Corvette Summer

From a far away galaxy to Las Vegas.

What do you get when you mix the coolest muscle cars of the 70's with new kid on the block Mark Hamill & future Ghostbusters secretary Annie Potts? The answer is an hour and forty five minutes of adventure and guaranteed laughter!

Corvette Summer is  a 1978 adventure film starred by Mark Hamill (shit! only a few months after he became the legendary Star Wars' Luke Skywalker!) and newcomer Annie Potts (remembered by nerds for her sexy read hair role in the above mentioned Ghostbusters flicks) Directed by Matthew Robbins and written by Hal Barwood & Robbins, this under rated gem, is a must for every muscle car lover & every adventure/comedy film enthusiast. 

The missing Corvette.

Hitch hiking for a dream car.

Mark Hamill, fresh from the astronomical success of "Star Wars," delivers an animated and thoroughly engaging performance as Kenneth W. Dantley, a guileless, but hot-blooded Los Angeles teenage automobile enthusiast who leads his high school autobody shop in restoring a '73 Corvette stingray back to its full pristine turbo-charged candy apple red glory. After the 'vette gets stolen, the extremely obsessive and determined Hamill heads off to Las Vegas to reclaim it. While fumbling and stumbling around Sin City Hamill hooks up with and eventually falls bum over teakettle in love with kooky, saucy, tenderhearted aspiring prostitute Vanessa (a wonderfully flaky and adorable Annie Potts, who's utterly disarming in her film debut).

A winsome, spirited, perfectly enjoyable and infectiously good-natured seriocomic youth coming-of-age tale, "Corvette Summer" bristles along with an easy, carefree, unforced charm that's impossible to resist. Matthew Robbins, who also co-wrote the bright, insightful script with Hal Barwood (these two subsequently collaborated on the equally excellent fantasy treat "Dragonslayer"), directs with tremendous energy and agility, skillfully mixing a swift headlong pace, uniformly bang-up acting, laughs, romance, and such trenchantly examined themes as chasing after one's dreams (both literally and figuratively), joyful adolescent innocence being curdled into sour adult cynicism, staying true to one's beliefs, and one painful rite of passage -- the rude awakening to a harsh, jarring, not always fair reality with all its many disheartening foibles and inequities -- that we all must undergo into the taut, absorbing narrative. Technically, the film is every bit as shiny and attractive as its titular car star: Frank Stanley's lively, colorful, lustrous cinematography, Amy Jones' fluid, sharp editing and Craig Safan's swell, stirring score are all most impressive.

I'll let you suck my dick if you help me find my car.

Let's fuck Kenny, your car will show up eventually.

Kudos to the top supporting cast: Eugene Roche as Hamill's friendly autoshop teacher, Danny Bonaduce and Wendy Jo Spurber as two of Hamill's fellow car-loving autoshop classmates, Kim Milford (the wimpy browbeaten kid hero of the enticingly chintzy sci-fi revenge potboiler "Laserblast") as the cocky, effeminate leader of a stolen car ring, Brion James as the jerk who gains illegal possession of Hamill's car, the ubiquitous Dick Miller as a genial, generous gambler, T.K. Carter as a carwash employee, and Phillip Bruns as a sleazy grifter gas station proprietor. A frenetic chase sequence between a bike-riding Hamill and a car-driving James constitutes as a definite thrilling highlight. The relationship between the naive Hamill and the more worldly Potts is quite amusing, affecting and endearing; they make for a nice, enchanting couple. The film's pretty bewitching as well, thanks to its relaxed, off-beat tone, quirky bits of humor, steady, but laid-back drive, affable leads, and general uplifting air of fresh-faced sweetness. A breezy, cheeky, hugely appealing and radiantly gleaming gem of a sleeper.  

Why people don't consider Corvette Summer as a true 70's classic teenage comedy is beyond my understanding. Mark Hamill's career may be forever bound to science fiction and comic books but, believe you me, if you're planning to see another side of his acting skills, look no more because this is the film you totally need to watch.  As for Annie Pott's debut, she totally nails the job! Watching the first half of the movie misleads you into thinking who she really is until the other half begins and you see a much wider character developing.

Vanessa's super cool Chevy Van!

