Jake Speed is a film that attracted a minor cult following in the mid 1980s in the VHS market. It tanked in the US box office and the publicity for the film compared Jake Speed with James Bond with a straight face!

This laughably bad B film starts with two young women being chased in Paris who are then taken to Africa by white slave traders, a ring operated by Sid (John Hurt.)

The sister of one of the kidnapped girls Margaret (Karen Kopins) gets into contact with pulp fiction hero Jake Speed (Wayne Crawford) to rescue her sister. They head off to an African country in the midst of a civil war. Margaret knows nothing about Speed and he seems to act more like a slacker with no plan leaving Margaret dubious about him.

This is a low budget movie despite some location shooting in several countries. It is a sub standard Romancing the Stone rip off. For a comedy action adventure, it has no action or humour. The pace of the film is in slow motion.

Crawford lacks any charisma and Hurt camps it up for a pay cheque. I think Hurt bought a farm in Kenya with the money.

When her sister is kidnapped by a gang of white slavers, Margaret (Karen Kopins, Troop Beverly Hills, Once Bitten) knows she needs a hero to save the day. That becomes Jake Speed (Wayne Crawford, who wrote the script and also appeared in Barracuda and Valley Girl, another film he produced and fought the studio to keep Martha Coolidge in the director's chair) to life from the pages of pulp novels.

Along with his trusty sidekick Desmond Floyd (Dennis Christopher Chariots of Fire, Fade to Black),Jake is ready for action. Hes recommended by Margaret's grandfather, along with Mack Bolan. Everyone thinks that the old man is insane, but it turns out that somehow Jake is a real person.

Everything sounds awesome, right? Well, it turns out that ringleader of the slavers is none other than Jake's arch-nemesis: Sid (John Hurt, Alien)! It's obvious that Hurt had a blast making this film.

I love that this movie is a tribute to the pulps. In the world of this film, Remo The Destroyer Williams, Mack The Executioner Bolan and Doc Savage are all real, with the novels about them actually true facts. Jake even talks about these men as his contemporaries. If you'd like to see two movies that came from the pulps, you should check out Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins and Doc Savage. Of course, the best pulp-inspired movie ever made is Raiders of the Lost Ark, a film that this movie owes some debt to.

Me? I'm a sucker for any movie that gets meta.

Director Andrew Lane, in addition to producing several films with star Wayne Crawford, also directed 1989's Zach Galligan starring thriller Mortal Passions - that box art was a video store favorite - and 1991's Lonely Hearts, a movie that dares to pair Beverly D'Angelo with Eric Roberts.

Jake Speed is so bad it's good! Well campy and cheesy but Jake Speed knows it! First time around Jake Speed is great, well second time Jake Speed is not so great. What works for Jake Speed is the action, dialogue of a out of touch Jake Speed who has no plan, mixed in with out of touch humor. Jake Speed works with a women who wants her sister rescued from slave traders. The sensible women is the straight man/women who set up the comical of Jake out of touch, but is he?Speed. There is sight gags, action gags, visual gags, and story twist gags mixed in with the 2 d characters bad guys etc works. You wrecked the rug jokes etc are great the first time. Jake Speed is the likable good guy who believe good wins with his writing side kick is likable. What adventures Speed does becomes novels is great Great first time and the second time Jake Speed get across as slow. 6 or 7 stars.