason why lead guy Robert Resnick didn't grow out to become a major action hero, as he's a terribly lame actor. He has the squeaky voice of an adolescent boy and he doesn't even look that buffed. The cover image is totally fake, by the way, as Sloane never appears shirtless. "Sloane" is really fun to watch if you want to mock the typical characteristics of early 80's B-cinema, but make no mistake, it's incredibly bad film making.
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2/10
Sloane delivers memory loss.. and not much else.
Ulysses18624 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I rented Sloane because of its iconic poor cover art. It features a buff shirtless guy carrying a swoon woman while firing a machine gun. The film opens: A man is killed and his wife abducted, the family hires Sloane, an ex cop to track her abductors and rescue her. The film is supposed to take place in the Philippines but most of it looks like set from bygone Vietnam War films. Robert Resnick, who portrays Sloane is not buff, this was a disappointment as I was expecting a Schwarzeneggeresque hero. He is also clad in the worst kind of attire, tight white pants with an undersized shirt to match.. all polyester. Most of the film is slow and forgettable, and honestly I was surprised at how little action and gore was to be had. The film quality is very poor, the writing and acting are equally poor, and the fight choreography for the sparse action sequences is very disappointing. The bloodlessness of the film only confounds the lame fighting. Sloane and his pal who joins him for the caper try to get information about the missing woman in a Vietminhesque tavern.. which quickly leads to a bar fight where the not so buff Sloane uses a wooden looking fighting style to beat down all the Pilipino assailers. Later Sloan and his buddy track the missing woman to a cave nestled in a remote jungle, after fighting their way through the guards they discover a cannibalistic tribe of midgets, which Sloan defeats to save the distraught captive. This film is worth a watch if you enjoy terrible, low budget/quality 1980's action flicks. 'Sloane' does disappoint in all aspects of an action flick, not really violent or gory enough to justify all the dead time filler that makes up 80% of the film. The cannibal midgets are hilarious but again, not enough violence and gore to justify even having a tribe of cannibal midgets in a film. Huge portions of the film are forgettable; in fact I forgot most of what happened less then an hour after I finished watching it. For most viewers, I would just recommend looking at the film's cover art.. it delivers a lot more with one glance then the whole of this film does.
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2/10
More like "Groane"
tarbosh2200029 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Philip Sloane (Resnick) is a Tae Kwon Do instructor in L.A. who lives on a houseboat named the Dragonfly. His former girlfriend, named Janice, has been living in Manila with her new boyfriend, Richard. It seems Richard tried to rip off the main gang boss in Manila, Chan Se (Joonee Gamboa) by stealing some of his drug money. So the gang kidnaps Janice. Janice's father hires Sloane to go to Manila to save her because he used to live there for 17 years. Once there, he teams up with Richard's concerned sister Cynthia (Debra Blee). They bicker and fight incessantly but eventually forge a relationship. They're the original "Odd Couple"! Or something like that. They team up with Sloane's friend Pete (Raul Aragon) and his contact on the local police force, Sal (Vic Ordonez) to take down the crime syndicate and rescue Janice. Can they do it? The main problem with Sloane is that he is such a major jerk! It is quite perplexing why the filmmakers thought the audience would root for a man who is such a shrill, smug, arrogant, conceited, misogynistic, unlikable preppy A-hole. It's never explained why Sloane is such a jerk. He informs his actions - every thing he does - with jerkiness. Imagine if Trevor Gottitall from American Shaolin: King Of The Kickboxers II (1991) was the HERO of a film. All Sloane does is punch the baddies with no flair or skill. Sadly, nothing Sloane does in the movie is cool. When the main villain is more likable than your supposed 'hero', you've got a big problem on your hands. I'd love to know what the behind the scenes team was thinking with this character decision on Sloane's part.

Apparently the filmmakers also believed the name "Sloane" was the coolest, most awesomely original name ever, because besides naming the film simply "Sloane" (thus drawing all undue attention to this awful, awful man), the other characters say the name "Sloane" about a million times, and there's even a completely gratuitous scene in a bar where two hookers ask what his name is. Then nothing else connected to that happens. The scene was there solely to say "Sloane" a few more times.

Someone throws a cobra into Sloane's jeep. Sloane shoots a bunch of people, possibly some innocents, with a machine gun. He goes in a cave and fights, according to the back of the box, "crazed pygmy cannibals". In between each scene is some super-smooth jazz that sounds like a TV soundtrack, possibly "Hill Street Blues". It seems Sloane and Fortune Dane's (1986) soundtracks are in a war for the ultimate in smoothness.

There's no excuse for the fact that the film is a brutal 95 minutes. Besides some pacing problems that slow things down unnecessarily, Sloane is in almost every scene. That's 95 minutes with SLOANE! That's way too much time with Sloane. By far the best thing about this film is the box art. Save yourself 90 minutes by staring at the box art above for five minutes. It would be preferable to sitting through all of Sloane.

Released on VHS by Vestron Video in the U.S., do you dare to watch the man you love to hate? For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
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1/10
not just bad but actually awful
SnoopyStyle29 March 2015
In the Philippines, a gang kills Richie Thursby and kidnaps his wife Janice. Her father hires ex-cop Philip Sloane (Robert Resnick) to go to Manila to rescue her. Richie's sister Cynthia hounds him but he doesn't want her help. Two men come to rape Cynthia and Sloane comes to the rescue. They go off in search of Janice with the help of an old friend Pete Saimi. Richie had stolen money from a gangster who is now holding Janice.

First of all, this is badly shot. The acting is bad, the directing is horrendous, the dialog is weak and the actors are bland. Chuck Norris is a Shakespearian Oscar winning actor compared to Robert Resnick. The karate chopping fights are kind of fun with some passable stunts. There are B-movie car chases and a big explosion. The local shoots are exotic. However the movie is a boring mess. The movie has a long boring scene in the brothel and really creepy with a young girl he knew from before. "You've grown... and so have I." It's pedo-tastic.

This is a run-of-the-mill bad B-movie for over an hour and then it goes over the edge. They find out that the gangster is the Chinese leader of a religious cult. Sloane turns into Rambo but poorly done. In the cave, they're attacked by cannibalistic pygmies. It's about there that the 1/10 is truly earned.
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5/10
I want him dead!
kapelusznik1822 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Outrages and laughable action adventure movie filmed in the Philippines in the waining days of the Ferdinand Marcos Regime. Where there was far more action behind then before the cameras. We have tall blond and handsome Philip Sloane, Robert Resnick, who's given a blank check, just put in whoever amount you want, to rescue L.A businessman Albert Tracy, Arthue Sacks, daughter Janice, Ann Milhench. It was Janice, Sloane's former flame, who was kidnapped by this terrorist religious cult whom her husband Richard, George E. Mahlberg, had embezzled almost its entire treasury! Sloane gets to work right away as he recruits his good friend Pete Saimi, Raul Aragon, to find Janice who's husband Richard was beaten to death by one of the thugs Crowbar, Turko Cervantes, who kidnapped her!

Together with Pete Sloane get another ex-girlfriend of his Cynthia Thursbay-Richard's sister?-played by Debra Blee from the film "Hamburger the Movie" to also help him find Janice who at first doesn't want anything to do with him. Sloane getting no help from the local Manila police is on his own in trying to track down and find Janice that leads to a number shooting stabbing and explosions until he finally finds her hidden in the cave outside, about 40 miles, Manila. That's where he's confronted not only by her kidnapper religious cult leader Chan Se, Joonee Gamboa, and his men but a number of man eating or cannibal midgets who unexpectedly, by devouring some of Cha Se's men, come to his aid!

