Gunhed (film)
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| Gunhed | |
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| Directed by | Masato Harada |
| Produced by | Yoshishige Shimatani, Tomoyuki Tanaka, Tetsuhisa Yamada, Eiji Yamaura |
| Written by | James Bannon, Masato Harada |
| Starring | Masahiro Takashima, Brenda Bakke |
| Music by | Toshiyuki Honda, Takayuki Baba |
| Distributed by | Toho (Japan), ADV Films (U.S.A., Canada), Manga Entertainment (Original licensor and English dubber, released in the U.K. and Australia under Manga's "Live" label) |
| Release date(s) | July 22nd, 1989 (Japan) |
| Running time | 100 min. |
| Language | Japanese English (dubbed) |
| Budget | ¥1,500,000,000 / $10,500,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Gunhed (ガンヘッド Ganheddo?) is a 1989 Japanese live-action mecha film.
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[edit] Synopsis
In the year 2038, a group of scavengers enter the complex of the renegade Kyron-5 in search of precious element Texmexium. Death befalls each one until only the mechanic Brooklyn is left. He meets a stranded Texas Air Ranger and two children living in the rubble. They must destroy Kyron-5 in order to escape and to save humanity from its wrath. Brooklyn discovers a GUNHED (Gun UNit Heavy Elimination Device) combat robot and restores it. Meanwhile, Babe has been transformed into a bio-droid and is seeking out Sergeant Nim and the Texmexium she stole. In order to save her and destroy Kyron-5, Brooklyn must overcome his fear of cockpits and pilot the GUNHED all the way to the top of the tower. On the way, he faces the combined defenses of the complex.
[edit] Cast
- Masahiro Takashima as Brooklyn
- Brenda Bakke as Sergeant Nim, Texas Air Ranger
- Aya Enyoji as Babe
- Yujin Harada as Seven
- Kaori Mizushima as Eleven
- Brewster Thompson as Barabbas James
- Doll Nguyen as Boomerang
- Jay Kabira as Bombbay
- Randy Reyes as voice of Gunhed
- Mickey Curtis as Bansho the Captain of Mary Ann
- Yosuke Saito as Boxer
- Michael Yancy as Narrator
[edit] Notes
- Masato Harada had his name removed from the US version. He is credited as Alan Smithee instead.
- The tank prop that portrayed GUNHED resides in Japan as a public display for people to see.
- Gunhed stands for 'Gun UNit Heavy Elimination Device'
- The concept for the film came from a story contest that Toho held in 1986, which was to decide on the narrative for the next installment in the Godzilla series. James Bannon was the contestant who was noted for his Godzilla 2 script, which had Godzilla facing off against a giant computer, but was beat out by Shinichiro Kobayashi with his early draft for Godzilla vs. Biollante. However, Toho didn't scrap Bannon's second place entry, but instead had Masato Harada heavily rework the idea, removing Godzilla and other elements from the film, until they were left with the final product: GUNHED. There was also consideration of using GUNHED as a G-Force Weapon along with the Super X, Mechagodzilla, and Moguera during the Heisei Series.
- Rumor has it that director James Cameron liked this movie.
- The image of GUNHED has been digitized into several early generation space shooting games, but the actual version of the tank was never used and was replaced by a flying spaceship.
- A video game was based on it, and it was released for the PC-Engine. In North America, it was localized as Blazing Lazers.
- The Front Line Assembly music video to "Mindphaser" is based on (and mostly spliced together from) Gunhed.
- The William Gibson novel Virtual Light includes an armored patrol vehicle nicknamed "Gunhead."
[edit] See also
- GUNHED game (aka Blazing Lazers)
- www.tohokingdom.com on GUNHED