This paint won't fool me, this is my car!

As for the 1973 Corvette Stingray, The mold for this film's centerpiece car is part of the collection of America's National Corvette Museum and displayed at the Corvette Americana Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The museum also screens this movie regularly! 

The Corvette car was a 1973 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray converted to right hand drive so that Mark Hamill could hang out of the curbside window looking at the ladies (Yes, you read that right). The car was also painted candy apple / cherry, given superior mags, a clam-shell hood, Gabriel shocks, Merry tubes, a metal flake, side-pipes, and flames painted on the body.  

I'm gonna recover my car no matter what!

Not without a fight kiddo.

Mark Hamill said of this movie around the time of production: "I insisted on looking different. And I'm only interested in the car, not even any girl, until Annie Potts came along. . . It's not a car movie. It's really a love story. And I'm so thrilled to be working with Annie Potts. She reminds me of Judy Holliday. She's a unique creature." Hamill years after the film first came out then said: "Corvette Summer is a great little picture and it's got sort of a title that's a misnomer because you sort of put it in one category when you first see it and you go, 'Oh gee, it's quite a nicely written, uh romantic movie.' And I enjoyed it immensely." 

Hamill was badly injured in an automobile wreck in Malibu, California just prior to production. He bares the scars through Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) As a matter of fact, Annie Potts also, was in car accidents prior to principal photography. Potts got pins in her legs whilst Hamill got a broken nose.

I got the money now babe.

I can't believe we did it!

Overall, Corvette Summer is pure PG rated entertainment that every member of your family can enjoy (unless you live with inflatable anime dolls, that's not what I'd call family you, nasty freak!) This movie guarantees almost two hours of adventure, comedy, pun intended jokes and even romance! this movie has it all! 

Here's the movie trailer:

Three The Hard Way

Action gets bigger by the trio.

The blaxploitation has a wide list of blockbusters which I've watched already but haven't got the time of reviewing most of them. Hell! I even own Pam Grier several reviews of hers! Today's entry, Three The Hard Way, a 1974 non stop action flicker directed by Gordon Parks Jr, written by Eric Bercovici & Jerry Ludwig, and starred by Jim Brown (as Jimmy Lait), Fred Williamson (as Jagger Daniels) and martial arts superstar Jim Kelly (as Mister Keyes) Although this film may not be everyone's cup of tea, one thing is guaranteed: you won't want to miss a single minute of the film. Three The Hard Way is pure action from start to finish, bloody shootings, ass kicking a la martial arts style, dangeroues Neo-Nazies and even more dangerous female threesomes (no pun intended)

When diabolical racist/fascist/evil white cracker Monroe Feather (Jay Robinson), with the help of fellow evil whitey, scientist Dr. Fortrero (Richard Angarola) invent a red serum that is harmless to whites and lethal to blacks and plan to dump it in the water supplies of Washington D.C., Detroit and L.A., they didn't count on one thing - the awesome power of Jimmy Lait (Brown), Jagger Daniels (Williamson) and Mister Keyes (Kelly)! Can this team of righteous soul brothers take down Feather's budding, red-beret wearing neo-Nazi organization, or will millions of African-Americans perish? They really, truly do not make them like this anymore. Films like this should be treasured. Just look at the tagline on the poster above. Can you imagine a movie coming out today that proudly, in big red letters, proclaims that they are going to save their race? 

We kick your ass in style.

Did someone say white cracker?

Three the Hard Way, besides being a clever title (three dudes, three cities that must be saved, and three dominatrixes, but more on that later), is a golden age of blaxploitation gem. It is filled to the brim with jive talk, fly threads and funky tunes. It also has plenty of action, and who better to dispense it than the three coolest men in cinema at the time - all in one place! Jim Brown as Lait is a successful record producer. He's so good at what he does, his collars are bigger than pizza slices, he drives a Rolls Royce with "LAIT" as the license plate, and tells the Impressions what to do in the studio. He even produces his own theme song, sung by the Impressions! The action kicks off when Feather's goons kidnap his old lady, Wendy (Frazier), and Lt. Di Nisco (Rocco) is more interested in Lait than in the bad guys. So Lait calls in his buddies Daniels and Keyes to dispense some justice with a blue van filled with automatic weapons. Mister Keyes even predates Mr. T as being a legal name, and they even have the same reasons ("so people will have to call me Mister" - although T might have the edge because his legal middle name is a dot).

