William Shatner Week: Impulse

Hey there folks and welcome to Day 1 of William Shatner Week and I think I managed to find a doozy for starting off.  I wanted to step away from Star Trek as much as humanly possible.  So what could be less Kirk that a gigolo/con man/serial killer?  Yes Shatner is getting to play a disturbed villain for a change.  So hunker down in your chair, have some popcorn and dig those groovy threads.  This is Impulse.

Trust me ladies...

Spoilers should be ground up for dog meat!

Young Matt Stone is awakened in the middle of the night because Mom is a bit tipsy with a jarhead visitor.  Our proud portrayal of the Marines spots the kid and points out he clear needs to learn how to take a woman.  Yes this is the first four minutes of our movie.  Matt grabs a katana; whacks jarhead then guts him when the guy lunges at him.  Several years later Matt (William Shatner of 77 Sunset Strip, Incubus, Hound of the Baskervilles, T.J. Hooker, Tekwar and The Practice) is no longer institutionalized for his childhood mishap and is…a bit on the creepy side.   Matt is all grown up and frequents belly dance bars all the while omitting a sort of dark charm about his person. 

Breaking up is so hard to do.

After she tails him the night before, Helen (Marcia Knight of Skydivers, Darker than Amber and Stanley) sets her foot down and reads him the riot act.  Matt takes this all in stride by throttling her to death.   He goes from unbridled rage to an almost childlike innocence when talking to the now former Helen.   Sensing the po pos will not let this behavior stand he ditches his ’73 LTD in the drink with Helen inside.  Heh heh the perfect crime…except the evidence she was throttled but hey the trace evidence should wash away.  The ’73 Charger he gets later was an excellent ride as well.

In need of a new sugar momma, Matt makes the scene with Widow Ann Moy (Jennifer Bishop of Hee Haw, House of Terror, Mako: Jaws of Death and Jessi’s Girls) but pesky daughter Tina (Kim Nicholas of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, Limbo, Salty and Black Sunday) thinks this fly by night Johnny come lately may just be after Mother’s money.    Having a disagreement with an old grafter buddy Karate Pete (Harold Sakata of Goldfinger, Dimension 5, Record City, Death Dimension and Ninja Strikes Back) Matt tends to him with such flamboyance and utter glee in his face you know this cat is completely off his rocker.

Kids, never accept a ride from strange Shatners.

I have just a few things about the film if you can handle that.  Now the film is exploitation at its most tawdry.  The sex scenes are a little racy so best not let the kids see it.  Just because it is low budget does not mean they do not push the envelope on an over wise thin script.  The premise of the story is apparent but Matt’s motives are not.  It is almost he is just crazy for the sake of crazy.  Again childhood drama notwithstanding, he never did seem to bounce back from it.

Hang in there, kitten. Friday's coming.

I love the car crash scene into the river as it was all one continuous shot and looked amazing for a rig and while my copy of viewing was grainier than a field of wheat, the sound was clear enough and the picture decent to view.  Shatner’s performance was just damn eerie.  After this film you will see him in a different scope.