History Film / FinalJustice

One dark and stormy night, [[{{Villains}} Palermo]] and his brother Tony, two mob hitmen, are blundering around south Texas trying to get across the border to escape the heat from their last job in Dallas. They end up gratuitously shooting a motorist they crash into; then, needing wheels, they [[IdiotBall decide to try hotwiring a police car in front of a police station]]. Of course, they're discovered, but they manage to kill the sheriff of the town. His deputy sheriff, [[DesignatedHero Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III]], chases them all the way to and across the Mexican border, where he kills the younger mobster for trying to pull a gun. Palermo, outraged at his brother's death, swears vengeance on Geronimo, but refuses to rise to the challenge of a showdown; instead, Geronimo just knocks Palermo out and drags him back.

* RevolversAreJustBetter: Geronimo carries an old-fashioned single-action gun as his service pistol. Palermo and most of his men carry revolvers as well, but at least they are smart enough to carry modern double-action ones.

One dark and stormy night, [[{{Villains}} Palermo]] and his brother Tony, two mob hitmen, are blundering around south Texas trying to get across the border to escape the heat from their last job in Dallas. They end up gratuitously shooting a motorist they crash into; then, needing wheels, they [[PlotInducedStupidity decide to try hotwiring a police car in front of a police station]]. Of course, they're discovered, but they manage to kill the sheriff of the town. His deputy sheriff, [[DesignatedHero Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III]], chases them all the way to and across the Mexican border, where he kills the younger mobster for trying to pull a gun. Palermo, outraged at his brother's death, swears vengeance on Geronimo, but refuses to rise to the challenge of a showdown; instead, Geronimo just knocks Palermo out and drags him back.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Thomas Jefferson Geronimo. The Third.

* RedLightDistrict: Geronimo asks Maria where the red light district in Valletta is, and she takes him to an area known as 'the Cauldron'. Here a prostitute directs him into an ambush.

* SpottingTheThread: When Palermo draws attention to himself during his BadHabits scene, what actually tips Geronimo off is that this 'priest' is wearing expensive Italian leather shoes.

One dark and stormy night, [[{{Villains}} Palermo]] and his brother Tony, two mob hitmen, are blundering around South Texas trying to get across the border to escape the heat from their last job in Dallas. They end up gratuitously shooting a motorist they crash into; then, needing wheels, they [[PlotInducedStupidity decide to try hotwiring a police car in front of a police station]]. Of course, they're discovered, but they manage to kill the sheriff of the town. His deputy sheriff, [[DesignatedHero Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III]], chases them all the way to and across the Mexican border, where he kills the younger mobster for trying to pull a gun. Palermo, outraged at his brother's death, swears vengeance on Geronimo, but refuses to rise to the challenge of a showdown; instead, Geronimo just knocks Palermo out and drags him back.

Well, for some reason Geronimo is asked to escort Palermo back to Sicily as a publicity stunt. Of course, this is all part of an EvilPlan, as the mafia's already arranged to fake a malfunction on their flight that requires an emergency landing, bringing Geronimo and Palermo to Malta instead. There, operatives are ready to help Palermo get free. The Maltese police, led by Superindendent Mifsud, are adamant that Geronimo stay out of the case and let them handle it as he is well out of his jurisdiction. But neither Geronimo nor Palermo are willing to just let it end like this...

# Geronimo causes a major disturbance that usually involves a lengthy chase sequence (two of which are on speed boats.)

* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: Palermo has Maria hostage at gunpoint and threatens Geronimo with "I'll blow her brains OUT!"

* ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving: Geronimo's modus operandi - he pretty much ignores any and all laws or safety and just opens fire on "bad guys" (his words.) Even shooting into crowds of unarmed civilians. At the same time he ''is'' trying to catch a dangerous psychopath, and he does try to help people when he can.

