With the release of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantinos Grindhouse feature this year, the term grindhouse will be bandied about, mostly by people who dont know what the hell it means. Few true American grindhouse legends are still around today and certainly one of the leading forces in their creation and DVD releases is William Lustig. I got a chance to talk with Lustig, the director and producer of the films Maniac and Vigilante, just a dozen blocks from where his films earned their cult status in Times Square grindhouse cinemas. As producer of both those films, Lustig is able to release them both through his DVD company, Blue Underground.
Buy the DVDs of Maniac and Vigilante
Daniel Robert Epstein: Vigilante and Maniac were put out by Anchor Bay probably when you were still there.
William Lustig: Yes but I never actually worked for Anchor Bay.
DRE: Thats very confusing.
WL: I was a private contractor asked to come in for six months to fix Anchor Bays DVD business production and six months grew into four years.
DRE: So you own Vigilante and Maniac?
WL: Yes, I own them both because I was the producer.
DRE: Whats going on with the Synapse release?
WL: Thats Maniac Cop.
DRE: I read that Richard Vetere had written the script for Vigilante. Did the script come to you or was it something you asked Richard to write?
WL: Richard Vetere was an off-Broadway playwright and I had this idea to do a movie which would be an homage to the Italian Death Wish rip-off movies. So I would bring the rip-off back to the states.
DRE: Where it belongs.
WL: So I initially hired, believe it or not, Michael Daley, a writer for The Daily News. But when he wrote the treatment, he didnt really have the exploitation in mind. He was more thinking of it as a social drama and I wanted something that was a much more 42nd Street kind of picture. So, I brought in Richard and he too was focused on the social aspects of it. But I was able to work in collaboration with him to inject the action and the set pieces that action audiences loved at that time.
DRE: But Vigilante is still very political. It seems like a very right wing film.
WL: Well, if you make a movie called Vigilante
DRE: Also it has the judge thats soft on crime.
WL: Funnily enough, the judge was based on a guy called Turn Em Loose Bruce [Bruce McMarion Wright] who was a Bronx attorney who was accused of turning all these criminals loose. Several years after Vigilante I was brought to housing court. Who was my judge? Turn Em Loose Bruce.
DRE: I doubt hed seen Vigilante.
WL: I didnt bring it to his attention that I was associated with the movie.
DRE: [laughs] But even though you wanted more exploitation, did you want the politics to still be a part of it?
WL: Sure, because I thought that was all part and parcel of getting an audience. If youre making a movie and you want it to be a cathartic experience, youve got to rev the audience up. So politics plays a part, but in my mind it was always an action adventure.
DRE: It has two parallel storylines with Robert Forster and Fred Williamson. Were you trying to mix blaxploitation with Death Wish?
WL: Absolutely, first off Ive always loved Fred. I think Fred was the most underrated actor.
DRE: He still is.
WL: To some degree. I really wanted to work with him and show him in a different light. I asked him to grow the beard so he wouldnt look like Black Caesar and I think it worked. He took the role very seriously and people think hes quite outstanding in it, because hes not posing. I did have him do his cigar thing because its Fred. I did a thing where we had an Ennio Morricone rip-off cue, where I timed this shot where the camera booms up while his hand is bringing the cigar to his mouth in profile. Then you see Robert Forster walking toward him.
DRE: Vigilante falls into the gray area in between Maniac and Maniac Cop. Vigilante wasnt your most popular movie even though Im sure it did very well.
WL: It did very well in the big cities in this country. It did extremely well in Europe. We were playing theatrically at the same time Superman II opened. We were right there with Superman II on the charts in Italy, the UK, Spain and France. The movie did so well that the Italians made Vigilante II and it starred an actor whos become a dear friend of mine, Franco Nero. On my wall in my home in Los Angeles, I have the poster for Vigilante II with Franco Nero on it.
DRE: But here in America its not as beloved as either Maniac or Maniac Cop.
WL: I disagree. The movie did have a strong following here. The movie that really falls into the category of least remembered is my most profitable film called Relentless.
DRE: How was it shooting Vigilante in New York at that time?