Kelly gets to make more of his trademark, pre-Billy Blanks funny faces and noises, and there's even a scene which must have fulfilled the fantasies of the urban, inner-city audiences this played to at the time, where a bunch of cops harass him and try to arrest him and he beats them all up with style and aplomb and rides away. Fred Williamson is as cool and charming as ever as the cigar-chomping Daniels. A standout scene occurs when three women, Countess (Pamela Serpe), Princess (Marie O'Henry) and Empress (Tsu) ride in on red white and blue motorcycles, with outfits to match. It seems they are a team of dominatrixes and this is how our Three the Hard Way boys get the information they need. Perhaps this was such an appealing concept it inspired the movie Ebony, Ivory and Jade (1976).

The coolest female biker team.

Not afraid of using their weapons.

Three the Hard Way is a much better version of the team-up concept than the much later Williamson/Brown outing On the Edge (2002), and provides a lot of the obvious inspiration behind the parodies I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) and Black Dynamite (2008). Additionally, besides the impressive on-screen talent (we didn't even mention an appearance by TNT Jackson herself, Jeannie Bell), there are some big names behind the camera as well - director Gordon Parks Jr, cinematographer Lucien Ballard, and a stunt department that includes Hal Needham, Bob Minor and Buddy Joe Hooker, among others...you can really learn a lot if you read the credits! All of this came together in the end to produce an above-average blaxploitation film.

While it does start to drag a bit right before the climax, travel back in time to when cars were gigantic and boatlike, and when Williamson, Brown and Kelly were the undisputed kings of soulful action. 

Racist pigs.

The Impressions!

The film has its flaws though, and they're mostly edition issues. The following list explains the most notable goofs in Three The Hard Way:

-In the Chicago sequence, Jimmy and Jagger are chasing one of the white supremacists through town and they pass the same man twice.

-When Mister Keyes fights the corrupt police officers, his shoes go from brown boots to brown basketball shoes and back between shots.

-The blue van alternates from shot to shot between two very different models.

-When Jimmy is talking to Wendy from the phone booth he is clearly inside the booth while the gravel truck is charging the booth (0:54:04).Yet,seconds after the gravel truck hits the booth Jimmy isn't inside the booth and he is hanging from the back of the truck instead(0:54:09).

-In the lengthy shootout at the end of the movie, there is snow everywhere on the mountainous terrain, then no snow at all. Also, the action shifts back and forth from day to night and back again. 

 

Martial arts never looked cooler.

Watcha lookin' at?

 

Overall, Three The Hard Way is an action roller coaster from start to finish, and that makes a likable film for all audiences (who doesn't like guns, fights and boobs?) If you're a fan of the blaxploitation genre you've probably watched the movie already, but if you're not a fan of blaxploitation this movie can be an excellent starter.

Here's the movie trailer:

 

Robocop 3

Back for all audiences.

Hello fellow connoisseurs who still read. Previously I had promised a review for "Aliens" and guess what? I didn't keep my word, bad dog, bad dog. Anyways, let's just say such review will be here sooner than later due to some unexpected infatuation: Robocop! My favorite childhood cop. A few weeks ago my wife asked "hey, why don't we watch Robocop again?" so, what started as only watching the original film, ended up in revisiting the whole trilogy plus the infamous TV series from 1994 & 2001. The final installment in the trilogy came three years after Robocop 2 & the tone producers had us used to (you know, good old bloody gory violence) in the first two films was gone forever. Which, in my case was an excellent thing as I could finally go to the theater and be a part of Robocop 3 premiere (I was still an underage kid, and boy, I went on my own to watch it!) 

