Barb Wire (1996 film)

Plot

In 2017, during the Second American Civil War, Barb Wire owns the Hammerhead, a nightclub in Steel Harbor, "the last free city" in a United States ravaged by the war. She earns cash as a mercenary and bounty hunter. Chief of Police Willis raids her club. Willis's target is fugitive Dr. Corrina 'Cora D' Devonshire, a former government scientist with information about a new bioweapon called Red Ribbon being developed by her former superiors in the Congressional Directorate. The Congressional Council has tasked Colonel Victor Pryzer with finding Dr. Devonshire so they can end the Second Civil War by releasing the virus on the United Front territories. Dr. Devonshire hopes to escape to Canada to make this information public.

Devonshire turns up at the Hammerhead. She is accompanied by Axel Hood, a "freedom fighter" Barb had loved at the outbreak of the war. The two were separated during the conflict. Axel tries to help Cora get to Canada. They try to find a contraband pair of contact lenses that would allow Cora to evade the retinal scan identification at the Steel Harbor airport. The lenses pass through the hands of several lowlifes before also ending up at Barb's nightclub.

Rather than give the lenses to Cora and Axel, Barb makes a deal with 'Big Fatso', the leader of a junkyard gang: Fatso wants the lenses, which are worth a fortune on the black market, and Barb wants a million dollars and an armed escort to the airport, where she plans to get on the plane to Canada. But Fatso double-crosses Barb; when Barb, Axel and Cora show up at the junkyard to make the swap, Colonel Pryzer and his storm troopers are also there, along with Chief of Police Willis. Willis makes a show of arresting Barb and Cora, but instead of putting handcuffs on Barb, he slips her a hand grenade. Barb uses the grenade to kill Fatso and cause enough confusion to allow Barb, Axel, Cora and Willis to pile into Barb's armored van and lead the Congressionals on a car chase, culminating in a hand-to-hand fight between Barb and Colonel Pryzer on a forklift suspended by crane above the harbor. Pryzer falls to his death while Barb escapes.

The party makes it to the airport, where Barb reveals she still has the contact lenses. She gives them to Cora, and Cora and Axel get on the plane to Canada while Willis and Barb remain on the rainswept tarmac.

Cast

• Pamela Anderson Lee as Barbara "Barb Wire" Kopetski

• Temuera Morrison as Axel Hood

• Victoria Rowell as Dr. Corrina "Cora D" Devonshire

• Jack Noseworthy as Charlie Kopetski

• Xander Berkeley as Chief Alexander Willis

• Udo Kier as "Curly"

• Andre Rosey Brown as "Big Fatso"

• Nicholas Worth as Ruben Tannenbaum

• Clint Howard as Schmitz

• Jennifer Banko as "Spike"

• Steve Railsback as Colonel Victor Pryzer

• Mary Anna Reyes as Woman In Torture Room

• Nils Allen Stewart as Jack

• Henry Kingi as Moe

• Mark Collver as Manny

• Loren Rubin as Willie Krebs

• Peewee Piemonte as Officer Frick

• Dominiquie Vandenberg as Officer Frack

• Tony Bill as Foster

• Michael Russo as Mr. Santos

• Shelly Desai as Sharif

• Marshall Manesh as Sheik

• John Paxton as "Smooth"

• Neil Hunt as "Weasel"

• Ken Fosgren as "Greaseball"

• Tom Lister Jr. as Bouncer

• Teo as Disc Jockey

• Ai Wan as "China"

• Diane Warshay as Maria

• Candace Kita as Dancer

• Diane Shay as Stripper In Dressing Room

• Adriana Alexander as Redhead --

Production

Barb Wire was directed by David Hogan, the second-unit director on Alien 3 and Batman Forever. The film had a production budget of $9 million. Anderson's manager tried to advise her not to do the film, stating that she should not play "a cartoon character", but she felt that nobody could play the role than her; she accepted it without reading the script. Anderson did some of her own stunts, despite her fear of heights. The fact that she had to wear high heels and a corset that made her waist 17 inches made fight scenes challenging.

The film provided great publicity for the then-new Triumph Thunderbird 900 motorcycle as it featured in publicity photographs with Pamela Anderson.

Music

Main article: Barb Wire (soundtrack)

A soundtrack album, also titled Barb Wire, was released on April 23, 1996.

Release

Box office

Barb Wire was a box-office bomb, grossing less than $3.8 million in the United States.

Response

Critical response

Barb Wire was panned by critics. Roger Ebert pointed out that the plot was identical to that of Casablanca, and derided the low-brow attempts at sensuality, but praised the cast and crew's approach to the material: "The filmmakers must have known they were not making a good movie, but they didn't use that as an excuse to be boring and lazy. Barb Wire has a high energy level, and a sense of deranged fun". He gave it two and a half stars. Similarly to Ebert, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave a "C" rating, commenting on the film's aping of the Casablanca plot and its "teasing, hollow 'naughtiness'", but further said that the film is lacking in energy.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times criticized Anderson's performance, comparing her to Barbie and Barbarella. Barb Wire ranked in the bottom 20 of the Stinkers' "100 Years, 100 Stinkers" list, which noted the 100 worst films of the 20th century, at #19. Since its release, Barb Wire has attracted a cult following.

Awards and nominations

Adaptations

GT Interactive announced that they would be publishing a video game based on the film for the PlayStation, Saturn, PC, and Macintosh in January 1997. The developer was Cryo Interactive. The gameplay was said to be similar to Resident Evil, with a single-player campaign and a two-player deathmatch mode. It was never released.

A 48-page comic book adaptation was published by Dark Horse Comics on May 1, 1996.

References

References

1. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-07-20-ca-25865-story.html
2. Ebert, Roger. (May 3, 1996). "Barb Wire". [[Chicago Public Media]].
3. Gleiberman, Owen. (May 10, 1996). "Barb Wire". [[People Inc.]].
4. "The 100 Worst Films of the 20th Century".
5. "The Top Ten [sic] Worst Films of All-Time".
6. (September 1996). "News Bits". [[International Data Group.
7. (May 1997). "Cryo? Who They?". [[Emap International Limited]].
8. (March 1997). "Sneak Previews: Barb Wire". [[International Data Group.
9. (June 1996). "Interview". [[EMAP]].
10. "Barb Wire - Original Soundtrack".
11. "Barb Wire".
12. Puig, Claudia. (May 7, 1996). "Weekend Box Office : 'Craft's' Magical Start Surprises Experts".
13. Maslin, Janet. (May 3, 1996). "Barb Wire". [[The New York Times Company]].
14. Alter, Ethan. (May 3, 2021). "'Barb Wire' director reveals how Pamela Anderson pulled off striptease scene in the 1996 cult favorite".
15. "The Stinkers 1996 Ballot".
16. "Barb Wire Movie Special".