Movie

Bounty Tracker (1993)

The top ten ranks are reserved for main villains, so Cyndi Pass’ lethal mercenary has the honour of being the highest-ranked legendary henchwoman. A constant presence throughout, Jewels is always involved. Not content to be a background character, she happily guns down innocent civilians. She also provides technical support, acts as an intermediary between Erik Gauss (Matthias Hues) and his mafia paymaster, and looks badass whenever there’s a lull in the action.

B-movie martial artist Lorenzo Lamas (known for the TV series Renegade) is Paul Damone, a bounty hunter who gets the typical establishing scene when he beats up a gang of thugs. With that out of the way, it’s time to move on to the main plot. An accountant and his partner plan to give financial data to the police that incriminates a mob boss. He might think he’s safe in his office, but Gauss and his hit squad have other ideas.

Jewels – wearing smart clothes and shades – leads the assault. An innocent secretary barely has time to ask a question before the assassin blasts her with a machine pistol. The first of many killing sprees then follows, with nobody safe from gunfire. One man takes cover in an office, but Jewels shoots him through the wall. Gauss wipes data from computers and kills the accountant, but his partner escapes. Matthias Hues is often cast in muscle roles, so we must have a scene where two cops attempt to arrest Gauss, only to get a brutal response.

When it’s revealed the man who escaped is Damone’s brother, and the bounty tracker is in Los Angeles, any action fan knows what’s coming. The witness has police protection, but the officers are no match for Gauss’ team. Jewels takes up a sniper position overlooking the house, coolly kills a sentry, and announces the coast is clear. Fifteen minutes in, and the villainess has racked up several kills.

Damone and his brother were enjoying a family get-together. That’s until Gauss raids the house. The hero puts up some resistance and takes out two minor henchmen. Jewels isn’t about to die this early, so she pins Damone down with bursts of gunfire. The villainess doesn’t care an innocent female relative is caught in the crossfire – she’s simply another witness to eliminate.

Without Damone to protect him, the brother is easy prey for Gauss. The police give the hero the lowdown on the suspect, and it’s a routine revenge thriller from this point on. Gauss and Jewels make fine adversaries, and there are plenty of criminals for Damone to get through first.

Villainess

Jewels (Cyndi Pass)

Mercenary work is expensive, so Gauss sends Jewels – posing as a smartly dressed attorney – to visit the imprisoned mafia boss. She arranges payment in diamonds, but the man unwisely romances the deadly assassin. Her response is cold, and even in this dialogue-heavy sequence, the henchwoman finds time to slam another prisoner into the cell bars.

Damone’s investigation takes him on a montage trek through the city streets, and he gets a lead from a crippled veteran. The clue is a martial arts school staffed with men loyal to Gauss, which is an excuse to have a mass brawl. When unarmed attacks prove ineffective, the tougher thugs arm themselves with melee weapons, but the hero is unfazed.

Gauss – being the meticulous sort – sends Jewels after Damone as backup, and when the martial artists fail, she follows the hero back to his hotel. A maid becomes her latest innocent victim, then the assassin bursts into Damone’s room. In the resulting shootout, he escapes (killing heroes is never that easy) by jumping down into a garbage bin. Time for Jewels to report back to Gauss and promise not to fail again.

One witness remains at large, but the assassin tracks a police detective to the isolated safe house. The cops are again outgunned by the mercenaries, who come equipped with silenced weapons and tear gas. The black-clad Jewels and Gauss wear gas masks to eliminate their targets. Sadly, this is a murky scene, but the henchwoman body count keeps on rising.

After Gauss murders the cripple, Damone teams up with the gang members the victim was helping rehabilitate, and the unlikely heroes locate Gauss’ base of operations. The trailer is empty, but Damone makes the mob boss connection after he sees a television news report. Planning to follow the money trail, a gang banger hides in a car trunk and provides directions to the bounty tracker, who follows in a van.

The mafia men are smart enough to pay Gauss with genuine diamonds, but after a radio call from Damone reveals the stowaway, the mob is expendable. Jewels shoots a slow to react henchman and easily hunts down the escapee. Eventually, there’s the expected big fight with Gauss that goes on for several minutes, with the villain taken out by a conveniently protruding nail and a spectacular kick from Damone.

Before that, there’s a certain henchwoman to deal with. Jewels gets a couple of shootouts and an unexpected fight with Damone. Her martial arts skills are rather weak, so the hero defeats her quickly. The hero is daft enough to leave Jewels alive, but her next attack ends with a fatal gunshot. A somewhat bland ending, but this leather-clad henchwoman might have the highest female kill count in movie history.

Honourable Mentions: Cyndi Pass

Mission of Justice (1992) – Rachel Larkin (Brigitte Nielsen), Erin Miller (Cyndi Pass)

Both Matthias Hues and Cyndi Pass are in this one too, but instead of Lamas it’s Jeff Wincott as hero ex-cop Kurt Harris. His establishing scene is an old favourite: a store hold-up. That’s before a combination of red tape and a domestic violence victim convince him to quit the force. It’s not long before his boxer friend Cedric meets a sticky end, and Harris is on the case as a civilian investigator.

The hero’s partner and contact on the force is Lynn Steele, a woman as tough as she sounds. Played by martial artist Karen Sheperd, she takes down her fair share of bad guys. Harris’ off-book detective work leads him to mayoral candidate Dr Rachel Larkin (Brigitte Nielsen). The actress is attractive in a blonde wig and has a private army of vigilantes to clean up the streets. That’s the cover story, because Larkin’s true agenda is to gain money and power.

The villainess ditches the wig when she visits Cedric to persuade him to support her. The boxer puts up a fight against her brutal brother Titus (Hues), but has no hope of winning. Once Titus has done the roughing up, Larkin finishes the job with twin daggers, but the kill scene is brief. Most of the movie has Harris infiltrating the Peacemakers and doing some nocturnal detective work. Surprisingly, there are no corrupt cops on Larkin’s payroll, though Titus kills a bureaucratic sergeant to frame Harris for the murder.

The Peacemakers are an all-male group except for Erin Miller, who’s there as a female opponent for Steele during the climax. Miller is Larkin’s secretary and just as evil as her boss. The henchwoman enjoys torturing people for information and helps murder an elderly woman for her inheritance. A wonderful villainess duo, but Miller doesn’t put her martial arts training to use until the last encounter.

In fairness, she puts up a better fight against the heroine than most of the men. It’s a rough catfight in the office that results in a lot of destruction, but Steele wins comfortably. Miller comes back for another try, but it’s maybe ninety seconds of action in total.

After Harris defeats Titus, he confronts Larkin during a press conference. Thanks to a recording of her involved in torture and a murder confession, the hero is exonerated. The villainess refuses to go quietly and comes at Harris with her twin daggers, but the last hurrah is over within seconds. Worth a watch, if only to see Cyndi Pass as a henchwoman before her role in the superior Bounty Tracker.