Robocop 3 (1993) picks an unknown number of years after the events of part 2, Cain's gang and his Nuke Drug has been obliterated and Robocain has been defeated by our hero. The Old Man from the previous two films is gone (either died or resigned after the events of Robocop 2; the movie doesn't say) and is replaced by the "CEO" (Rip Torn). The Delta City Project inaugurated in the previous film is falling behind schedule and OCP incurs in debt, leading to its takeover by the Japanese corp. of Kanemitsu. Meanwhile, they adopt increasingly forceful methods to get back on track by hiring mercenaries called "the Rehabs" led by Robert McDagget (John Castle) to evacuate areas for demolition and send the locals to "correctional facilities". A band of freedom fighters spring up, Robocop and Anne Lewis track them down after seeing a little girl joining them in an abandoned church. Unbeknownst to them, the Rehabs have tracked them down, and orders them to leave the building to them. Robocop and Anne Lewis refuse, but when Anne gets seriously injured (and dies a few minutes later), he quits the force and joins the rebellion, while undergoing structural repairs in his programme.

The Detroit riot.

Why is it whenever they add a kid in a film, the story sucks?

Robocop 2 may have shocked some viewers for its excessive violence, but it is better than this one. The storyline is more coherent than the last film in the sense that all main ideas make it to the end but it's too simplistic. While Part 2 was ultra-violent and gloomy, this one went into the opposite direction. Sure the absence of the first two films' graphic violence would make it more appealing for kids, but this movie just has little to make up for it; it starts off very promising but it gets sillier as the it progresses, culminating in a ridiculous fight between Robocop and the Samurai, which is a far cry from the excellent finale between Robocop and Robocain in the the second movie, giving the impression that the filmmakers have run out of money by that point.

However, Robocop 3 still has some worthwhile moments to spare it from becoming a candidate for MST3K. Most of the action sequences save the aforementioned fight are well-staged and creative, and the film has some creative use of CGI. Robocop's new gadgets-- the jet-pack and his cannon-- are worthy additions, and our hero still knows how to make an entrance (diving from the highest level of a parking lot and dropping down 10 storeys below).

Peter Weller, however, did not reprise the role, most likely because he has grown tired of having to walk into that baggy costume for hours and hours on end and sweating buckets in the process, and he's replaced by Robert John Burke. Burke is a worthy successor to Weller, mimicking his movements down to the smallest details, but it just doesn't feel the same without him.

Can you fly bobby?

I've been upgraded to Windows 3.1!

Now I won't say that Robocop 3 is the mega disaster that a lot of reviewers call it. I mean Robocop 3 lost the benefit of being an eighties action film so granted the violence and foul language would be toned down because suddenly the political correctness of the 90's was in full swing. So that meant making Robocop more family friendly. They also lost Peter Weller from the lead which I didn't realize how great he was as Robocop until he wasn't him anymore. I have to wonder if screenplay writer Frank Miller was angry at the creators of Robocop so he spun this tale as a cruel prank because Miller is no slouch at writing, he is a legendary comic writer (Batman,300, Sin City, X-Men, etc.) and the story for Robocop 3 borders on ridiculous. All of the dark gritty atmosphere is pretty much gone from the original film, the tongue in cheek political humor is gone as well despite some off attempts to do exactly that. And it is true what reviewers have said that Robocop has suddenly become a complete weakling. He spends so much of the film repeatedly falling on his robo butt and trying to get back up. He's lost all of his cool factor, all of his heavy hitting super hero instincts.

So here is why Robocop 3 is NOT the disastrously horrendous film that some make it out to be. First of all it ends the trilogy with a final big battle between OCP and the Detroit Police Department which essentially brings OCP down. It also brings back some of the familiar faces from the series and gives closure to the story on Lewis although her and Burke just don't have the chemistry that her and Weller had as partners. The story is decent enough and simple enough to follow but it just doesn't hold up to the previous two films. The entire aspect of Robocop flying is so ridiculous and they surely had to know that it was ridiculous. If it ain't broke don't fix it and they do fix the unbroken recipe which essentially ruins the series. It is true that Robocop 3 was a fall from grace and this film felt like the quality of a TV Movie which is maybe why all future Robocop installments hit Television. A rather bland disappointment.  

