Dead Boyz Can’t Fly (1992) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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Transcript

00:12hey guys how's it going it's me beau back here on film scene investigation channel thank you for

00:21checking out this video well it's a new week which means i have a new review for you and today

00:29i'm going to be checking out the nihilistic 1992 movie dead boys can't fly now this movie

00:40came to my attention when i was reading some articles online about obscure cinema and yeah

00:49underrated gems things like that i came across this one and yeah the title alone just kind of

00:58intrigued me i was like what the hell is this i'd never heard of it before and immediately went on

01:04youtube and watched the uh watched the trailer i haven't heard anyone you know talk about this film

01:11i've never i've never seen it being referenced or anything like that so completely unknown and uh

01:17yeah we're gonna check it out today just before we get into the review guys if you haven't please do

01:23consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated so dead boys can't fly from

01:331992 was a movie directed by the late filmmaker cecil howard a man who was known for his work in

01:44the

01:44adult entertainment industry now the filming for this production took place back in 1988 but for various

01:54reasons it was delayed until 1992 and that is quite evident as soon as you start watching this film

02:02you know from the fashion to the cars that you see on the streets it very much feels like a

02:09movie from

02:10the 1980s as for the plot we were introduced to the character buzz a young artist who was trying to

02:21get a job

02:21in advertising we saw him travel to this employment agency where he attempted to impress everyone there

02:30with his work unfortunately for buzz the boss and the secretary in particular weren't too kind

02:39to what they saw they weren't impressed and uh pretty much laughed buzz out of the room he

02:49felt embarrassed you know this was a guy who was temperamental he definitely did not have a handle on his

02:58emotions and right there and then he made the decision that he wanted some revenge he left the building

03:06that day vowing to get payback for the way that he was treated this would all lead to buzz later

03:16that

03:16night cornering the office secretary trapping her inside an elevator and without any hesitation using a

03:25knife to murder her in cold blood i mean it all happened so quick uh it was an ambush you

03:33know she had

03:33nowhere to go she was completely trapped and yeah buzz had his wicked way with her and it was a

03:40pretty uh

03:41pretty gritty and gruesome scene the next day we saw buzz hook up with his friends goose and jojo

03:49and he basically told them that he had this plan to go into the building where the agency was

03:55and start basically robbing everyone that was inside the building buzz had been in the building before

04:03and he knew that they had lapsed security so you know for him it was going to be a pretty

04:10simple job

04:11go in and start robbing everyone for their cash the actor brad friedman played the character goose

04:19a crazed transgender who was completely unhinged and more than happy to get involved in this robbery

04:28as for the other guy jojo he was a little bit more apprehensive i mean he didn't want to

04:35start going around and hurting people but um well goose abuzz pretty much just ignored him jojo

04:44kept proclaiming that it was a bad idea but they didn't listen and so the plan went ahead the guys

04:53got tooled up and went into the building they reached the 13th floor ready to kill first the trio

05:02raided this dental office they took the secretary hostage and ended up shooting a dentist in the chest

05:10goose then found one of the patients an old man who attempted to hide and well they decided to

05:19torture him these guys were badgering him for money yeah i mean he was just this guy who was obviously

05:27just attending a routine appointment and then suddenly he's got these crazed lunatics you know trying

05:34to pull out his teeth and as for goose this guy just reveled in the horror on what was going

05:44on i mean

05:45so much so that even buzz you know took a step back and was kind of freaked out about you

05:51know just the

05:53brutality of what was going on in front of him absolutely it was a disturbing scene um but yeah it

06:03was

06:03actually shot very well with all of the close-ups and the pov you know the perspective of the old

06:11man

06:12you know having all of this you know his teeth getting pulled out it was uh yeah it was gruesome

06:17and you know this was just the beginning literally i mean because uh these guys just carried on going from

06:25office to office to office causing havoc and yeah without care in the world after gathering more

06:34hostages the film culminated with goose basically going completely insane and trying to dish out his own

06:45form of justice he already was a sick man but during the raid at one point he ended up taking

06:55a load of pills so yeah i mean once you added drugs into the mix this guy became totally deranged

07:04goose tried to actually hang one of the hostages with a rope that he had found when all this was

07:14playing out i was kind of just taken back by everything you know wow this is this is getting

07:19pretty crazy but just in the nick of time the building's cleaner a man called john was able to

07:27intervene he was a war veteran who knew how to handle himself so once he saw all this chaos

07:35you know in front of him he decided to get involved to try and stop goose risking his own life

07:42enabled to save others now this leads me on nicely to the movie's themes and how it explored the

07:51dismantling of the american dream with all of its war rhetoric this was all represented through the

08:02john character a war veteran who was suffering from ptsd working as a cleaner on minimum wage

08:11the only way that john could overcome his trauma and you know difficult experiences was to write

08:21them down in a journal documenting everything this was basically a coping mechanism there were many scenes

08:31where we saw john express his disdain for how america had turned out thinking that all of his efforts