WL: The problem with Vigilante was, unlike Maniac, it had the appearance of a big movie. We were shooting the film in anamorphic Panavision and we had a cast of names that people recognized. But we were a low budget movie and I was trying to stuff 20 pounds of bologna into a ten pound bag. As a result of that, you always get your tit in the ringer. I had constant challenges because I was also the producer. We had a financier that pulled out with a big chunk of dough at the last minute so from every aspect it was a very challenging movie to make. But the test of a producer is perseverance. No matter what, you just get it fucking done. Also on Vigilante the Screen Actors Guild broke my balls.
DRE: Why is that?
WL: They were mad at me because when I did the movie Maniac it had a respected supporting actor in the lead, Joe Spinell, who was as prominent SAG member at the time. I pulled a fast one because I couldnt afford to shoot Maniac SAG. But at the same time, I couldnt use Joe Spinell because he could get fined by his guild so I had to find a loophole. The loophole was that the Screen Actors Guild had in their contract that they had no jurisdiction over X-rated movies. That was put into their by-laws because a movie called Sometimes Sweet Susan that had used Screen Actors Guild actors and shot the film under the guild contract. They used that as part of their advertising but I dont see why that be a draw for anyone.
DRE: I dont want to see the word SAG and porn movie.
WL: Yeah, it didnt seem to me like the sexiest idea but they used it nonetheless. The Screen Actors Guild do not give any more contracts out for people making porno films. I created a script, with Joe Spinell, which would be a sure-fired X-rated version of Maniac. For every killing we came up with things that were just beyond belief. As an example, we had him biting a womans clitoris off and he was going to come up into frame with a piece of clam in his mouth. We sent the script to Screen Actors Guild with a request for a contract for the movie. We get a phone call, I think it was a phone call because if it was a letter I would have framed it, and they said, We cannot associate with this movie. This movie is horrendous. I said, Okay. So everybodys Screen Actors Guild in the movie but I had no contract with them. So I finish it and Maniac opens on Broadway and in hundreds of theaters throughout the East Coast. I got a phone call from the New York president of SAG and he goes, You think you pulled a fast one dont you. I said, Look at the poster. It says, no one under 17 will be admitted in the movie. As far as Im concerned thats an X-rated movie. Then he hung up on me. Cut to a year later, Im doing Vigilante and Im on his shit list. Theres something about an actor whos put in a position of power and whos been shit on all his life as an actor. He was going to make my life miserable and he did so much so that I wouldnt shoot in New York anymore. I went to LA to do Maniac Cop. We did only three days of Maniac Cop in New York.
DRE: How was it working with Joe Spinell on Vigilante?
WL: Joe Spinell was a functioning alcoholic/drug addict on Maniac. I had a babysitter for him who would keep him reasonably loaded but not over the top. I say this with great love and affection because I love Joe and I always will, but he was being taken care of by a guy named Luke on the movie. So when we went to do Vigilante, Luke and Joe were not hanging out together anymore. So Joe was on his own and the night before he was to shoot on Vigilante, he went out to a bar and never went home. He lived with his mother and she happened to be an extra in the courtroom where Joe was to do his scene. When his mother arrived and Joes not with her I go, Wheres Joe? She said He didnt come home last night. So my co-producer on the movie and an actor friend of ours named Frank Pesce, searched New York like detectives to try to find Joe. It became like the search for Joe Spinell, where he wound up? What girl? Who knows the girl? Who knows a friend of the girl? Meanwhile, I had to keep shooting because I had nothing else to do, so I had an extra wearing Joes wardrobe. Every scene without Joes face in it, is a double.
DRE: I didnt notice at all.
WL: Finally they found him freebasing with some girl and were rushing him to the set. Joe comes in and he has such a personality, he goes, Im here. Im here. He was so funny that you had to love him but you want to kill him at the same time. Then his mother steps up and starts hitting him in front of all the extras.
DRE: How old was he?
WL: He was in his late 40s and his mothers hitting him saying, You didnt show. You hurt Bill. You owe an apology to everybody. He goes Ma, please! Ma, please! It was like a circus in the middle of this courtroom scene. Thats what it was like working with Joe on Vigilante. Thats why we didnt work anymore together although I still maintained contact with him.
DRE: One of my favorite things in Maniac is the dream sequence, which seemed like it was difficult to shoot.
WL: I remember that scene because of the studio we were shooting in. It was in Long Island City. The apartment was the only set in the movie. Another thing about Joe was that he met a Russian guy who aspired to be a production designer. Joe told me, This guy is a world renowned production designer from Russia. Give him a job and have him build a set. Of course the guy wasnt but he knew carpentry. We hired him to build the set for Joes apartment but when we went to visit the set while it was being built we found that this guy was building an apartment. A couple of hours later and there would have been plumbing.