Robocop 3 (Super Nintendo)

Robocop 3 (NES)

All in all, a sequel for the fans of  Robocop only. Casual Sci-Fi fans skip this unless you've already watched the first two films that built our robo hero character with far greater justice than the final piece in the trilogy. Still, we can't be that hard on it, many things were going on during the creation of the sequel. This film was wrapped in 1991 (only a year after the sequel) but due to Orion (the production company) having some substantial financial issues that eventually led them to bankruptcy, the film was on hold for a couple of years. 

The PG-13 is not a random choice. it was deliberate as the film producers wanted to establish Robocop in a kids friendly world (beyond "Robocop Ultra Police" the awful cartoon which spawned the very first wave of Robocop action figures) so that they could ask their parents for the cool Robocop 3 merchandise (mostly action figures, weapon accesories and vehicles) In addition, Peter Weller grown tired of the character and didn't give a shit about reprising his role anymore. Also, Nancy Allen felt the exact same way about her character, and the only way she would reprise it was under the condition that she died in the first half hour of the film (she got away with it)

Here's the movie trailer:

Here the Robocop action figure TV ad:

 

Robocop 2

He's back!

RoboCop 2 is probably the most under-rated and most harshly criticized sequel in history (tying with Predator 2, which came out the same year). Because of a few missing elements from the first and a slightly more cartoonish approach to the violence, the critics and public alike were not pleased and opinions and feelings toward the franchise nosedived with the just plain awful RoboCop 3.

Don't con yourself out of a good movie though. RoboCop 2 still has the same savage sense of humor, cynical social commentary and character pathos of the first film. It's a hyper-realistic vision of an America populated by gun-loving psychos, a democracy owned by big business and the poverty-stricken addicted to drugs dealt to them by peddlers believing themselves to be the second coming of Christ.

Far-fetched could be the typical way of describing it. Completely-over-the-top would be more appropriate. Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner chucks in as much sadistic violence, deafening gunfire, endless destruction and loss of human life that the film just begs you not to take it so seriously.

I so loved the promo art for the film!

There were some cool cardboards out there in video rental stores.

Some of the blame was placed on writer Frank Miller for the film being more cartoonish than the original. I don't think this is very fair. I read Miller's original script when I was in high school and it is rather different and, dare I say, unfilmable. RoboCop 2 himself was not Nuke Lord Caine, the psychotic hippie with delusions of Godhood. He was called Kong, a psychotic cop who pretty much killed everybody he came across. Sgt. Reed and the Old Man died too, and there wasn't much humor. Screenwriter Walon Green was hired to doctor the script and much of what appears on screen is actually his work. Frank Miller's original ideas are pretty much just left as the framework for the whole movie and some of his story was recycled into RoboCop 3 (don't blame him for that one either). Miller was obviously upset with this but was still a good enough sport to appear in the film (keep a lookout for him playing Doctor Frank), though he vowed not to work in Hollywood again for fear of being taken advantage of. Until Robert Rodriguez promised to make good on his Sin City graphic novels.

Verhoven may be gone but Irvin Kershner tries hard to deliver the same mix of mirth and magic and actually does get it right. Basil Poledouris' brooding score is also gone (it returns in RoboCop 3) but new composer Leonard Rosenman creates a wonderfully heroic and upbeat theme that suits the film more than Poledouris' moody, tormented score to the first.

Call for back up Murphy!

I told you!

There have also been many complaints that the humanity of RoboCop and his relationship with Lewis was neutered along with too many other ideas fighting for screen time. I get why most would be annoyed by this but you have to remember that films need to be economic when it comes to length. If every single idea was fully explored and fleshed-out RoboCop 2 would have been 4 hours long. In my opinion each thread has just enough for keen viewers and fans to appreciate. Lazy viewers only see what they want to see and I feel that this has led to many of the negative reviews the film has been met with (which usually comment on how "offensive" the character of Hob is-sheesh, gimme a break). And don't give me that the "humanity" of the first film is gone. Murphy has not resigned to being a machine. He lies to pacify OCP. Pay attention to the very last line of dialogue in the film if you want proof.

Filmed once again in Texas, Houston this time, you really have to feel for Peter Weller walking around in that Robosuit. It must have weighed a ton and he'd be sweating bucketloads inside. There is a particular scene in the film where Murphy is tortured into near-death/destruction that is very hard to watch. But it does lead to him getting a brand-new makeover and those crazy new directives put into his head. The bit where he lectures the Little League kids and scolds the youngsters playing by the leaky fire hydrant (after quoting some very suspicious philosophy) is hilarious.

