Why so much hype?

Don't Believe the Hype

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

If you can't get enough of revenge sagas, this low low budget effort from the 1970s might suffice. The story is trite, but the movie has enough female skin and violence, and solid pacing, to help make up for any flaws. A quartet of degenerates are on a crime spree that includes the rape & murder of two young women. One of the victims was the younger sister of law student Cullen Garrett (Chris Mulkey), who's pretty damn angry as you can imagine. The men soon get picked up, but poor timing of the reading of the Miranda rights leads to them getting let go. Naturally Cullen is going to do something about this travesty of justice, his career be damned. He's not exactly the slickest or most well prepared of vigilantes, but he's got the tenacity required. Handsome character actor Mulkey, whom you may recognize from such movies as "First Blood" and "Ghost in the Machine" and the TV series 'Twin Peaks', does good enough in this early starring role. Polly King is appealing as his girlfriend Tracy, who's dismayed by the change in her usually low key guy. The four creeps are played reasonably well, with Wayne Crawford (who co-wrote and co-produced this with Andrew Lane) as the ringleader among them. (Crawford and Lane went on to be the producers of the cult classic "Night of the Comet".) In a supporting role you'll see William Kerwin, star of the Herschell Gordon Lewis splatter favourites "Blood Feast" and "Two Thousand Maniacs!", as Mulkey's lawman uncle, and his authoritative presence as an exploitation veteran really helps. (Crawford and Kerwin both act under pseudonyms.) There's enough bare female skin (King is nicely endowed) to keep exploitation fans content, and as always in this genre it's satisfying to see repellent characters ultimately get their just desserts. Daniel Schweitzer's Johnny gets particularly rough treatment. In the end, this isn't anything especially noteworthy or memorable, but it's adequate entertainment while it lasts. At least it doesn't go on too long. Seven out of 10.

Filmed in and around Miami, "Getting Even" gets right down to business with a nasty rape and murder of a diner waitress. What follows is the girl's law student brother in a relentless pursuit of street justice, after the four assailants are freed on a technicality. The movie has weak acting, but the "Death Wish" like revenge screenplay moves along fast enough to maintain interest. There is some girlfriend abuse, nudity, mostly off screen violence, and a small amount of "black humor" thrown into the mix. This is bare bones exploitation that actually surpasses expectations for such a low budget film. Not bad of it's type. - MERK

Eighteen year old sister of Chris Mulkey is gang-raped and murdered by four drunken degenerates.Her brother takes a gun and kills them one by one in "Death Wish" fashion."Deadbeat" was released to theaters as "Tomcats" in 1977 and on video in the United States as "Avenged".In UK it was released on video under the title "Getting Even".There are two pretty nasty gang-rape scenes in "Deadbeat" as well as plenty of nudity and some misogynistic violence.The film looks cheap,but the plot is fast paced and interesting.Of course "Getting Even" plays like a low-key version of "Death Wish",so you know what to expect.I did like it.8 out of 10.

Though the premise of the movie is pretty simple, it still could have provided a lot of drive-in thrills. There is quite a bit of nudity and sex, the latter of which is occasionally presented in a way that's borders on the perverse (even in the non-rape scenes.) Despite this, the movie is pretty slow and not that exciting, though the climatic action scene has a few unintended laughs by the fact the passer-bys in the background can't seem to hear or see the ruckus going on in front of them. The movie also boasts what may be the cheapest and most hastily-built courtroom in cinematic history.