The Courier of Death (1984)

"Nobody's gonna mess with me." - JD

A man plans to get revenge on the crime organization that killed his wife.
Starring: Joey Johnson, Mel Fletcher, Barbara Garrison

Link to IMDB

JD Blackman works for a Special Courier service, tasked with transporting valuable goods and money around the country. Things go wrong on his latest job though, as a group of thugs attack, killing his partner as they attempt to steal a case full of money. JD is ex-military, so he's damn good at his job, but the criminals are getting more organized lately and have no fear.

JD is also a family man and his wife is worried about the violence, but he assures her it will be safe and they plan to go on vacation soon. While JD's out of town for another transport, the bad guys kidnap his wife and his secretary! He's forced to trade his current cargo for his wife's safety but one of the bad guys, Carver, shoots her anyways and she dies in JD's arms! Now feeling heart-broken, he mourns at home with his daughter and Katie, a friend of the family.



JD gets a phone call from his old Colonel, requesting a meeting to discuss what happened. Turns out that the criminals are actually organized terrorists, and the Colonel grants JD immunity from the law to hunt down and kill all the men responsible for murdering his wife. JD agrees, and for some reason also lets Katie come along to help despite her just being an average citizen, but I guess he's feeling lonely. He starts tracking the thugs down, getting closer to their boss as he kills his way up the chain of command.

Katie

The evil Carver

There's lots of gunfights, violence and chases to keep everything moving fast, because JD is a trained killer that does not have time for small talk. There's even some unexpected twists along the way to keep you guessing as to what is coming next!
Even with the serious revenge plot, there's lots of laughs to be had at the low budget attempts to make it all realistic. Somehow, Joey Johnson even seems to exude a cool badassness despite looking like a goof ball.

"I feel like I got run over by a dump truck." - JD

The acting is quite bad and the script is disorganized, but I was kept on the edge of my seat, eager to see every minute of it. Plot holes and low budget sloppiness be damned, it's very entertaining and still holds together as an outrageous revenge story.

Be sure not to miss:
- The bickering between JD and the pilot just keeps getting better and better!
- The fate of Carver is rather hilarious in its abruptness.
- The music is fantastic! Throbbing synths and foggy zaps. Seems like the soundtrack is more well known than the movie itself.

Internet review:
"Despite all its flaws, it's compulsive viewing!" - Mike

Should I watch it?
Yes! It really is too awesome to miss.

Where can I find it?
YouTube playlist starts here.

Courier of Death gets...