Enter Robocop 2.

I'm gonna add you some fingering/fisting upgrades to your program.

RoboCop 2 is a great movie. Despite harsh criticisms of the script and story and some slightly dated stop-motion effects it's a brilliant sequel that lives up to expectations. Do listen to the nay-Sayers. I don't know what kind of film they were expecting.

Now let's go behind camera and check some awesome Robocop 2 trivia:

Paul Verhoeven's no.

After the success of RoboCop (1987), director Paul Verhoeven and the original screen writers were approached for a sequel by the studio immediately. According to Verhoeven, he wasn't yet ready to make a sequel and wanted to wait until a proper script was written. He felt going forward so quickly would make it feel like he was attempting to cash in on a product. The studio did not agree, and hired Frank Miller to quickly write a new script and implement his own ideas. Ultimately the film failed, and Paul Verhoeven stated that had the studio gone with his ideas, it was far better than what was presented. 

Smoking kills.

The scene in which RoboCop opens fire around the head of someone who is smoking, after which he says 'Thank you for not smoking', was actually licensed and run as a public service announcement ahead of several different films in many non-smoking movie theaters during the summer movie season that year.  

Detroit goes bankrupt.

The City of Detroit is depicted as being cash-strapped where OCP owns the entire metropolitan area - as life imitating art, the City of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy on July 18, 2013 with an estimated $18 - $20 billion debt. 

Violence? what violence?

Comic book adaptation.

Robocop, the comic book.

 

Although the producers loved Frank Miller's original version of the script, they quickly realized it was unfilmable as written. The final screen version was heavily rewritten and bears only a superficial resemblance to Miller's story. In 2003, Miller's screenplay was adapted into a comic book series titled, appropriately, "Frank Miller's RoboCop".  

Date East Arcade.

When RoboCop is in the Arcade, the majority of the video games are created by Data East. Data East was the creator behind the RoboCop video games. 

Robocop VS Frank Miller VS Irvin Kershner.

Peter Weller criticized the script, saying it lacked the spine and the soul of the original. Weller tried to convince Frank Miller, Irvin Kershner and the film's producers that the third act needed a morality angle instead of being just a shoot 'em up. The producers felt the battle between Robocop and Cain was sufficient.  

V for Vendettacop.

Alan Moore was originally offered the chance to write the film but turned it down. 

The Nintendo NES official videogame.

The spectacular arcade videogame.

Deleted Scenes.

Many scenes were deleted from the movie for various reasons: . Robocop walking through police station locker room where he sees a naked police woman showering and, after looking at her for a few seconds, walks away.

Robocop's hallucination scene after he is dismantled by Cain's men, where he dreams of visiting his own grave. . A few scenes with Cain that explained his character more, including a scene where he and Angie visit Dr. Faxx to discuss robotics, thus planting the seed for the most likely candidate to donate to Robocop 2's construction. In the same deleted scene, Cain confronts a Robocop mock-up in the OCP's reception area.

An extended scene where the store keeper who got robbed by the baseball team kids screams at Robocop for letting them get away, with Robocop grabbing him by the throat, saying a few words about the storekeeper's "harsh value judgment" then dropping him on the floor.

A scene where Robocop finds out that Cain is inside the Robocop 2 cyborg, interfacing with Dr. Faxx's computer and going through her files.

Rated X.

Also, just like with first movie, some scenes were cut down to avoid an X rating by MPAA. Although one workprint version is available that includes some of the deleted scenes, there was never any uncut version of the movie with all deleted scenes.  

Overall, Robocop 2 as a standalone movie, may have its flaws, but when watched as a part of the Robocop Trilogy it looks and sounds way better. Despite the fact, that the trilogy doesn't not begin an official plot that would be ended by the third film, the whole idea of OCP, a powerful & mean corporation running a bankrupt city crowded with crime, remains throughout the three films.  Another stand out point of this sequel is the fact that they worked with actual comic book authors! Frank Miller & Alan Moore (who didn't take the offer) are perhaps two of the most respected men among the Comic Book/Graphic Novel circles. 

