Themes: Survival in the Wilderness, Heroic Mission, Down on Their Luck
Main Cast: Stephen Lang, Michael Carmine, Lauren Holly, John Cameron Mitchell, Daniele Quinn, James Remar
Release Year: 1986
Country: US
Run Time: 109 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Former Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser warmed the director's chair for Band of the Hand. The film zeroes in on five juvenile delinquents who are plucked from their various detention facilities and unceremoniously dumped in the wilds of the Everglades. The boys begin to panic until hardcase Vietnam veteran Stephen Lang arrives. Lang explains that they've been paroled in his custody, and that it is his task to teach them how to work as a team in order to survive. The logic of this plan is to whip the boys into an elite vigilante unit, then sic them on the various drug dealers of America. The film features early performances by Lauren Holly and Larry Fishburne and Bob Dylan can be heard singing the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Leon Robinson - Moss; Al Shannon - Dorcey; Danton Stone - Aldo; Paul Calderon - Tito; Laurence Fishburne - Cream; Tony Bolano - Felix; Julian Byrd - J.L.'s Father; Dan Fitzgerald - cop; Frank Gilbert - Antione; Gerritt Graham; Michael Gregory - Van Guard; Erla Julmiste - Celeste; Deborah King - Yvette; Joe Petrullo - Narc; Bill Smitrovich - Chavez; Christopher Berry - Moss' Clipboard Guard; D. Blakely - Guard; Matt Buther - Cop; Carl Cofield - 27th Avenue Player; Colman - Helicopter Pilot; Antoni Corone - Narc; Roy Datz - Rene; T.R. Durphy - Drug Dealer; Eddie Edenfield - Counselor #1; James Eros - Hakim; Peter Fournier - Ruben's Clipboard Guard; Allyson Garret - J.L.'s Sister; Sandy Mielke - Reception Guard; Joan Murphy - J.L.'s Mother; Nelson Orames - Officer; Jimi Ruccolo - Diablo; Luis Valderrama - Chooch; Jim Zubiena - Officer; Pat McCorkle
Credit
Mark Harrington - Art Director, Pat McCorkle - Casting, Robert de Mora - Costume Designer, Paul Michael Glaser - Director, Jack Hofstra - Editor, Michael Mann - Executive Producer, Michel Rubini - Composer (Music Score), Bruce Cohen - Songwriter, Bob Dylan - Songwriter, Rich Shaffer - Songwriter, Shriekback - Songwriter, Andy Summers - Songwriter, The Reds - Songwriter, Stephen Tiger - Songwriter, Marie del Russo - Makeup, Gregory W.M. Bolton - Production Designer, Reynaldo Villalobos - Cinematographer, Michael Rauch - Producer, Don Ivey - Set Designer, Ken Pepiot - Special Effects, Jack Baran - Screenwriter, Leo Garen - Screenwriter, William McConnell - First Assistant Camera, Prince - Featured Music
The plot involves a group of juvenile delinquents in their teens who are doomed to be prosecuted as adults for their crimes - unless they take part in a new and experimental "program" led by a Vietnam veteran Native American from the Everglades. The teens must learn to survive in the dangerous swamp and how to work together. Upon completion of the program, the group buys a vacant house in a dangerous part of Miami and slowly rebuilds the neighborhood, kicking out the pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. The film's climax has the group taking the fight directly to a drug manufacturing facility that is equipped with a M-134 Minigun.
The entire score and four songs for BAND OF THE HAND were composed by Rick Shaffer and Bruce Cohen, a/k/a THE REDS, some of which is on the Band Of The Hand soundtrack album, released in 1986 by MCA Records.
