Certain Fury, 1985

STARRING: Tatum O’Neal (Scarlett)

She won an Oscar for her debut screen appearance in Paper Moon in 1973. Her father is actor Ryan O’Neal. Most recently she appeared in the US telenovela Wicked Wicked Games. I can't say I know too much about Tatum, but rest assured I am going to get hold of some more of her movies!

Irene Cara (Tracy)

Cara is probably best known for starring in Fame and singing the ever popular Oscar winning theme tune as well as the title track to Flashdance too. Although she never had that much success in music or movies she’s still worked extensively and remains popular thanks to her movie theme days.

With Peter Fonda

PLOT: A group of girls get caught up in an escape plot by some female criminals at their shared court hearing. Scarlett (a hooker) and Tracy (charged with possession) are the only two to escape alive, even though they had nothing to do with the plan. They are blamed for the slaughter of countless cops and court officials and go on the run from the law. Along the way they must get the help of drug pushers and lowlifes to help them.

THOUGHTS: As sleazy exploitation movies go this one is excellent! The video box boasts ‘Two Oscar winners in one explosive movie’, well they did both win Oscars and there are plenty of explosions! The budget seems pretty healthy; maybe there were high hopes for this trash fest. Cara fans will be pleased to note that she was once again to sing the theme tune to this should-be classic “Ohhhh it’s a certain fury, a certain fate…”, it’s quite tragic that it hasn’t become a staple of 80’s hours on commercial radio stations across the globe. I guess it just was too cutting edge! In fact it’s even produced by Phil Ramone, of the Ramones, obviously. There’s lots of nudity (courtesy of Cara, revisiting her scene in Fame where she poses nude, but this time she's a would-be rape victim, this is an 18-rated movie afterall!), plenty of drug use and even more violence. You might say it’s an 80’s version of Black Mama White Mama.

CAN I BUY IT? Used on VHS.

LINK: See more pictures from the movie at Film Virtual History


WATCH: the trailer at Video Detective