DRE: [laughs] Thats the language barrier.
WL: Yeah, it was a misunderstanding. Consequently those walls were not built to move. So I had to live with shooting like it was on location. Thats the very thing you try to avoid because you have to be able to shoot quickly. Consequently we ran over schedule. On the last day were shooting the climax of the scene and the girls come alive and are tearing him apart. We had to finish because a commercial was coming in the next day. We went 18 hours then 20 and finally 24 hours and my crew comes to me and says, Were not going any longer. This is it. I go, Guys, youre being paid by the day, its 24 hours. They had no sense of humor about anything so finally the crew quit. It was left to Joe, the girls and me shooting. Joe actually helped out. If things were going well Joe would find a way to fuck it up, but if things were going badly, he wanted to help.
DRE: [laughs] Blue Underground has been putting out some great DVDs. Are the films you put out mostly stuff that you were a fan of when you saw them in the theaters?
WL: Some. Fire & Ice I never actually saw until I bought it.
DRE: Is Blue Underground fun that way?
WL: No, it hasnt been fun. Its been a lot of hard work, a lot of stress, a lot of aggravation. This year Ive tried to make it fun because I decided to lower my overhead so I dont feel the pressure to have to put out a certain amount of titles every month. If one month I dont put out a movie because of a delay, Im not going to twist my gut and think about, Gee, thats going to cut my cash flow. Before I was busting a gut and driving people crazy because we had to make our schedule. Now Im taking it much more casually. Im releasing one movie a month. There were some months I was releasing four movies and they all had featurettes and interviews.
DRE: Have you been asked to direct an episode of Masters of Horror?
WL: With the first season, [Masters of Horror creator] Mick [Garris] came to me and said, Would you like to work on Masters of Horror? I said, Look, Im so busy with Blue Underground, I cant do it. The second year came, he didnt ask me and I was still busy with Blue Underground. But this year we had our Masters of Horror dinner just before I left for New York. I said, Okay Mick, now I can do season three. He said he would find something. Hes got to find a script that he feels suits me.
DRE: Would Larry [Cohen] write a script for you?
WL: Larry would write a script if I give him my first child. Hes busy, but hes a guy who gets paid enormous amounts of money.
DRE: At a Fangoria convention a few years ago, he was on stage and an audience member asked him what his favorite film of his was. He said, Its Alive made me the most money so thats my favorite film. [laughs]
WL: That defines Larry.
DRE: Also it has been ten years since we saw a narrative film from you.
WL: Thats true and I do regret it. I regret that so much time has gone by. All of a sudden you wake up and you find its been years since you made a picture and its like, Shit man, that sucks!
DRE: Are you writing your own thing?
WL: No, I often come up with some ideas. Also Ive got some scripts. Larry is always handing me ideas and scripts because we like working together. Were an odd couple.
DRE: I know many years ago you had optioned True Romance and from what I read you were hoping that would propel you to the next level. Are you still looking for that?
WL: I dont think about career, Im going to be 52 in two weeks so Im not out there looking for a job. Ive got a certain amount of security from all these crazy things I do.
DRE: Did the True Romance script that you optioned have Clarence dying at the end?
WL: Yeah.
DRE: Who changed it?
WL: We changed it. I changed it. We were casting. We were location scouting. We had everything. It was all set to go. What happened was that there was a company that was doing foreign pre-sales in order to finance the movie. If the distributors got past the opening scene of the guys sitting around talking about how white men had ruined their women by eating their pussies then they hated the ending where Clarence dies, which was the right ending for the movie. I was so frustrated because we were getting all these things, Does he have to die? Finally I sat down in my living room with Roger Avary and we came up with the stupidest, corniest ending you could imagine. We said, This is so ridiculous. Were never going to shoot it but we can put it in the script and this can be the saccharine ending that all these people want. Then I went to see the movie and there is the ending we wrote, word for word. They even kept the part where they named the kid Elvis. I couldnt believe it. They actually took that version of the script and shot it.
DRE: Thats so funny.