Here's the movie trailer:

Here the above mentioned deleted scenes:

Here the "thank you for not smoking" Theaters ad:

Here the Nintendo NES videogame adaptation:

And last but not least, the Official Arcade adaptation:

 

Golgo 13 The Professional

The ultimate hitman.

Following our latest obsession, we continue to revisit the golden era of the OVA. However, before we get into the magnificent piece we're to review briefly, I'd like to tell you about the origin of the Original Video Animation or オリジナル・ビデオ・アニメーション (Orijinaru bideo animēshon) in proper Japanese. The term is also known as OAV (Original Animation Video) and since the introduction of DVD the term was updated to  OAD (Original Animation DVD)

OVAs originated during the early 1980s. As the VCR became a widespread fixture in Japanese homes the Japanese anime industry grew to behemoth proportions. Demand for anime became massive, so much so that consumers would willingly go directly to video stores to buy new animation outright. While people in the United States use the phrase "direct-to-video" as a pejorative for works that could not make it onto television or movie screens, in Japan the demand was so great that direct-to-video became a necessity. Many popular and influential series such as Bubblegum Crisis (1987–1991) and Tenchi Muyo! (1992–2005) were released directly to video as OVAs.

The earliest known attempt to release an OVA involved Osamu Tezuka's The Green Cat (part of the Lion Books series) in 1983, although it cannot count as the first OVA: there is no evidence that the VHS tape became available immediately, and the series remained incomplete. Therefore the first official OVA release to be billed as such was 1983's Dallos (a review is coming soon, be patient) , directed by Mamoru Oshii and released by Bandai. Other famous early OVAs, premièring shortly thereafter, were Fight! Iczer One and the original Megazone 23. Other companies were quick to pick up on the idea, and the mid-to-late 1980s saw the market flooded with OVAs. During this time, most OVA series were new, stand-alone titles.

In the 1980s during Japan's economic bubble, production companies were more than willing to spontaneously decide to make a one- or two-part OVA. They paid money to anime studios who then haphazardly created an OVA to be released to rental shops. Judging from sales, should a longer series be deemed feasible, TV networks paid for most of the production costs of the entire series

 

Explanations set aside, it's time to move on to today's OVA classic, a personal favorite ranking among my top 5 OVA of all times:

Let the bullet do the talking.

Hey, I can see Uranus!

Golgo 13: The Professional, originally known as simply Golgo 13 (ゴルゴ13) in Japan, is a Japanese animated film adaptation of the Golgo 13 manga series released on May 28, 1983 by Tokyo Movie Shinsha. It is the first animated film to be based on the manga and the third film overall.
 

According to Helen McCarthy, Golgo 13 The Professional was based on various Western action films the writers had used for inspiration. Ironically, the film's own influence can be seen in later Western films. The OVA incorporated CGI animation, which was in its infancy at the time. This is most notable in the scene where army helicopters circle around Dawson Tower and attack Golgo as he climbs toward Dawson's office on the top floor. Later, this technology would  become a common addition to the genre until the mid-90s with the advent of Macross Plus and Ghost in the Shell. The film was released in home video for the first time in the USA in 1992, almost ten years after the original release.

You're the only who can do this Golgo 13.

Bloody murder.

GOLGO 13 is an archetypal animated crime drama. This is a relentlessly brutal film about one man's crusade to destroy the elusive figure who was solely responsible for the murder of his own kin. THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 is also an emotionally disturbing film which demonstrates the pain and distress of having to cope with the loss of a love one. It serves as a chilling reminder of how human beings can easily succumb to the power of suffering. THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 is a tautly made film dealing with the psychological mind, but most importantly of all, it is a thriller that leaves you on the edge-of-your-seat from the first frame to the finish.

Duke Togo (a.k.a. Golgo 13) is an assassin for hire. He does not care about his clients at all; he only cares about himself and his money. Devoid of emotion, Golgo's life is predominated by violence and sex. Golgo's latest mission is to terminate Mr. Robert Dawson, the son of a wealthy oil-business baron, Leonard Dawson. With just a single bullet, Golgo 13 has successfully accomplished this task. Meanwhile, Mr. Leonard Dawson, understandably aggravated with the death of his only son, has vowed to terminate this assassin once and for all. Leonard Dawson is usually use to `getting what he wants,' but this entrepreneur does not realize what a formidable foe Golgo 13 might be...

