ABC News Primetime Freedom Writers

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A teacher, Erin Gruwell, finds a unique way to inspire her students to learn and who dramatically changed their lives, from hopelessness and despair to a future of limitless possibilities. This "Primetime" show also contains the following additional story: Buyer Beware

Customer Reviews:

perfect for the classroom.......2007-07-15

I use the movie in my classroom of 10th graders and we do a major writing project after we watch it. THis edition shows the real teacher and the real kids when they were doing the action and it even inspires my kids more. Great information too.

Classic Heist Movies (The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery / High Risk / The Squeeze)

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Classic Heist Movies (The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery / High Risk / The Squeeze)
Starring: Steve McQueen , Crahan Denton , David Clarke , James Dukas , and Molly McCarthy
Director: Charles Guggenheim , John Stix , and Stewart Raffill
Manufacturer: American Home Treas
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000067D6R
Release Date: 2002-05-21

Description

3 Great Movies on 1 DVD. Star Power, Exciting Genre with Extras on each DVD.

Average customer rating:

High Risk

High Risk
Starring: Ernest Borgnine , James Brolin , Sergio Calderon , Álvaro Carcaño , and Gerardo Cepeda
Director: Stewart Raffill
Manufacturer: St Clair Vision
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001GH7OA
Release Date: 2004-03-16

Customer Reviews:

High Risk.......2007-01-09

This is a movie I saw when it was first released. The plot is so outragious that it might be a true or near true story. I have a life
long friend in Cali Columbia and all he ever mentioned about the life
was incorporated into this movie. This also includes the depiction of
the roving bands of horse riding bandits. Next to Zorba this is most
likely Anthony Quinn's most interesting and hilarious portrayal as the
bandit leader but all performances are strong. This is a sleeper and
a very good addition to a home collection. RVD

Average customer rating:

WELL, AFTER ALL, IT IS WATCHABLE AT TIMES
This is One Solid Movie*UPDATE*4-2-04
Don't Buy the DVD
a true buried treasure for the action/adventure afficiando

High Risk
Starring: James Brolin , Anthony Quinn , Lindsay Wagner , James Coburn , and Ernest Borgnine
Director: James Brolin , and Stewart Raffill
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005JA8A
Release Date: 2000-11-01

Customer Reviews:

WELL, AFTER ALL, IT IS WATCHABLE AT TIMES.......2004-11-01

FOUR UNEMPLOYED GUYS PARACHUTE INTO SOUTH AMERICA WITH THE PLAN TO ROB A DRUG LORD. NOT ALWAYS AS GOOD AS I WOULD HOPE IT TO BE, BUT AT LEAST IT DID HAVE SOME FUNNY MOMENTS. OVER THE YEARS, THIS FILM HAS BECOME QUITE FORGOTTEN. NOW THAT IT'S ON DVD, YOU CAN FIND THIS MOVIE FOR AS CHEAP AS $1.00, WHICH IS WHAT I BOUGHT THIS DVD FOR. IF YOU LIKE ACTION FILMS WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR, THEN WATCH THIS.

This is One Solid Movie*UPDATE*4-2-04.......2003-08-23

It doesn't get much better than this with action, adventure, good humor and everything goes wrong.
Four layed off guys hear a rumor about a drug lord(James Coburn) who keeps 5 million, in cash, at his hacienda in South America. Of course, they need firepower(Ernest Bourgnine), they run afoul of local banditos(Anthony Quinn), pick up an expatriated American(Lindsey Wagner), land in jail, are shot at, beat up and are depending on a few drug running, vietnam vets in a badly missing and sputtering plane to rescue them. it is a very fun and exciting ending when it all comes together.
I recorded my copy from the TV, with ads and cuts, because i can't find a commercial reproduction. i would buy a good quality DVD for sure.
*UPDATE* 4-2-04 my dvd is on the way!
you should give this movie a try. it's only $[price]. a bargain!