WL: We were going to shoot the death ending anyway. We had a great ending. We were going to shoot in the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles which has white walls which we were going to turn red with blood. We had the ultimate John Woo Better Tomorrow II ending of non-stop violence. Instead it turned into a thing with feathers. I never understood that.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy the DVDs of Maniac and Vigilante
Daniel Robert Epstein: Vigilante and Maniac were put out by Anchor Bay probably when you were still there.
William Lustig: Yes but I never actually worked for Anchor Bay.
DRE: Thats very confusing.
WL: I was a private contractor asked to come in for six months to fix Anchor Bays DVD business production and six months grew into four years.
DRE: So you own Vigilante and Maniac?
WL: Yes, I own them both because I was the producer.
DRE: Whats going on with the Synapse release?
WL: Thats Maniac Cop.
DRE: I read that Richard Vetere had written the script for Vigilante. Did the script come to you or was it something you asked Richard to write?
WL: Richard Vetere was an off-Broadway playwright and I had this idea to do a movie which would be an homage to the Italian Death Wish rip-off movies. So I would bring the rip-off back to the states.
DRE: Where it belongs.
WL: So I initially hired, believe it or not, Michael Daley, a writer for The Daily News. But when he wrote the treatment, he didnt really have the exploitation in mind. He was more thinking of it as a social drama and I wanted something that was a much more 42nd Street kind of picture. So, I brought in Richard and he too was focused on the social aspects of it. But I was able to work in collaboration with him to inject the action and the set pieces that action audiences loved at that time.
DRE: But Vigilante is still very political. It seems like a very right wing film.
WL: Well, if you make a movie called Vigilante
DRE: Also it has the judge thats soft on crime.
WL: Funnily enough, the judge was based on a guy called Turn Em Loose Bruce [Bruce McMarion Wright] who was a Bronx attorney who was accused of turning all these criminals loose. Several years after Vigilante I was brought to housing court. Who was my judge? Turn Em Loose Bruce.
DRE: I doubt hed seen Vigilante.
WL: I didnt bring it to his attention that I was associated with the movie.
DRE: [laughs] But even though you wanted more exploitation, did you want the politics to still be a part of it?
WL: Sure, because I thought that was all part and parcel of getting an audience. If youre making a movie and you want it to be a cathartic experience, youve got to rev the audience up. So politics plays a part, but in my mind it was always an action adventure.
DRE: It has two parallel storylines with Robert Forster and Fred Williamson. Were you trying to mix blaxploitation with Death Wish?
WL: Absolutely, first off Ive always loved Fred. I think Fred was the most underrated actor.
DRE: He still is.
WL: To some degree. I really wanted to work with him and show him in a different light. I asked him to grow the beard so he wouldnt look like Black Caesar and I think it worked. He took the role very seriously and people think hes quite outstanding in it, because hes not posing. I did have him do his cigar thing because its Fred. I did a thing where we had an Ennio Morricone rip-off cue, where I timed this shot where the camera booms up while his hand is bringing the cigar to his mouth in profile. Then you see Robert Forster walking toward him.
DRE: Vigilante falls into the gray area in between Maniac and Maniac Cop. Vigilante wasnt your most popular movie even though Im sure it did very well.
WL: It did very well in the big cities in this country. It did extremely well in Europe. We were playing theatrically at the same time Superman II opened. We were right there with Superman II on the charts in Italy, the UK, Spain and France. The movie did so well that the Italians made Vigilante II and it starred an actor whos become a dear friend of mine, Franco Nero. On my wall in my home in Los Angeles, I have the poster for Vigilante II with Franco Nero on it.
DRE: But here in America its not as beloved as either Maniac or Maniac Cop.
WL: I disagree. The movie did have a strong following here. The movie that really falls into the category of least remembered is my most profitable film called Relentless.
DRE: How was it shooting Vigilante in New York at that time?
WL: The problem with Vigilante was, unlike Maniac, it had the appearance of a big movie. We were shooting the film in anamorphic Panavision and we had a cast of names that people recognized. But we were a low budget movie and I was trying to stuff 20 pounds of bologna into a ten pound bag. As a result of that, you always get your tit in the ringer. I had constant challenges because I was also the producer. We had a financier that pulled out with a big chunk of dough at the last minute so from every aspect it was a very challenging movie to make. But the test of a producer is perseverance. No matter what, you just get it fucking done. Also on Vigilante the Screen Actors Guild broke my balls.
DRE: Why is that?
