…and ended. REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS (also known as REMO: THE FIRST ADVENTURE and REMO WILLIAMS: UNARMED AND DANGEROUS) was a 1985 attempt by Orion at initiating a James Bond-ian franchise that withered in the light of the year’s major successes BACK TO THE FUTURE, RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II and ROCKY IV.
… a 1985 attempt by Orion at initiating a James Bond-ian franchise…
REMO’s basis was the DESTROYER series of novels, written by—or perhaps more accurately, credited to—Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, which began with CREATED, THE DESTROYER in 1971. REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS essentially rewrote that novel, giving the material a very 1980s action movie makeover, courtesy of the Bond movie veterans Christopher Wood (of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and MOONRAKER), who wrote the script, and Guy Hamilton (of GOLDFINGER, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, LIVE AND LET DIE and THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN), who directed.
By modern standards REMO seems quite dated in its sound design (with fight scenes marred by ludicrously over-modulated punches) and cut-rate sets (which tend to have a “just painted” look). In October of 1985, though, it was state of the art, with a robust-for-the-time $15 million budget and high-profile support from executive producer Dick Clark (who negotiated the use of the Statue of Liberty in exchange for doing several years’ worth of televised PSAs for it).
In October of 1985, though, it was state of the art, with a robust-for-the-time $15 million budget and high-profile support…
Producer Larry Spiegel envisioned numerous sequels and a TV series, of which only the hour-long TVM REMO WILLIAMS: THE PROPHECY, starring Roddy McDowall and Jeffrey Meek, made it to the screen on August 15, 1988 (when it was preempted by a speech by President Ronald Reagan, resulting in only the last 15 minutes being broadcast). Spiegel, for the record, has blamed the failure of the film, and the planned multimedia bonanza, on a “lack of marketing enthusiasm” by the now-defunct Orion.
Spiegel, for the record, has blamed the failure of the film, and the planned multimedia bonanza, on a “lack of marketing enthusiasm” by the now-defunct Orion.
As in CREATED, THE DESTROYER a NYC cop (the late Fred Ward in his first lead role) is accosted one night by street punks. He bests them but ends up plunged into the New York Harbor, after which, in a rather troubling development, he awakens in a hospital bed with a surgically-altered face. It seems a government organization called CURE has decided to erase his former identity and turn him into a fighting machine named Remo Williams (as opposed to CREATED, THE DESTROYER, where Remo was unjustly sentenced to death and then saved from execution by CURE).
Remo is trained by Chiun (Joel Grey), a 100-plus year old Korean man, in Sinanju, a (fictional) martial art named after a (real) village in Korea “where all the fighting arts were born.” Among the things Chiun teaches are the ability to levitate and dodge bullets (with lots more cool abilities contained in the DESTROYER books), which come in handy when Remo is called upon by CURE to investigate and then take down a corrupt defense contractor. This leads to a fight on the Statue of Liberty, at a time when it was being refurbished (meaning there’s a lot of scaffolding to balance on and slide down), and a final showdown in a logging camp. There’s also a romance of sorts, with future STAR TREK star Kate Mulgrew as a sexy army major yanked into the fray, but the relationship never goes anywhwere.
REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS has the opposite problem afflicting most eighties action movies, which tended to emphasize violence and sensation at the expense of character development. Here the Remo-Chiun dynamic is placed center stage, with the action relegated to four mildly exciting sequences, the best of which is the stunt-packed Statue of Liberty set-piece, and the least of which occurs in the climactic logging camp showdown, which finishes off the film in shockingly lackluster fashion.
REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS has the opposite problem afflicting most eighties action movies, which tended to emphasize violence and sensation at the expense of character development.
Another problem was identified by composer Craig Safan, who says he didn’t bother writing a villain theme because the movie has no real villain. Several potential candidates are presented, such as Charles Cioffi as the corrupt weapons manufacturer, George Coe as his military cohort, Patrick Kilpatrick as a goon with a diamond encrusted tooth and Wilford Brimley as Remo’s questionable superior, but none ever quite attain the role of overarching villain.
Yet for all that the film is enormously entertaining, a testament to Guy Hamilton’s skilled helming and Safan’s majestic score (which Hamilton vastly overuses). Combining traditional oriental music motifs with a brass-heavy swagger (complete with gunshot effects) and typical eighties synthesizer tones, I’d go so far as to say it’s one of the finest film scores to emerge from 1980s Hollywood. As with Safan’s other major score, for the previous year’s THE LAST STARFIGHTER, the music is better than the movie it graces.
…I’d go so far as to say it’s one of the finest film scores to emerge from 1980s Hollywood.
Another asset, albeit one that was (and is) controversial, is the very Caucasian Joel Grey as the Korean Chiun—a casting choice that would never happen now but apparently made sense in the 1980s. The role required a reported four hours of makeup each day by effects artist Carl Fullerton, a great makeup job enhanced by (politically incorrect though it might be) a great performance.
Vital Statistics
REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
Orion
Director: Guy Hamilton
Producer: Larry Spiegel
Screenplay: Christopher Wood
Cinematography: Andrew Laszlo
Editing: Mark Melnick
Cast: Fred Ward, Joel Grey, Wilford Brimley, J.A. Preston, George Coe, Charles Cioffi, Kate Mulgrew, Patrick Kilpatrick, Michael Pataki, Davenia McFadden, Cosie Costa, J.P. Romano, Joel J. Kramer, Frank Ferrara