Sweating Bullets or Tropical Heat as I knew it in the UK hasn't had as much good press from reviewers as it deserves. People focus on the fact that it was filmed in Mexico, Israel and finally South Africa with beach scenes in Mauritius. Who cares I say, they look just as exciting and colourful as south Florida Keys where it is set. Then people attack the alleged bad acting, plots and scripts, yeah yeah I say, you have the same scenario on any TV show, even Magnum PI, Miami Vice and Silk Stalkings had similar negative issues. What Tropical Heat had loads of, was, charm, plenty of action and humour, and all achieved on a fraction of the budget of similar productions in Hollywood. Rob Stewart, the star and protagonist of Tropical Heat was about twenty-nine years of age when they began filming in 1990(ish) and had only done a few minor roles before this, yet, he held the show up high with his heartfelt, charm-filled boyish performance. Drama, pathos, tragedy and comedy were all thrown into the many types of plot-lines covered within this action show, with Rob weaving his acting skill with the gravitas of a young Pacino or De Niro. The genius even wrote and directed a few episodes. On a smaller than Hollywood budget like this had, many of the crew did other tasks. Harel Goldstein who was Executive Producer also directed, wrote and was even Second Unit Director on some episodes. Another of the writers, R. Scott Gemmill, went on to be a 'main man' on ER. JAG and NCIS LA. Many character traits that our protagonist Nick Slaughter has, appear to have been included in recent fictional characters, eg., Rick Castle in 'Castle' and Tony DiNozzo in NCIS. All these characters share a love of movies, flirt with the ladies, are incredibly mischievous and juvenile and are to quote Nick, probably "The World's Greatest Detective." Mention must go to composer Jeff Danna who scored the show from middle of season 1 and through to end of season 2 for adding a touch of musical class to the show when similar shows were using 'cheesy' jazzy music (like what Tropical early season 1 and ALL of season 3 also had). Mr Danna had what I would describe as 'ground-breaking' music for action crime. The BBC currently have a crime drama that share many of Tropical Heat's attributes, Hawaiian shirts, beach scenes and witty/smart one-liners. Yes, 'Death in Paradise, so I guess the Heat crew were way ahead of their time over twenty years ago. Someone please bring this amazing show back for a new batch of Tropical Heat stories (I have a potential feature-length episode all ready to go). Who knows, maybe Rob is still available..?
Reviews
4 Reviews
Slaughter Nick for President
(2012)
The Positive Power of a forgotten Action Crime Drama
10 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
'Slaughter Nick For President' begins with a narration that sounds like the opening of a Film Noir murder mystery, but then we realise that the narrator is the actor who played the protagonist for three years in a little known action crime drama from Canada called Tropical Heat or Sweating Bullets as it was called in Canada and the United States which played on television in the early nineties. On my local channel (HTV Wales) they were still thankfully repeating it almost ten years later. So the narrator of Slaughter Nick, actor Rob Stewart, tells us how he survived LA for ten years but by 2009 ended up broke and living with his parents in Ontario. In Serbia though, he's been famous for fifteen years and didn't even know it. 'Slaughter Nick For President' works on many levels, whether you're interested in European politics and the Serbian Government's tyranny during the time of the TV show or purely on an entertainment level and nostalgia for Tropical Heat fans. Quoting Nick from the show, "What's not to like".
The documentary is a personal journey for Rob Stewart and how he comes to realise that the show he starred in (and gives no creative credence to) has helped to topple a dictatorial government in Serbia, and how his fictional character is a Serbian national hero. This is a powerful, personal and heartfelt documentary (with some humour) that deals with political oppression, overcoming the odds, and how television can change people's lives in a positive way. For actor Rob Stewart though, it brought a series of strange coincidences together and led him on a spiritual journey to Serbia and its people. My thanks to Marc Vespi, Liza Vespi and of course Rob Stewart for producing a documentary masterpiece.
The documentary is a personal journey for Rob Stewart and how he comes to realise that the show he starred in (and gives no creative credence to) has helped to topple a dictatorial government in Serbia, and how his fictional character is a Serbian national hero. This is a powerful, personal and heartfelt documentary (with some humour) that deals with political oppression, overcoming the odds, and how television can change people's lives in a positive way. For actor Rob Stewart though, it brought a series of strange coincidences together and led him on a spiritual journey to Serbia and its people. My thanks to Marc Vespi, Liza Vespi and of course Rob Stewart for producing a documentary masterpiece.
Where Eagles Dare
(1968)
Best action war movie of all time, and a great film too...
28 April 2010
I'm not going to bore you with details about the plot, the acting, the scenery, the action, the music etc (all excellent I might add), this is just such a perfect movie experience no matter how many times you've watched it before. Towards the end, I'm thinking "Oh no... No way... There's not enough... They're not going to... etc". Fifteen times I watched this film in the cinema, and countless more times on video and DVD. Now I'm looking forward to the blue ray experience when it's released in that format in June this year. Where Eagles Dare would make it on to my favourite top five movie list every time, it's just so cool. Watch it soonest. Love those cable-cars...
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
(2009)
The Twilight Saga: New Moon... Hmmm
23 November 2009
The first movie is better / fresher probably because it was directed by a woman... (maybe that's why the books are just SO cool) and as for the music, well Carter Burwell has genius and experience beyond his years, so that too would make Twilight an infinitely exquisite experience over and above the sequel. More budget doesn't always produce a superior movie, sometimes less is more, so I still prefer the first movie to this one. (I went into the hall and tried opening it. then i forgot what happened next and somehow) I actually couldn't think of enough things to say about this movie for the required minimum of ten line criteria by IMDb, so sorry about the random bracketed words in the middle.
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