WL: They were mad at me because when I did the movie Maniac it had a respected supporting actor in the lead, Joe Spinell, who was as prominent SAG member at the time. I pulled a fast one because I couldnt afford to shoot Maniac SAG. But at the same time, I couldnt use Joe Spinell because he could get fined by his guild so I had to find a loophole. The loophole was that the Screen Actors Guild had in their contract that they had no jurisdiction over X-rated movies. That was put into their by-laws because a movie called Sometimes Sweet Susan that had used Screen Actors Guild actors and shot the film under the guild contract. They used that as part of their advertising but I dont see why that be a draw for anyone.
DRE: I dont want to see the word SAG and porn movie.
WL: Yeah, it didnt seem to me like the sexiest idea but they used it nonetheless. The Screen Actors Guild do not give any more contracts out for people making porno films. I created a script, with Joe Spinell, which would be a sure-fired X-rated version of Maniac. For every killing we came up with things that were just beyond belief. As an example, we had him biting a womans clitoris off and he was going to come up into frame with a piece of clam in his mouth. We sent the script to Screen Actors Guild with a request for a contract for the movie. We get a phone call, I think it was a phone call because if it was a letter I would have framed it, and they said, We cannot associate with this movie. This movie is horrendous. I said, Okay. So everybodys Screen Actors Guild in the movie but I had no contract with them. So I finish it and Maniac opens on Broadway and in hundreds of theaters throughout the East Coast. I got a phone call from the New York president of SAG and he goes, You think you pulled a fast one dont you. I said, Look at the poster. It says, no one under 17 will be admitted in the movie. As far as Im concerned thats an X-rated movie. Then he hung up on me. Cut to a year later, Im doing Vigilante and Im on his shit list. Theres something about an actor whos put in a position of power and whos been shit on all his life as an actor. He was going to make my life miserable and he did so much so that I wouldnt shoot in New York anymore. I went to LA to do Maniac Cop. We did only three days of Maniac Cop in New York.
DRE: How was it working with Joe Spinell on Vigilante?
WL: Joe Spinell was a functioning alcoholic/drug addict on Maniac. I had a babysitter for him who would keep him reasonably loaded but not over the top. I say this with great love and affection because I love Joe and I always will, but he was being taken care of by a guy named Luke on the movie. So when we went to do Vigilante, Luke and Joe were not hanging out together anymore. So Joe was on his own and the night before he was to shoot on Vigilante, he went out to a bar and never went home. He lived with his mother and she happened to be an extra in the courtroom where Joe was to do his scene. When his mother arrived and Joes not with her I go, Wheres Joe? She said He didnt come home last night. So my co-producer on the movie and an actor friend of ours named Frank Pesce, searched New York like detectives to try to find Joe. It became like the search for Joe Spinell, where he wound up? What girl? Who knows the girl? Who knows a friend of the girl? Meanwhile, I had to keep shooting because I had nothing else to do, so I had an extra wearing Joes wardrobe. Every scene without Joes face in it, is a double.
DRE: I didnt notice at all.
WL: Finally they found him freebasing with some girl and were rushing him to the set. Joe comes in and he has such a personality, he goes, Im here. Im here. He was so funny that you had to love him but you want to kill him at the same time. Then his mother steps up and starts hitting him in front of all the extras.
DRE: How old was he?
WL: He was in his late 40s and his mothers hitting him saying, You didnt show. You hurt Bill. You owe an apology to everybody. He goes Ma, please! Ma, please! It was like a circus in the middle of this courtroom scene. Thats what it was like working with Joe on Vigilante. Thats why we didnt work anymore together although I still maintained contact with him.
DRE: One of my favorite things in Maniac is the dream sequence, which seemed like it was difficult to shoot.
WL: I remember that scene because of the studio we were shooting in. It was in Long Island City. The apartment was the only set in the movie. Another thing about Joe was that he met a Russian guy who aspired to be a production designer. Joe told me, This guy is a world renowned production designer from Russia. Give him a job and have him build a set. Of course the guy wasnt but he knew carpentry. We hired him to build the set for Joes apartment but when we went to visit the set while it was being built we found that this guy was building an apartment. A couple of hours later and there would have been plumbing.
DRE: [laughs] Thats the language barrier.