 

Specialists.

Brothers Silver & Gold.

Desperate, Leonard Dawson has hired a number of professional mercenaries and agencies to assist him in tracking and eliminating his loose cannon. Along the way, Dawson has employed a ruthless, cold-blooded killer named `Snake' to personally make sure that Golgo 13 suffer a violent and painful demise...

However, Golgo 13 always manages to be ahead of the game. Whenever danger strikes, this elusive hitman always succeeds in escaping with his life. He is quick, agile, and intuitive, but consequently, he is a man with little sentiment...

Golgo 13 is constantly on the run from the menacing villains of every color. Will Golgo 13 be able to save his own skin...or will he truly meet his match with a professional adversary?

 

Beauty follows crime.

Sometimes fucking your target takes a whole new meaning.

THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 is certainly an adult-oriented tale. This is an extremely sickening film, with grotesque deaths being shown in explicit detail second by second. The color red tends to literally predominate the screen at times. Typical of the Japanese animation style is also the gratuitous use of frontal female nudity, especially since virtually every female in this movie removes her clothes at least once during the film's duration. Indeed, as shown by the abundance of sanguinary violence, soft-core sex scenes (Golgo's love-making scene with `Cindy' is particularly steamy.) and unclothed females, THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 is animation made strictly for mature audiences.

It would be unfair to dismiss THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 just because of its excessive violence and nudity. Unlike most films of this caliber, what is admiring about this movie is that though it is full of sex and violence, it does not let those two qualities overshadow the film's technical and also rather profound attributes. First, the technical accomplishments in this movie are plentiful. The camerawork and editing are stylishly done. They often shift from the use of freeze frames to slow motion sequences to split screen features. The animation too, is marvelous; the use of different colors and lighting effects are utilized to the first degree in order to symbolize a certain character's behavior such as pleasure or anger. As well, the computer generated action scenes near the end are themselves a masterfully created piece of work. THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 contains some of the best artwork and details of a modern animated feature.

 

"It's my first time...with an Asian"

Crime doesn't pay?

THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 is also a trenchant character study. This movie shows the mental anguish and vulnerability in the human soul, as demonstrated by the erratic behavior Leonard Dawson displays. THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 spares no punches as it illustrates that human misery does not only affect the individual himself; it could also affect his loved ones just as sharply. This motion picture shows as well how an obsession with revenge will leave a person devastated even more deeply. It is a very sad movie indeed, but this movie dares you to actually show sorrow for many of the characters involved in the predicament...

What makes THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 even more remarkable is the film's diversely outrageous cast of characters. They range from the sick and bizarre lunatic, `Snake,' to the deformed twins `Gold' and `Silver,' and then, to the sexy, lascivious lady, `Cindy.' The breakthrough character sketches in this movie (plus the state-of-the-art animation) make the viewer believe that instead of watching a lame cartoon, he/she is experiencing an actual feature presentation. THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 is truly `number one...with a bullet.'

 

Let's get down to business, agent.

Overall, THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 is a unique experience. Unlike most superficial, one-dimensional cartoon presentations, THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 is a realistic (albeit still an animated feature) film that is rather plaintive, bleak, and depressing. At the same time though, THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 will leave you breathless as the amazing action and gritty visuals will keep you addicted for more excitement. The animation especially, is notably conceived. THE PROFESSIONAL: GOLGO 13 is a destined cult hit in the making. Though this is an animated film, the spellbinding plot, assured direction, plus the three dimensional characters and strong themes help give this motion picture a potently authentic quality. There are more than enough plot twists to keep you enthralled even after the denouncement. Plus, a powerful subtext (amongst many) about how the letting of one's emotions cloud his/her thoughts can easily cripple one's life forever will keep the viewer suitably mesmerized. This is a film that will leave you contemplating about how delicate the human soul really is...

If you are looking for a near perfect thriller, then search no further.

Here's the OVA for your viewing pleasure: