Remember when that jackass Geraldo opened up Al Capone’s vault on live tv, and there was nothing inside? I know he remembers, people probaly give him shit about that four times a day. Well, most of us are smart enough to check inside the vault before we go live on tv, but the truth is that most of our big discoveries turn out to be a bust. I mean, if it was easy to find gold it wouldn’t be gold, would it?
I only bring this up because when I discovered this little known ’80s blaxploitation/karate dude from Indianapolis named Ivan Rogers, and especially when I found his movie BALLBUSTER, I figured I had pretty much just opened Al Capone’s vault and found Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Eirhart’s skeletons inside holding hands. I mean the title alone is a treasure, but you read the back of the box, one of those way-too-detailed synopsises you find on some real low budget movies, and you gotta get excited: Ivan Rogers plays a P.I. named Roosevelt “Ballbuster” Prophet. I repeat, his name is Roosevelt “Ballbuster” Prophet. Two of the villains he fights are called Hacksaw and Paycheck. Later he fights mercenaries called “The Nasty Boys.” (I’m not sure if they said this in the movie, so I’m glad it’s mentioned on the box.)
But of course, once the initial excitement wears off you realize this is actually a pretty boring movie where you spend alot of time watching Ivan Rogers fire a gun, then another guy fire a gun, then Ivan fire a gun, then the other guy falls over because Ivan must’ve hit him, then Ivan fires a gun again, repeat for 15 minutes.
Ballbuster is slightly warmer than Rogers’s character in CRAZED COP. He talks more. It’s not as dark of a movie, although they do make a big deal about him getting his start by busting up an international kiddie porn ring. And I think maybe his daughter was kidnapped or something, I can’t remember. (more…)
Like