Don't Buy the DVD.......2002-05-28

The movie HIGH RISK is a good movie. But don't buy a copy of the
DVD. It is the worst looking copy of a film on DVD I have ever
seen. The film looks totally washed out and blury...

a true buried treasure for the action/adventure afficiando.......1999-04-08

Released in 1981 HIGH RISK suffered the "back of the bus" treatment while higher profile adventure epics like DRAGONSLAYER, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, CLASH OF THE TITANS, and an obscure little flick called RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK took the best seats with reviewers and moviegoers. And it's a bloody shame because this "DELIVERANCE for chuckles" features a crackerjack cast (James Brolin, Cleavon Little, Chick Venera, Lindsay Wagner, Bruce Davison, Anthony Quinn, James Coburn and Ernest Borgnine) all at the top of their game; a tight plot and swift sure-handed direction by Stewart Rafill (THE PHILADELPIA EXPERIMENT); a fast paced Latin-Jazz flavored score by Mark Snow (THE X-FILES); and a cheerful glee in toying with every action/adventure movie cliche' in the book ("what would really happen if you tried to knock someone out with the butt of pistol" - hilarious.The only drawback is in the VHS tape itself - most available versions are recorded in the LP mode and the colors aren't as crisp as they should be. But if you can find a used SP version or you've got to have a grade-A action adventure fix ... you can't do much better.

Average customer rating:

High Risk
Starring: Ernest Borgnine , James Brolin , Sergio Calderon , Álvaro Carcaño , and Gerardo Cepeda
Director: Stewart Raffill
Manufacturer: Westlake Budget
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0007N5ZDW
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Product Description

Four Americans fight off foreign armies, gunrunners, and jungle bandits as they attempt to rob a wealthy ex-patriate American living in Colombia

Average customer rating:

"Alright...I'm trapped in a building taken over by terrorists. Where have I heard that before?"
Ten bad guys with automathic weapons? They always miss!!!
"no risk, no reward"
The king of sleeze-Jing Wong forgets that he had Jet Li starring in this movie
Jet's HK career was dying down

High Risk
Starring: Jacky Cheung , Charlie Cho , Billy Chow , Valerie Chow , and Vincent Kok
Director: Jing Wong
Manufacturer: Tai Seng
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 6304852568
Release Date: 1997-12-17

Amazon.com essential video

When a military officer (Jet Li of Romeo Is Bleeding and Fist of Legend) miscalculates and causes the explosive death of dozens of children on a school bus--something you'll never see in an American movie!--he leaves his position to become a bodyguard for an egomaniacal movie star named Frankie (Jacky Cheung from Bullet in the Head and A Chinese Ghost Story 2, doing a satirical parody of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee). The star claims to do all his own stunts, but in fact Li has become his stunt double. An investigative reporter (Chingmy Yau, Naked Killer) catches them switching places and decides to do an exposé. From this point on, Meltdown (also known as High Risk) turns into a Hong Kong version of Die Hard, with terrorists taking over a skyscraper in order to steal valuable jewels, as well as a couple of young lovers, a villainous kung fu master who wants to challenge Frankie, and a hip-hop soundtrack. Meltdown is a delirious romp, crammed with as much low comedy and high-powered action as three Hollywood flicks. Despite (or partly because of) some clumsy special effects, logical absurdities, and cheesy plot developments, the movie is hugely entertaining, and Jet Li is in fine charismatic form. However, be warned: though the movie's tone is light, there's some extremely graphic violence. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

"Alright...I'm trapped in a building taken over by terrorists. Where have I heard that before?" .......2007-02-05

How great of a film is DIE HARD? DIE HARD left such an indelible mark in cinema that movie producers all over the world have been rehashing its film premise ever since. MELTDOWN (aka SHU DAN LONG WEI, aka HIGH RISK), released in 1995, is only one film of many which blatantly [...] Bruce Willis's action opus. On its own merit, MELTDOWN isn't bad but isn't near the top of Jet Li's best flicks in terms of acting, storyline, or kung fu throwdowns. What it's got going for it is its infusion of mayhem and graphic violence, so if you're into that (and what dude isn't?), then it's good times for the viewer.

The far-fetched plot: A deadly early encounter with a terrorist mastermind simply known as the Doctor leaves military Lieutenant Kit Li (Jet Li) a widowed man feeling guilt and in search of revenge. Two years later, Li is now toiling away as a bodyguard to crass, world-renowned kung fu movie star Frankie Lone (Jackie Cheung), who much like Jackie Chan, insists on performing his own stunts. But, unbeknownst to the public, Li actually also serves as Frankie's stunt double on occasions when Frankie has had his drink on. Frankie used to be a heralded martial artist but has "forgotten" the wushu way and is now basically a craven womanizer.

When the posh Grandeur Hotel hosts an invaluable set of Russian jewels, it becomes the point of convergence for Kit, Frankie, and the Doctor and his gang of terrorists. Kit, at last, has a chance to atone for his blunder two years ago. Can he find a way to overcome the mastermind's cunning and ruthlessness? And can Frankie find his long-missing kung fu? Will the plucky girl reporter find love with Kit? Will the dubious film director be defenestrated? Can Jackie Chan forgive MELTDOWN for making a caricature of his persona?

