Terminal Island
June. 22,1973 RIn the wake of a Supreme Court decision to outlaw the death penalty, California passes an initiative that designates San Bruno island as a dumping spot for first-degree murder convicts, free to do what they like except leave. The main camp of convicts is controlled by the tyrannical Bobby, who rules with an iron hand, and the women are used as sex slaves. A.J. and a group of more free-minded murderers have escaped and gone into hiding. When A.J. and his men liberate the women from Bobby's custody, tensions mount to an all-out confrontation for control of the island.
Similar titles
Reviews
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike
Fantastic!
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
It was really weird to see Tom Selleck and the black guy from Magnum P.I. in a movie together considering I have never seen either one of them in anything else. Do they always work together or was this the only time? I'll probably never know. Anyway, I wasn't expecting much from this movie and I was pleasantly surprised.Strangely, they start the movie with a news team and make it look like they will be a big part of the story but their part is done before the opening credits roll. I assume it's an original plot, although it's very similar to how Australia became a country. The fight scenes we're a bit weak, you could easily see that nobody was really getting hit, but the story was good enough to make up for it. It was a little predictable too but most movies are. I thought it was weird that there was so much nudity and so little swearing, they usually go hand in hand.It was also a bit weird that the woman who was the main character for most of the movie isn't even in the final few minutes but maybe it was just an editing mistake. This is a good movie, watch it.
I can't believe all the reviews that are so positive about this terrible movie. The only interesting aspect is that it stars a young Tom Selleck. There's gratuitous nudity, unconvincing gore and 'action' sequences which are laughable. The story is stale with a plot that has been reworked many times. There's nothing new or worthwhile to recommend this movie. There's no tension to be found in the story. It has a very unrealistic premise and ending. There's also a real misogynistic theme in this movie as the women are nothing more than 'ass' for the men to share. And while the men are all scruffy and dirty, the women are perfectly coiffed with their breasts spilling out of their ill-fitting clothes. I guess if you're a 12-year-old boy, you might get your jollies from this insipid movie but anyone with an IQ over 100 will be bored by this POS.
The early 1970s B picture "Terminal Island" has an effective premise with which to work. In the "future", the Supreme Court has declared the death penalty unconstitutional. In its place, criminals are now dumped on an island 40 miles off the American coast. Here they're (mostly) left to fend for themselves. The latest arrival is a young woman, Carmen (Ena Hartman), who's just in time to witness an uprising. Some of the convicts are tired of the tyranny of their "leaders" Bobby (Sean Kenney, "The Corpse Grinders") and Monk (Roger E. Mosley, "The Mack"). So a small group splits off from the main group, and plots revolution.Co-written by James Barnett, producer Charles S. Swartz, and director Stephanie Rothman ("The Velvet Vampire"), "Terminal Island" is pretty good for this kind of exploitation fare. It fulfils its requirements - violence, sex, nudity - adequately, and is simply beautifully shot (by Daniel Lacambre, "Humanoids from the Deep") on some pretty locations. While it naturally has its trashy moments, it never really wallows in unpleasantness, and it does have a sense of humour, to boot. (Watch how the horny character, Dylan (Clyde Ventura, "'Gator Bait") is dealt with.) The story is a little thin, but is also provocative on occasion. (Dr. Milford, played by a young Tom Selleck, was convicted of the mercy killing of a patient.)The cast is full of then-stars, stars-to-be, and familiar character faces. Also appearing are Don Marshall ("The Thing with Two Heads"), Phyllis Davis ("Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"), Marta Kristen ('Lost in Space'), Barbara Leigh ("Junior Bonner"), Geoffrey Deuel ("Chisum"), James Whitworth (Papa Jupe in Wes Cravens' "The Hills Have Eyes"), Richard Stahl ("Nine to Five"), Sandy Ward ("Cujo"), and Albert Cole ("The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant"). The film gained newfound attention when Selleck and Mosley found later fame on 'Magnum P.I.'. Kenney and Mosley are particularly fun as the antagonists of the piece.Full of solid squib action and some satisfying explosions, "Terminal Island" is worthy of discovery by devotees of the B pictures of decades past.Seven out of 10.
This movie takes place in the near future after a Supreme Court decision that has outlawed all capital punishment which leaves the state of California forced to subsidize the incarceration of murderous criminals for the rest of their lives. Rather than accept this enormous loss of revenue a solution is adopted which exiles all of them to an uninhabited island where they are forced to fend for themselves with no assistance from the outside except a boat which delivers a small amount of provisions every so often. It's during this time that a female prisoner named "Carmen" (Ena Hartman) is sentenced to spend the rest of her life on this island. When she gets there she discovers that the male population out-numbers the females by a ratio of over 10 to 1 and as a result the few women there are reduced to physical and sexual slavery. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this film had a pretty good premise to build upon and succeeds to a limited extent more or less. That said, while some of the scenarios weren't that realistic the actors performed adequately enough and the movie at least managed to keep my attention for the most part. Accordingly, I rate it as slightly above average.