Fun City Editions Restores Director Norbert Meisel's Walking The Edge For Blu-ray Release On June 29

Fun City Editions announced this past week that director Norbert Meisel’s 1985 revenge thriller, Walking the Edge, teaming Nancy Kwan with Robert Forster, will be heading home as a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack edition on June 29.

Walking the Edge, filmed sometime in 1983, finally had a wink-of-an-eye theatrical release during January of 1985 from Charles Band’s Empire Pictures and then got shuffled out on VHS by Vestron.   Later, Anchor Bay, when they were doing cutting edge releases — thanks to the late Jay Douglas — put it out on DVD, but that was 20 years ago.

Now, Fun City Editions has a new 4K film restoration from the film’s 35mm camera negative and has tabbed this end-of-June street-date Tuesday for the Blu-ray debut.

This is a non-stop action thriller that begins with a seemingly ordinary housewife by the name of Christine Holloway (Kwan) and her young son being confronted by a home-invasion quartet of thugs led by Brusstar (played by Joe Spinell, who parleyed his performance as Frank Zito in director Bill Lustig’s 1981 horror film, Maniac, into an acting career that lasted through the 1980s … and then he died far too young from a heart attack).  

This hostage moment is just to mark time as they wait for Christine’s husband, Jerry (Phil Fravel), to arrive home.   It seems that he is a drug dealer and he’s made the sad mistake of double-crossing the boss … this home-invasion is actually a hit, but during the murder of Jerry and their son, Christine is able to getaway.

The action now shifts to a random cabbie by the name of Jason Walk (Robert Forster — Jackie Brown, Vigilante, Supernova, The Descendants, etc.), who Christine flags down and has him drive her to a “hit” of her own (plot structure reminds you of Michael Mann’s Collateral with Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise).   After she whacks the boss, she has Jason drive her to the garage “hideout” of Brusstar and his boys.   All hell breaks loose.

999 out of a thousand — certainly higher — cabbies chauffeuring around a violent revenge killer would be looking for the exits once it became obvious as to what was going on.  But our boy Jason has a dark side of his own — he’s connected to a bookmaking organization and he is something of an enforcer.  

He becomes Christine’s partner in crime, especially after Brusstar begins stalking him, thinking that this “random” cab driver might be able to lead him to her.   Once Brusstar starts killing off Jason’s friends, it’s all-out war!!

Bonus features include two commentary options.   The first is a vintage commentary with director Norbert Meisel, his wife and star, Nancy Kwan, and Robert Forster.  The second commentary option is newly-minted and features film historian Chris Poggiali who is joined by producer Matt Verboys.

Other bonus goodies include three featurettes — “Scoring the Edge,” “Det. Jurgensen Remembers Forster and Spinell” and “Breaking Point.”