***SPOILERS*** Worth watching just for Robert Resnick's-as Philip Sloane- bizarre actions like biting off a deadly cobra's head, and then flinging it's body at his attackers, that gives you the impression that he's either nuts of suffering from drug withdrawal. There's also the fact of Sloane getting shot at least twice and then within minutes he totally recovered from his wounds without any medical attention! Just when you thought that the movie was finally over were entertained with Crowbar for what seems like no reason at all, but just following the script he was handed, latches on to a helicopter piloted by Sloane only to lose his grip and fall some 1,0000 feet to his death! There's also the big final in the movie with Sloane again piloting what looks like a one man or seat helicopter wipe out the entire Chab Se religious cult with a payload of bombs and explosives that even a B29 or B52 super-bomber couldn't have enough room to carry!
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4/10
Sloane Achieve The Rare Z+ Status.
mikecanmaybee10 November 2021
Directors Dan Rosenthal and Richard Belding bring us one of the better 1980's Filipino Z movies. Sloane is played enthusiastically by (Robert Resnick) who keeps the pace going with some snappy one liners while he and his counterpart Cynthia Thursby (Debra Blee ) are out to rescue Cynthis's sister Janice Thursby (Ann Milhench). Sloane cracks wise throughout while Cynthia is the serious hot tempered girl. Think of the TV show Moonlighting which may have influenced this all action winner. Now Sloane was hired by the sister's father and excepts a blank check from dad and is determined to rescue Janice as they were once an item when Sloane lived in Manila. Sloan is your average Karate Superhero who likes to drink and will take a much deserved trips to the brothel from time to time. The movie moves right along with a couple of twists and turns and the requisite high body count. One of the fun moments involve the cannibal pygmy's who apparently haven't dined in quite some time. This movie is like a good 1980's "B' movie with a lot of explosions and pretty ladies. The down side is that the sub plot's get a little convoluted, and actor (Resnick) is definitely not great at Karate, but great stunt men work covers for him. Sloane's high pitched voice reminiscent of a 15 year old is also a little distracting. The sound track is not the best with too many elevator saxophone solos, however, with a handsome leading man and a gorgeous leading lady (Debra Blee) and a decent script it more then offsets these shortcomings. Sloan is no piker when it comes to bedding the ladies either just ask the sisters and the brothel girl. There is one great scene for the guy's involving actress (Ann Milhench) Janice who flutters her six foot frame and her fabulous legs down a flight of stairs while sporting a sexy white satin kimono. It's definitely worth a rewind and Sloane is definitely worth watching.
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10/10
Sloane will fill you with a sudden overwhelming jolt of wonder and amazement!
Vomitron_G28 February 2010
What we have here is a movie nobody ever heard of, plain and simple. To put it a bit more refined: Not one single name in the complete cast & crew rings any kind of bell (at least not in my case), the bloody thing gets a 2.6 rating on here (an average out of an astonishing 35 votes, well, count in my 2/10 and that makes 36), the leading guy, our hero of the movie, only managed to pop up in one episode from "The Dukes Of Hazard" after this feature film, and the director just stopped making films altogether. All these random facts form an irrefutable warrant that when and if you ever stumble upon the amazing "Sloane" (1984), you better damn well realize that you are holding a piece of fried gold in your hands.

"Sloane" stars action superstar Robert Resnick (the most famous guy you've never ever even heard of) on his way to the Philippines to save some chick from, uhm, bad Philippino guys. The film starts with a home invasion scene vaguely reminiscing the first two "Death Wish" films (with Charles Bronson of course, though I doubt he'd be a match for Robert Resnick in a showdown). All the rest of the film has action superstar Resnick - I mean, the amazing Sloane! - running and driving around looking for the kidnapped girl. A purpose or mission he (along with the viewer) keeps forgetting about, as he gets involved in all sorts of distracting situations. Yes, that also involves a 'love interest' that he gets to have sex with later on in the movie.