I don't recall the ratio but it seems to me that Jet Li wields a gun here more than he resorts to chop socky. The action sequences are still dang tootin' nifty, but I guess the producers really were going for that DIE HARD sensibility, ergo more firearms. Jet Li remains a very likable persona and his performance is pretty good here as he plays up the stoic, heroic role. As for Jackie Cheung - you either like his performance or you want to slap him silly. I got very annoyed with his incessant mugging and I personally didn't think he was funny, but I know friends who did. His character was meant to be a spoof of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, but I didn't much care for it.

Too, the editing staff should've been canned for the inconsistencies left in. There's a scene in which Frankie uses a shoe as a decoy, but the very next moment reveals Frankie shod on both feet. How Kit and the cop got the car out of the elevator to pull out a surprise on the terrorists is a mystery to me. There are several "people" falling out of the skyscraper who are too obviously fake dummies. See what I mean?

Now, I saw MELTDOWN on dvd, dubbed in typically over-the-top English. I just wished I'd screened it in the original Chinese or Cantonese. As I've said elsewhere, more often than not, foreign movies lose something in translation. There's a chance Cheung wouldn't be as grating if he was presented in his native lingo. But, overall, despite its annoyances, MELTDOWN is worth watching for its crazy stunts and fierce violence. And for Jet Li, of course.

Ten bad guys with automathic weapons? They always miss!!!.......2006-11-20

This movie is all about entertaining.The combination between "Die Hard" and typical martial arts flick works in many levels, but the production values are Hong Kong`s, don`t miss that point.Fans of Jet Li are welcome, but action fans be careful. Here we can find scale helicopters burst in flames, exploding building models, chopped off dummies, you name it. The characters are extreme in their own context: Jet Li is a former military now becomed bodygard and stunt actor, loyal, gentleman, honorable, deadly, you know, a portrait of the typical good guy. The bad guys are also extremely violent and cool looking. He doesn't fight or kick much in this film, but he shoots a lot, dodging bullets from a dozen bad guys with machine guns with no scratch at all, his revolver shoots 30 bullets without reloading, he drives a car inside a hall and uses the elevator, that happens to be be the right size...
Well, you have to be in the right mood to watch this film without laughing at the many cartoonish production mistakes. But if you are into Hong Kong low production values action films, you will really enjoy one of the best ones of the 90`s.

By the way, this DVD edition sucks. English dubbed, subtitles, poor sound and no extras, not even a filmography.

"no risk, no reward".......2006-11-19

Meltdown has a lot of great things going for it and a lot of stupid things. This is an action packed movie that has some great fights and some other great action scenes. There are a lot of cool characcters in the film, but unfortunately there are plenty of stupid ones as well. The story is ok but the dubbing ruins everything, unless you get your hands on the original Chinese version. The guy that dubs Jet Li's voice sounds...like...he...is.....acting like...William....Shatner acts on the.....original.......Star.....Trek series.

Kit (played by Jet Li) is Frankie Lone's bodyguard, a famous stuntman who has become a disspointment and a drunk coward to those closest to him. He is a big fraud, and Kit has been accustomed to covering for his stunts while not taking the credit. Frankie and Kit become part of a major hostage crisis in a fine HK hotel during a jewelry exhibit. Kit encounters the same men again, two years after they killed his wife and a bus full of school kids.

There are two villains in the movie that are pretty awesome. The first, whose name I can't remember, fights Jet Li about 3/4 through the movie. It is my favorite fight scene of the movie and one of my favorite Jet Li fight scenes in any movie. The fight is intense and quick, beginning with gun shots, then some good ol fancy martial arts, finally ending with an interesting swordsfight, where Kit improvises by using a lighting rod from the ceiling. The other villain is Kong, played by Billy Chau (also appeared as Jet Li's nemesis in Fist of Legend). Unfortunately, Kong only has a very quick fight against Kit early in the movie, but he provides the final fight of the movie against Frankie, lasting a good 5 minutes and again combining martial arts with weapons. Its a good fight, but the previous fight mentioned was much better.

Aside from these great fights, there is a lot of action consisting of lots of gunfire, driving a minivan through the hotel, and even bringing a helicopter into one of the upper stories, creating quite a disaster.

Its the dubbing and the rest of the characters that becomes complete annoyance throughout the film. There is also dumb humor that fails to be funny, and ends up being really cheesy and unsuccessful at creating comedy.

