MovieChat Forums > Jake Speed (1986) Discussion > notes about Jake...

notes about Jake...

posted 18 years ago by djdayton
10 replies | jump to latest

I have to get this off my chest...
Though Jake Speed was not a monumental movie or epic. It is one of the movies that i saw as a kid that stuck with me forever. Dennis Christopher will be forever remembered in my mind as the best Sidekick a hero could ever ask for. The storyline could use some polish, think this film would be wonderful if it were remade or remastered with some additional footage or editing to make it into a better film. The story was fun, but the editing was not very good.

It was quite a treat to learn that the soundtrack was made by Mark Snow... the same person that did the theme song for the X files show.

Wayne... if you are reading this... thanks for the memories man!

be well
-dayton

"I could really use a magic ball of string right about now... or a friendly minotaur."

[–] crawfordw 18 years ago

Dayton-

I was limping down memory lane and discovered your post. You're right. Not a great movie but it has heart. I'm glad you remember JS fondly. So do I.

Wayne Crawford

[–] Turnsix 17 years ago

Same here, it left an impression when I saw it back in '86. A low key, almost involuntary hero in a sea of over the top cloned heros. It just hit me out of the blue, and I had to pull it out and watch it the other night.

Cheers,

Cesare

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] buddha9 10 years ago

I second DJ's post, but I have to disagree with part of yours. It is a great movie. If I pulled it apart on a critical level, you're right; many parts wouldn't stand up to scrutiny. However, this movie stuck with me for over all these years, and I couldn't rent it b/c no store ever had it. When I finally had the opportunity to watch it again I leaped at the chance, and saw it not long ago. I was hoping I hadn't remembered it through the rose colored glasses of my youth, but it was just as fun as I remembered. Many movies don't stand up well over time especially if you haven't seen them for a while. This one did, and that's something to keep in mind. People may flame my opinion, but for pure fun and favorites, this movie is up there for me with Indiana Jones and Star Wars.

[–] TheAblazinDevilHead 17 years ago

I haven't seen "Jake Speed" since 1987 when it was on cable. But I've always remembered it. If I remember correctly, it had the coolest theme song. The reason why I stopped here was because Karen Kopins was on "Fast Forward" and I said, "Dude, that's the chick from 'Jake Speed'!"

[–] doomsday_55 17 years ago

this movie will forever be an inspiration for me. that you dont have to be super rich or built like a brick *beep* house to be a hero. this movie has to be the most under rated movie of the 80's hands down.

Max: Cheer up. The world's about to end in ten minutes anyway.

[–] diablomonkeyboy 16 years ago

Is this on dvd? Awesome film!

[–] enigmawriter-1 16 years ago

Yes. You can buy it or rent it. I rented mine from Netflix, since they have almost every movie that is not in the big chain rental businesses.

[–] Thiesi 15 years ago

I bought mine on Amazon. It traveled all the way from the US to Good Ol' Germany - in less than two weeks and for less than 20 EUR! I just finished watching it again after quite some years, probably well more than ten.

Anyway, while many old movies lose their appeal when you watch them nowadays, Jake Speed is still as good as it was back in the 80s. Someone wrote it was the best action movie of the 80s. With Die Hard being in place in the 80s as well, I probably wouldn't subscribe to that statement. But it definitely is the single one action movie with the most heart, as someone also stated elsewhere.

I enjoyed every single minute of Jake Speed when I was watching it a couple of minutes ago, and I was really surprised when it was over - must have been the shortest 100-minutes movie ever. ;-)

Bye, K&K,
T-Zee

[–] generationofswine 8 years ago

Just found this after years of searching. It came out when I was 6 & was one of the few movies Dad would actually sit down & watch with me when I was that young. We watched, regrettably, in the hospital & its still as fun as when I was a kid.

"Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop."