Prior to this, my only exposure to the cinema of J. Christian Ingvordsen was the film Blue Vengeance (1989). I had seen ads for stuff here and there in Variety, but never knew the extent of his work. Now seeing that he had created several cinematic universes, I decided to check out his work in order. According to his IMDb, Ingvordsen kicked off his film career as a producer with the T&A drama Model Behavior (1982). He just went by Christian Ingvordsen on that one, so things didn't seem to really take off until he added the J. And opted to be more involved in the production. Hangmen (1987) sees him in full vanity project mode as he is credited as director, co-producer, co-writer, and co-star.
The story involves CIA agent Rob Greene (Rick Washburn) finding out about a rogue group of CIA assassins who killed a Senator. On the run, Greene's family becomes a target, and he tells his estranged son Danny (Keith Bogart) to seek help from his old 'Nam buddies. While short on plot, Hangmen does benefit from lots and lots of bloody shootouts around various NYC locales that can hold those with a short attention span (me!). Washburn probably got the lead as he was a film armorer prior to this. That and the fact Washburn is a co-producer probably explains why he's top billed because he isn't really a leading man type, looking more like Burt Young's younger brother. And Eastwood and Schwarzenegger needn't worry about losing their status as top quip givers of the era as Washburn says to an assassin who comes in through the window, "Didn't your mother teach you to knock?" Perhaps the film's biggest claim to fame now is it features the debut of one Sandra Bullock as she plays Danny's college girlfriend who, naturally, gets kidnapped by the bad guys. Jake LaMotta shows up in one scene as an arms dealer and one Dog Thomas stars as Dog Thompson. Ingvordsen casts himself as one of Greene's Vietnam crew, establishing the name Bone Conn right off the bat. The character/name appears in his next film Search and Destroy (1988), so I'll let you know soon if it is a true sequel. To his credit, Ingvordsen didn't pull a David Heavener and cast himself as the lead...yet.
The story involves CIA agent Rob Greene (Rick Washburn) finding out about a rogue group of CIA assassins who killed a Senator. On the run, Greene's family becomes a target, and he tells his estranged son Danny (Keith Bogart) to seek help from his old 'Nam buddies. While short on plot, Hangmen does benefit from lots and lots of bloody shootouts around various NYC locales that can hold those with a short attention span (me!). Washburn probably got the lead as he was a film armorer prior to this. That and the fact Washburn is a co-producer probably explains why he's top billed because he isn't really a leading man type, looking more like Burt Young's younger brother. And Eastwood and Schwarzenegger needn't worry about losing their status as top quip givers of the era as Washburn says to an assassin who comes in through the window, "Didn't your mother teach you to knock?" Perhaps the film's biggest claim to fame now is it features the debut of one Sandra Bullock as she plays Danny's college girlfriend who, naturally, gets kidnapped by the bad guys. Jake LaMotta shows up in one scene as an arms dealer and one Dog Thomas stars as Dog Thompson. Ingvordsen casts himself as one of Greene's Vietnam crew, establishing the name Bone Conn right off the bat. The character/name appears in his next film Search and Destroy (1988), so I'll let you know soon if it is a true sequel. To his credit, Ingvordsen didn't pull a David Heavener and cast himself as the lead...yet.