Favorite SSS Moment

[Kathleen]

In watching the SSS DVD's my favorite moment is when someone has a knife or gun in the middle of Larry's back and he turns slightly to look to see if it really is a gun or a knife and then he ever so softly turns as he says "Is THAT a ROLEX your wearing???????? It comes off soooooo smooth and it cracks me up every time I see it.

[Greg Newton]

It is the technique of distraction. You are disrupting the predator's mental processes. It is not the gun or the knife that needs to be focused on. It is the attacker. One of the first Puerto Rican undercover narcotics investigators during the 1960's with NYPD got trapped by three drug dealers in a hallway who had guns. This particular officer never carried one. He got on his knees begging and pleading for his life. He got close enough to trip one, got his gun and shot the other two. My details of this story might be slightly off, but this was one of the officers who was involved in the real life French Connection investigation; also the David Lueci scandal.

[tom]

And Segal did it too, in one of his early movies.

Tom

[Greg Newton]

Ha, Steven Segal. Enjoyed his first movie, but as one of my Aikido buddies said about "Hard to Kill," it was "Hard to Swallow," and I've never seen any of his other movies after that one.

I checked my facts on the story about the narcotics officer. This story was told in the 1978 book Prince of the City about Robert Leuci, an NYPD detective whose testimony and secret tape recordings helped indict 52 members of the Special Investigation Unit and convict them of income tax evasion. The officer who tripped the drug dealer was highly decorated and was involved in the corruption scandal. Several of the officers indicted in that scandal were also part of the "French Connection" investigation that led to the movie of the same name. As an interesting side note, the heroin seized in that investigation subsequently "disapeared" from where it was held in an evidence lock up.

[tom]

I liked his first two movies. He was the first one to move in a way I identified with. Then he has to get silly for the camera. About once a year I go to the video store and look for his latest. They are straight to video quality, if that, pretty bad, but once in a while there are flashes of simplicity. I don't recommend them - just got into a nostalgic habit.

Tom

[Greg Newton]

You know Tom,

Segal's first movie was really good, and the guy is not a bad actor for roles requiring a mythic, warrior like presence. I feel he got mired into the martial arts themed movies when he should have branched out for other roles. A little bit goes a long way within the context of the movie. Everyone from our generation remembers the movie Billy Jack and the hapkido in the movie performed by Bon Soo Han (under Tom McLaughlin's hat), but there were only two fight scenes in the whole movie. I think we've seen too much martial arts overkill with the wire work, multiple attackers, and Jackie Chan comedy around every corner. Better, in my opinion, a single poignant fight within the context of the movie, like the way Spencer Tracy trashed a young Ernest Borgnine in A Bad Day at Black Rock.

[Larry Wick]

Hi All,


We enjoyed making the SSS series as we had some interesting challenges. We smashed the lighting systems as the guys decided to go all out in First Strike. That was a little expensive. We had to reshoot the series. Montie getting hit in the face with a glass of water. the first shot was great, I just wanted to hit him in the face a couple of more times. The guys thought it was halarious each time we did it. You know, trying for profection. The Live Fire series, most of it could not be put in a dvd, it was great, very informative, but we realized people would think I I crazy. However in doing the things that I did, people cannot argue with me what they think may happen, I did it, I know What Will Happen!! What we did was absolutely wrong and I would never want anyone else to ever attempt it, however, It gave us so much information that I never new. It helped shape the SSS program.

Thanks for the kind words, Be safe, your friend, Larry