WL: Yeah, it was a misunderstanding. Consequently those walls were not built to move. So I had to live with shooting like it was on location. Thats the very thing you try to avoid because you have to be able to shoot quickly. Consequently we ran over schedule. On the last day were shooting the climax of the scene and the girls come alive and are tearing him apart. We had to finish because a commercial was coming in the next day. We went 18 hours then 20 and finally 24 hours and my crew comes to me and says, Were not going any longer. This is it. I go, Guys, youre being paid by the day, its 24 hours. They had no sense of humor about anything so finally the crew quit. It was left to Joe, the girls and me shooting. Joe actually helped out. If things were going well Joe would find a way to fuck it up, but if things were going badly, he wanted to help.
DRE: [laughs] Blue Underground has been putting out some great DVDs. Are the films you put out mostly stuff that you were a fan of when you saw them in the theaters?
WL: Some. Fire & Ice I never actually saw until I bought it.
DRE: Is Blue Underground fun that way?
WL: No, it hasnt been fun. Its been a lot of hard work, a lot of stress, a lot of aggravation. This year Ive tried to make it fun because I decided to lower my overhead so I dont feel the pressure to have to put out a certain amount of titles every month. If one month I dont put out a movie because of a delay, Im not going to twist my gut and think about, Gee, thats going to cut my cash flow. Before I was busting a gut and driving people crazy because we had to make our schedule. Now Im taking it much more casually. Im releasing one movie a month. There were some months I was releasing four movies and they all had featurettes and interviews.
DRE: Have you been asked to direct an episode of Masters of Horror?
WL: With the first season, [Masters of Horror creator] Mick [Garris] came to me and said, Would you like to work on Masters of Horror? I said, Look, Im so busy with Blue Underground, I cant do it. The second year came, he didnt ask me and I was still busy with Blue Underground. But this year we had our Masters of Horror dinner just before I left for New York. I said, Okay Mick, now I can do season three. He said he would find something. Hes got to find a script that he feels suits me.
DRE: Would Larry [Cohen] write a script for you?
WL: Larry would write a script if I give him my first child. Hes busy, but hes a guy who gets paid enormous amounts of money.
DRE: At a Fangoria convention a few years ago, he was on stage and an audience member asked him what his favorite film of his was. He said, Its Alive made me the most money so thats my favorite film. [laughs]
WL: That defines Larry.
DRE: Also it has been ten years since we saw a narrative film from you.
WL: Thats true and I do regret it. I regret that so much time has gone by. All of a sudden you wake up and you find its been years since you made a picture and its like, Shit man, that sucks!
DRE: Are you writing your own thing?
WL: No, I often come up with some ideas. Also Ive got some scripts. Larry is always handing me ideas and scripts because we like working together. Were an odd couple.
DRE: I know many years ago you had optioned True Romance and from what I read you were hoping that would propel you to the next level. Are you still looking for that?
WL: I dont think about career, Im going to be 52 in two weeks so Im not out there looking for a job. Ive got a certain amount of security from all these crazy things I do.
DRE: Did the True Romance script that you optioned have Clarence dying at the end?
WL: Yeah.
DRE: Who changed it?
WL: We changed it. I changed it. We were casting. We were location scouting. We had everything. It was all set to go. What happened was that there was a company that was doing foreign pre-sales in order to finance the movie. If the distributors got past the opening scene of the guys sitting around talking about how white men had ruined their women by eating their pussies then they hated the ending where Clarence dies, which was the right ending for the movie. I was so frustrated because we were getting all these things, Does he have to die? Finally I sat down in my living room with Roger Avary and we came up with the stupidest, corniest ending you could imagine. We said, This is so ridiculous. Were never going to shoot it but we can put it in the script and this can be the saccharine ending that all these people want. Then I went to see the movie and there is the ending we wrote, word for word. They even kept the part where they named the kid Elvis. I couldnt believe it. They actually took that version of the script and shot it.
DRE: Thats so funny.
WL: We were going to shoot the death ending anyway. We had a great ending. We were going to shoot in the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles which has white walls which we were going to turn red with blood. We had the ultimate John Woo Better Tomorrow II ending of non-stop violence. Instead it turned into a thing with feathers. I never understood that.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
hollywood keeps the lustigs out because hollywood is ball-less.
Incidentally, a number of years back I ran into William Lustig himself at Mondo Video in L.A. and he was kind enough to stop and chat with me for a few minutes. A really friendly, outgoing guy.