The Chinese language version should provide a better experience for this movie, unfortunately subtitles distract me too. However, if action is all you are after grab Meltdown and it will give you want you want.

The king of sleeze-Jing Wong forgets that he had Jet Li starring in this movie.......2006-10-05

Jing Wong truly sinks to a new low with this movie. Jet has one oustanding action sequence but other than that, he just isn't used.

Jacky Cheung is the star of this movie and plays an actor who absolutely never uses stunt doubles. It became apparent within 5 minutes that this movie was made to make fun of Jackie Chan. Of course it didn't have to be so obvious but Jing Wong just keeps driving it into your head that he does his own stunts. So if you are familiar with Jing then you know this isn't going to be a tribute to Jackie. Oh no, it is a punch to the throat through the movie screen. Jet Li plays Cheung's bodyguard and ends up doing the a stunt for him. After setting up his stupid Jackie Chan character, Jing tries to do a remake of Die Hard. Remember how you never knew what Bruce Willis was going to do and it was always surprising? Well Jing makes about the worst movie possible from here on. Instead of being clever, he makes Jet just keep storming in on the hostages and then flee. At one point he takes a helicopter up and starts shooting right into the buiding at the main bad guy with all of the hostages standing around. After the helicopter crashes into the side of the building it doesn't blow up, it just destroys everything on that floor. So other than one outstanding action sequence between Jet Li and Ben Lam(guy with sunglasses), this movie is a complete waste of time. Even Billy Chow couldn't save this one. Of course it would help if Wong Jing was smart enough to capitalize on the success of Billy Chow and Jet Li in 'Fist of Legend', but instead we don't get to see them fight and get to look at Billy Chow in a thong. Yeah, that it just what I am looking for.

The Universal Laser and Video company version is OK but the imbedded subtitles are sometimes hard to read. There is a version of this released by Dimension Video(grrrr)that has been retitled Meltdown and has been shortened by 10 minutes and also has gotten a horrible new soundtrack including English dubbing and rap music replacing what was in the original. Doesn't matter which one you get because the Chinese version isn't really any better since it is not a good movie to begin with.

Jet's HK career was dying down.......2004-06-06

It seems as if there was nothing better for Jet to do than star in this mediocre action movies. It just doesn't fit him.

Product Description

From back cover, "Four modern-day Robin Hoods' parachute into a South American country. Their objective is to storm the mansion of a drug lord and steal his fortune. However, their excape plans go awry, and they find themselves split apart. One group is pursued by the drug lord's men, and the other by a bunch of hill-dwelling bandits."

Average customer rating:

High Risk Entry
Interesting, but not informative

Navy Seal * High Risk Entry
Starring: Chuck Habermehl
Manufacturer: Loti Group
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000A5BVV
Release Date: 2003-01-01

Customer Reviews:

High Risk Entry.......2007-03-31

The DVD shows Open Door entries, Hi man-Low man, Check drills etc. The first 30 minutes Mr Habermehl talks while they are showing videos of people training. It is interesting to listen to this talk since he explains a lot here. After that he is teaching a team and they practice some drills in a live fire shooting house.
The DVD is alright and I learned some things from it but bad sound quality, and like the other DVD Special Ops I would like to have a more in depth on "how-to do" explaination.
I give it a 3 star.

Interesting, but not informative.......2003-11-26

This film presents Chuck Habermehl instructing high risk entry tactics to a group of students. The instruction is not directed to the viewer, and he does not give hands-on instruction, anyway. Rather, this film is a presentation of a special operations instruction in CQB, Inc. The film constructs of interviews of Chuck Habermehl, and footage of entry drills, some of wich are live-fire.

The picture is sometimes muddled, and the sound level varies considerably, forcing you to constantly adjust the volume on your TV set. In addition, there is sometimes loud backround noise (because of the mechanized ventilation in the shoot house), making the sound even more blurred. Otherwise, the production and the overall quality are good.

Although this film is quite interesting to watch, it's hard to figure out to whom this film is intended for. An armed civilian, or even a regular street cop has little need for these tactics. They are for SWAT teams and the like, but those organizations don't have to rely on films like this for their training.

Run time: 1:42

Average customer rating:
High Risk (Digitally Remastered)

Manufacturer: Digiview Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0007XYESO

Product Description

It Seemed so easy. Fly into a remote South American Country, break into the home of a notorious drug dealer, steal five million dollars and get out.

DVD:

DVD

DVD