THAT’S ACTION (1990) **

Imagine That's Entertainment, but instead of clips of classic MGM musicals, it’s filled with clips of crappy AIP action movies.  Robert Culp is our host for this seventy-eight-minute compilation.  He’s usually great, but even he can't bring any spark into the lifeless script he’s been given (which was written by director David A. Prior, who conveniently directed a lot of the films featured).   

The clips themselves are uneven as hell and range from several minutes to only a few seconds.  Most of them look low rent.  I mean, just look at the scenes from Space Mutiny.  Are you really supposed to watch the scenes of Reb Brown being chased around in a futuristic golf cart in an abandoned warehouse and think to yourself, “THAT’S ACTION!”  If anything, the scenes from Space Mutiny showcase just how painful it must be to watch it without the benefit of the robots from Mystery Science Theater 3000. 

There are some highlights here, like the flying hand scene from Future Force, but they're more the exception than the rule.  Even though the emphasis is on action, we still get to see clips from horror movies like Aerobicide and The Lost Platoon.  Most of the fun though comes from seeing guys like Oliver Reed and Cameron Mitchell slumming it in such cheap-ass action junk.   

Culp teases a sequel at the end, but for one reason or another, it never happened.