08:41were pretty much you know for nothing he felt worthless you know he was disillusioned with

08:47everything but this was actually where his character came into play because he ended up confronting the

08:54gang in the hallway once he saw what was going on he immediately knew that something was wrong

09:00and tried to help yes he took a severe beating from goose but this guy this war veteran he didn't

09:10give up

09:11and as all of this played out it was like john had found some sort of purpose that he'd been

09:19wanting to find for

09:20so long it was like a way to prove that he wasn't worthless you know he he still had worth

09:29so when you take a step back

09:31and look at the overall picture very much this was like a redemption story for this guy who

09:40you know was able to overcome his personal demons now for me the most interesting aspect of dead boys can't

09:50fly

09:50was how the filmmakers handled the gender dysphoria with the character goose before the robbery commenced

10:01we actually had a scene where goose was in his living room with his mother and where he was revealing

10:10himself you know his transgender identity there he was happy and you know revealing him his true self

10:19to his mother and she basically just felt disgusted as expected goose was not happy with getting rejected

10:30especially by someone that he cared for and so this was you know an important moment for him

10:38and he didn't get the reaction that he wanted that moment that rejection it triggered a major break

10:49in goose's psyche which led him to tying up his mother and then stealing her money fast forward to the

10:58actual

10:58robbery and there were some interesting moments that related back to goose's dysphoria at one point

11:07he was attacking a young woman and realized she was wearing a wig he was kind of surprised at first

11:16but then goose decided to

11:18put it on himself and then gaze into a nearby window in the midst of committing these brutal crimes

11:27goose just kind of forgot about everything it was like he was in this trance he was admiring himself

11:36but the closer he looked he started seeing visions of his own mother which totally freaked him out he ended

11:46up smashing

11:47the mirror right there and then and you know i must say i found all of this pretty fascinating the

11:55fact that the writers

11:56gave so much depth gave so much depth to the goose character in no way was he one dimensional

12:04you know those internal struggles that goose had that was very much part of who he was

12:12looking at the overall picture i think a characterization like that applying that in the 21st century

12:22it would just be uh yeah deemed too controversial because ultimately this movie portrays trans people

12:33as unhinged you know lunatics that are not only a threat to themselves but a threat to others you know

12:44hollywood these days of course they are very pro lgbt very woke you know dei all that kind of stuff

12:53and you know i mean that's that's what it is you know okay fair enough you do you and whatever

12:59but

13:00yeah you just don't see you just wouldn't see something like this now in in today's cinema and i think

13:06also taking into account the more um real life situations that have gone on with school shooters

13:14you know the trial shooters and stuff like that in no way would a studio touch this now absolutely not

13:22from a technical standpoint i thought the filmmakers did a pretty good job all things considered

13:29obviously this was a low budget production but cecil howard and his crew were you know able to work

13:38around those limitations they were able to create this very gritty and kind of unwelcoming environment

13:50with you know the new york streets and the flooded subways there was also some really great use

13:58of the steadicam that created this high energy atmosphere at one point during the movie goose was

14:07going crazy and was pacing up and down you know figuring out you know his next move you had the

14:15camera following him you know he was right there in the heart of the action and yeah it was just

14:22very

14:22dynamic and uh it definitely brought a lot of kind of realism to this film as well when it comes

14:29to the

14:30performances it was really nice to see the actor mark mccauley show up playing detective o'brien his

14:39character was tasked with investigating the murder of the secretary inside the elevator and was eventually able to

14:48track down buzz you know the guy responsible it was a small role don't get me wrong but mccauley did

14:57a

14:57solid job in the few scenes that he had now this actor isn't very well known he's a character actor

15:06i'm not

15:07too sure if he's even um still active these days but the reason i know him and remember him so

15:14fondly

15:14is from his various appearances in the tv show miami vice i love that show big fan and yeah mccauley

15:24showed up at various points within the five seasons so yeah it was just a nice surprise to

15:32see mccauley in something other than miami vice actor jason stein played the character buzz the evil

15:41murderous scumbag now this was a guy who unlike his counterpart goose buzz was a lot more reserved

15:51and calculating he only cared for himself and did a pretty good job in hiding his true feelings i don't

16:05know too much about jason stein but for what it's worth he did a really good job here with his

16:12portrayal

16:13because buzz generally seemed like a very nasty person as for the character goose i have to give credit

16:23to the actor brad friedman for his performance which was you know imaginative and honestly he stole the

16:32show he actually was the best thing about this movie goose's unpredictable nature it was just so

16:40entertaining you know you couldn't take your eyes off the guy and more importantly all of this chaotic

16:47you know performance from friedman it didn't feel hokey or forced this guy had some serious psychological

16:56issues but it all felt very believable i said this earlier but he wasn't one-dimensional he suffered

17:04from gender dysphoria and those multiple layers added a sense of intrigue to the character no doubt that

17:14this guy was a villain but it's just one of those things where you kind of like the villain you