In case it's not seeping through already, "Sloane" is extremely dumb & idiotic and plain wrong, wrong, wrong. True gutter-cinema. And exaggeratedly macho and not really women-friendly to boot (but Sloane never looses his shirt during action sequences, a quite baffling detail I might add). It features a great deal of violence like fistfights, shooting people and blowing things up, cutting bad guys up with broken bottles, one guy gets his face mangled to pulp underneath the hood of a car with the motor running (sorry folks, it's not all that spectacular), some more excessive shooting but this time just wildly at random without hitting anything (I think at one point some bad guys got bored outside and started shooting rabbits, but we never get to see this - you can hear them, though), Sloane biting off the head of a snake during a car chase sequence (yes, you have to really see it before you can believe it), dropping bombs out of a helicopter on Philippinos (no, that's not some metaphor for going to the toilet) and yes, of course, there's naked tits left and right too. There's also some dumb bits of humor. Couldn't quite figure out which was intended and what else wasn't.

And one of the most incomprehensible things of this flick, happens during the final act... At one point Sloane enters a cave while trying to escape those damned Philippinos with machine guns, and then all of the sudden it feels like you've entered an 80's Italian jungle movie. It's a genuine 'scratch your head' part, I tell you. And the ending is a hoot too! Just watch what Sloane means by "still have to take care of a couple things"...

I wonder why this film never got a sequel...? Oh yes, that's right, everyone involved with it stopped making movies afterwards.

So there you have it. Strongly recommended if you've liked other amazing pieces of action cinema like "Deadly Prey" (featuring a similar blonde action hero, though no match for Sloane of course), "Black Cobra 3: The Manila Connection" (starring Fred Williamson, who again is no match for Sloane, of course) and "White Fire" (Robert Ginty vs. Sloane? Pfff, are you kidding me?).

Screw this, I'm rating this 10/10. Sloane's the man. He has a dim-witted face, talks like a castrated moron, is extremely unpleasant company to have around... and still he gets all the women. He gets the remaining 8 points as a bonus for that one.
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10/10
Simply Amazing
drastello20 December 2007
I would have to say that Sloane is probably the best movie I have ever seen. I saw this movie at blockbuster and I knew right away from the elaborate cover that this was the movie for my wife, 2 young children and I. We sat next to the fire with a clear view of the television in suspense for Sloane's crack the whip action. Between Sloane's one liners and non-stop action our family was glued to the television...literally. Let me just say we never returned it and our family uses so many lines from the movie that we say we have a secret language called "Sloanian" everyone loves it and wish they could speak. Once this movie catches on it is sure to be a cult phenomenon to the likes of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Please, do it for yourself, do whatever you can to buy or at least watch this spectacle of a movie.
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Uneventful action film
lor_13 March 2023
My review was written in June 1986 after watching the film on Vestron video cassette.

"Sloane" is an example of hwo a film is doomed to failure if it doesn't begin with a workable script. Dull actioner was filmed in 1984 in the Philippines and Los Angeles, but was released directly to video cassette domestically this year.

Handsome Robert Resnik portrays Sloane (his name is repeated constantly by the supporting cast in a reminder), a former L. A. cop sent to Manila (where he lived for many years) to find kidnapped Janice Thursby (Ann Milhench). He's been hired by Janice's dad, whose son-in-law Richard Thursby (George Mahlberg) was murdered during the kidnapping.

In Maila, Sloane reluctantly teams up with Richard's sister Cynthia (Debra Blee) to try and find Janice. They're aided by Sloane's Filipino pal Pete (Raul Aragon), whose pretty sister Naili (Carissa Carlos) quickly becomes Sloane's bedmate. Uneventfu search is padded by okay car chases and violent shootouts. Entire plot, concerning some money supposedly stolen by Richard from an international religious cult, is sloughed off in a quick speech by Peter near the end of the picture.

Cast becomes increasingly bored with the pointless exercise and any audience is likely to join in the sentiment. For a good guy, Resnik's character of Sloane is distastefully ruthless and clashes horribly with the actor's niceguy personality. When he's called upon to laugh maniacally while mowing down bad guys in the final reel, Resnik really has egg on his face. Co-star Blee (who starred in Crown's "The Beach Girls") is styled as a tomboy but delivers one requisite topless scene for her fans. Supporting csst is weak, with several thesps doubling (as usual in a low-budtgeter) as soundman, location coordinator, etc.
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