In battle, friendly fire is always a tragedy, isn’t it? But what if one such charbroiled chopper pilot happens to be a real son of a bitch? A wife beater, molester and cold-blooded killer?
Gore gurus Bill Lustig and Larry Cohen‘s brilliantly blood-soaked meditation on the first Gulf War explores this notion with a Yankee Doodle’d Maniac Cop who stalks the streets of Small Town, USA as Uncle Sam. (A getup lifted from a Peeping Tom aided by 12-foot STILTS!!!)
It’s a natural fit, sans circus footwear, as our fallen "hero" turned serial killer is named S-A-M (Shark Fralick) and the duds also match his murderous defense of patriotism. Burn a flag? Get buried alive or run up a pole like Ol’ Glory herself! Roseanne Barr our national anthem? Off with your head! Crooked politician? Instant human fireworks display! (CineSchlocker idol Robert Forster‘s star never shined brighter.)
But the most deliciously subversive kill of all has to be when the cop horning in on Uncle Sam’s war widow gets the Stars ‘n’ Stripes crammed through his chest.
