Jailbreakers Reviews

This lackluster, made-for-cable action flick, a sort of poor man's GUN GRAZY, recycles only the title (not the plot) of the 1960 JAILBREAKERS. An attempt to revive 1950s/'60s-style juvenile delinquent films, it ignores the fact that such pictures were very much a product of their time and place. Popular cheerleader Angel (Shannen Doherty) has all the advantages doting parents can provide. But though she's a product of the conformist '50s, Angel doesn't regard Mamie Eisenhower as a compelling role model. Forgetting all the good girl dating tips drummed into her empty noggin, she sets her sights on high school dropout Tony (Antonio Sabato Jr.), who's already carved out a career as a car thief. Tony's idea of a date is a convenience store robbery, but rather than crying into her crinolines, Angel gets turned on by the violence. Tony takes the rap and does time, while accomplice Angel enjoys a fresh start with her family in a new town. Just as Angel gets pinned by a square football hero, Tony busts out of the pen with every intention of locating his far-from-innocent baby doll. Tony's best, pal Skinny (Adrien Brody), arranged his jailbreak, but bad-to-the-bone Tony cuts him out of the profits from a subsequent scam involving a stolen racehorse. Flush with illicit cash, Tony picks up Angel and heads for the Mexican border, fatally stabbing a highway patrolman and robbing a gas station en route. But Skinny isn't taking Tony's betrayal lying down; as Tony's crime spree escalates, Skinny is never far behind. Will the fugitives move into a Mexican hacienda or will border guards shoot one or both of them? Noted director William Friedkin doesn't camp up the dated material, but he also fails to inject fresh life into the tired formula.