17:24know

17:25you shouldn't but um yeah i i guess a good a good comparison would be the joker you know from

17:32batman

17:33everyone loves the joker seeing him fight batman and all that kind of stuff so yeah it's kind of like

17:39that you're highly entertained by them but of course in reality you wouldn't want to meet these people

17:47when i think about goose and his actions absolutely this guy was unhinged but i think a lot of that

17:56was

17:57down to him masking his true emotions this was a man who was conflicted with his identity a man who

18:06clearly needed help and once you add drugs into that mix i mean it's no wonder that goose ended up

18:17jumping out of a window and ending himself that also you know is quite apparent in our reality where

18:25we see a number of suicides from the trans community all in all i was just so kind of taken

18:32back by the performance i expected it to you know be crap for whatever like what's this guy but honestly

18:39brad friedman did a fantastic job i'm not going to say that it was oscar worthy or anything like that

18:45it

18:45wasn't but man i just went into this not really expecting anything and i was i was kind of blown

18:51away by what i saw because honestly it's a performance that deserves to be talked about it it has

18:59substance it's not one-dimensional ultimately it was just a very memorable character and seeing all of

19:07that play out on screen you just couldn't look away and so dislikes for dead boys can't fly from 1992

19:17when it comes to the negatives my biggest dislike would have to be the first 20 minutes or so of

19:25the

19:25film which to me i just found kind of confusing so the film began with the introduction to the john

19:34character where we saw him in his apartment and we also saw some stock footage from the vietnam war

19:42then we had the sequence where buzz went into the employment agency all the while there were shots of

19:51goose spliced in as he was running around new york i don't know i guess for me it almost felt

19:59like a

19:59series of individual scenes that were just joined together it really wasn't until we had the scene

20:08where buzz goose and jojo met up and started you know talking about the robbery that suddenly it all

20:17clicked and it made sense up until that point i had no idea that they knew each other so yeah

20:23i was kind

20:24of unsure like where is this where is the story going now i will say from there on in once

20:30the trio

20:30actually went inside the building the pace picked up and yeah the movie really kind of got going at

20:38that point and yeah it was highly entertaining but overall i did think that the first 20 minutes

20:46it just didn't flow very well it was down to you know a poor edit i don't know whose idea

20:52it was to

20:53start the movie out with you know footage from the vietnam war and then cutting to goose you know a

21:00cross-dresser going around with an umbrella i mean you know okay it's it it wasn't the most exciting uh

21:10intro to a movie absolutely not i i definitely think the intro the war footage that should have been

21:17removed because honestly it it felt like a war movie i was like hang on a second i just watched

21:22a

21:22trailer and i'm seeing this crazy guy running around a building and then suddenly i'm seeing you know this

21:28guy narrating about his you know ptsd so i was like what what is this and then yeah eventually it

21:34clicked but um i just i just didn't like the intro and so ratings for 1992's dead boys can't fly

21:44i'm

21:46going to be rating this movie a solid seven out of ten dead boys can't fly was like this unknown

21:54relic from

21:56the 1980s with its gritty and unapologetic tone with all of the violence on display

22:05it's clear that director cecil howard took great inspiration from the 70s exploitation movies

22:14i for one was thoroughly entertained and a lot of that came down to the goose character actor brad

22:23friedman did a fantastic job and i am generally surprised that this guy never went on to bigger

22:30and better things now i also want to give a lot of credit to the company vinegar syndrome who released

22:39this movie last year they did a full restoration and yeah full credit to them because if it weren't for

22:46those guys i probably wouldn't have actually sat down and watched this movie i saw a very low quality

22:55scrambled version of the movie on youtube and yeah there was no way i could review that it's not

23:02happening uh but yeah vinegar syndrome yeah the restoration the movie looked great it really did and

23:12yeah props to those guys for bringing attention to obscure cinema i definitely am very grateful that

23:19i saw this movie i was said i was highly entertained and um i also think it's a movie that

23:25deserved the full

23:28restoration treatment i also think it's worth noting that this movie does not glorify violence

23:36there are elements of exploitation absolutely as i said the director took a lot of inspiration from

23:44that genre but ultimately these characters you know nobody got away with it the trio's crime spree

23:54well eventually it failed and they all ended up dying so yeah chaos is clearly not the answer

24:02if you've seen dead boys can't fly then please let me know your thoughts and memories in the comment

24:10section below for all those out there and i'm sure there are a lot of you who haven't seen this

24:15one

24:15yet it's a big recommendation from me if you're like me and love movies like the driller killer romper

24:24stomper yeah films like that then absolutely i think you'll enjoy this one and well that's all from me

24:31today guys i do hope you've enjoyed this review of dead boys can't fly from 1992 i'll be back next

24:39week of course with another cult movie review don't forget guys if you haven't please do consider

24:45subscribing i do really appreciate all the support and of course take care

25:11if you have any of the support and of course take care of this one and i'll be back next

25:12to you

25:12so

25:12you

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