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Mar 01, 2022 Web Exclusive By Austin Trunick

​A hard-nosed New York supercop meets his untimely demise when an out-of-control truck knocks his cruiser to the bottom of the East River. Hours after his funeral, he wakes up in a hospital room with an all-new face and identity. He’s ushered into the hidden headquarters of CURE, a top-secret organization to which he’s been forcibly recruited. CURE boasts the United States’ highest-level security operatives, and the “dead” cop, reborn as Remo Williams, is their newest enforcer.

The majority of the new agent’s training comes courtesy of martial arts master Chiun, who lives in a sprawling Brooklyn apartment that’s been converted into a jungle gym-like dojo. The Master of Sinanju sets out to teach Remo the inner-workings of mind over matter, so that he can pull off badass feats like dodge bullets, parkour in total darkness, and run on water. Unfortunately, Uncle Sam comes calling before Remo can fully evolve under the tutelage of this unlikely father figure, and the still-raw CURE agent must stop an unscrupulous arms dealer from pulling one over on America’s Armed Forces.

Adapted from a series of popular pulp novels, Remo Williams (1985) was conceived as a multimedia franchise, with sequels, video games, toys, and other tie-ins—but, in spite of its overly hopeful U.S. title, only ever encompassed this single film. (This film and, of course, the hundred-plus paperbacks that were the movie’s inspiration.) Underwhelming box office totals kiboshed any plans for a follow-up, which is a shame, as Remo stands as a very fun action-adventure film that doesn’t take itself overly seriously. In the way it combines its action with humor, Remo Williams is far closer in tone to the Indiana Jones movies than the Norris, Schwarzenegger, and Stallone vehicles it was competing against in its time.

Envisioned as a “blue-collar James Bond,” the producers tabbed two 007 veterans, Guy Hamilton and Christopher Wood, to direct and write the film, respectively. Above all, Remo Williams is a stunt man’s movie, and is best remembered for its main, vertigo-triggering setpiece, in which Remo is pursued by multiple assailants about scaffolding encircling the crown of the Statue of Liberty. While a replica was built closer to the ground for the close-ups with the main actors, one poor, brave stuntman had to swing from a pole around the actual head of Lady Liberty to capture the movie’s most jaw-dropping shot. (Same goes for the poor soul who had to climb the side of Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel.) The movie’s full of similarly ingenious stunt work, which makes great use of the environments the film shot in.

A good cast also helps. Tremors’ Fred Ward beat out a young Bruce Willis for the movie’s titular hero, and he’s kinda perfect for this sort of rugged, reluctant tough guy: he sells not only the character’s skepticism, but also his all-around toughness. Wilford Brimley plays the chief of the secret government agency with laid-back authority, and Hill Street Blues’ J.A. Preston is Remo’s personal handler. Star Trek and Orange is the New Black’s Kate Mulgrew plays a no-nonsense Army Major who may be the movie’s only female character. The lone sticking point in this ensemble is Oscar winner Joel Grey, who was bafflingly cast as the elderly Korean martial arts master Chiun, which is far less likely to fly today, and didn’t exactly go unnoticed in the 1980s, either. (While there was controversy around this casting choice at the time of release, the movie still received an Oscar nomination for best makeup for making Grey look Asian—so, that’s Eighties Hollywood for ya.) The character’s already an over-the-top kung fu stereotype; they could at least have found an Asian actor to play him.

That aside, Remo Williams is very much worth revisiting today—especially in this nice-looking Blu-ray edition from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. The extra features are thankfully robust, and include *five* interview-style documentaries by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures—all ported over from the out-of-print Twilight Time edition of the film. These total more than an hour’s worth of runtime, and focus on various aspects of the film’s production; our favorites were Producing Remo Williams, which focuses on the genesis of the idea through the efforts that brought it to screen, and Designing Remo Williams, which spotlights how the locations were prepped for the movie’s many stunts. There are also a ton of promotional materials, as well as trailers for some recent Kino releases. All in all, it’s a stacked disc—one that fans of ‘80s adventure films will get a kick out of.

(www.kinolorber.com/product/remo-williams-the-adventure-begins-special-edition-blu-ray)