** A mob boss, even one wanted for crimes in his home country, wouldn't be deported until after standing trial and serving his sentence for the murder of a Texas Sheriff and other crimes he'd committed on US soil.
** Par for the course for a ''Film/DirtyHarry'' ripoff, but why in Sweet Jesus wasn't Geronimo ''deported immediately'', ''especially'' after he's threatening to ''seriously maim your citizens''? He'd be out of his jurisdiction in a different ''county'', much less ''a different country - across the Atlantic ocean''. The movie does show that the Maltese authorities are trying to get him off the island as quickly as possible (and the irregular flights out of Malta don't help), but he's largely allowed to roam free - to the point where his "jail cell" is a revolving door using the same stock footage of him being escorted out of the cell over and over again when by rights they should have left him in the cell until his flight arrived after the second incident at the latest.
** For ''that'' matter, the movie's entire premise falls somewhere between dubious and completely absurd. It's never really explained why a small-town Texas Sheriff is assigned, alone at that, to transport Palermo to Italy instead of, say, the FBI or US Marshals. ''Especially'' considering that Geronimo has a personal grudge against Palermo and is already known as a CowboyCop with a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. It is revealed at the very end that Wilson and the Mob deliberately set Geronimo up to fail, but even by the standards of [[VillainBall villain logic]] it's hard to buy such [[BatmanGambit an elaborate ploy]] instead of, say, Wilson assigning his own henchmen to guard Palermo and release him upon reaching Malta.

* BadCopIncompetentCop: Geronimo's dealings with the Malta police are in a class of their own.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Palermo murders innocents for little to no reason and (in the uncut version of the film) forces himself on at least one woman. Geronimo kills suspects he could have just as easily arrested and has no problem firing wildly into a crowd in an attempt to shoot an enemy. This was apparently unintentional - we're ''supposed'' to think of Geronimo as pure good, but it just doesn't work.
* BondVillainStupidity: Palermo squanders numerous opportunities to kill Geranimo when he is captured, held up at gunpoint, or knocked out. His boss calls him out on this, but can't persuade him not too.
* {{Bowdlerization}}: The TV print used for the [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] episode not only uses CurseCutShort and {{Pixellation}} to tone down the language and nudity, but it's also missing a rather brutal rape scene of Palermo against the blonde dancer. This turns into a bit of a plot hole as it explains why the dancer is both frightened of Palermo and willing to switch sides when Geronimo promises to keep her safe.
** The version available through ''Podcast/{{Rifftrax}}'' kept the language and nudity from the theatrical print but still cuts the rape scene, though this is likely due to the hosts not wanting to tell jokes during such a brutal event.

* CombatPragmatist: Geronimo subverts his catch phrase at the end by cutting it short and blasting the main villain in the head as he's distracted. Quote Servo: ''"Our hero; a big, stinky cheater!"''

* CowboyCop: Literally! He pretty much just shoots suspects for the sake of it, and his backstory is that he got bumped to a piddly out of nowhere sherriff's office because of him shooting the brother of a Senator. Most of the movie is him chasing down Palermo and causing numerous fatalities in the process. Oh, and he's wearing a ''ridiculous'' cowboy suit for the entire movie. Even so, Geronimo has the nerve to be offended when a friendly cab driver jokes about him knowing Creator/JohnWayne.

* FailureHero: Geronimo. It really undermines your movie's hero's effectiveness when you show him getting thrown into jail again, and ''again,'' and '''[[OverlyLongGag again.]]''' Not only that, but Geronimo essentially fails ''every'' task and objective given to him, except for the last seven minutes of the movie.
* FairCop: Maria is unusually attractive for a police officer (and especially compared to her hideous co-workers.)

* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Geronimo appears to die on a boat and Palermo leaves him for dead. As it turns out, he actually just washed up on shore and was nursed back to health.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The uncut version of the film includes a brutal rape sequence in which Palermo forces himself on the same stripper that later turns on him and breaks Geronimo out.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: Geronimo, before the beginning of the story, was booted out of Dallas and reassigned to a hole in the wall sheriff's office near the border.

* RevengeBeforeReason: Geronimo shooting down Palermo's brother Tony provokes him to carry out a one-man vendetta against the big guy, even after the taxi escape alone makes him a wanted murderer in Malta, fails to kill the sheriff, and implicates Palermo's previously untouchable capo, Don Lamanna. Lamanna offers to send in a hitman from Rome to handle the situation, but Palermo still pleads with him to be the one to do it instead, insisting [[ItsPersonal "it's family"]] and giving his word. Even when he's got Geronimo at his mercy later on, Palermo locks him up before executing him just to make him suffer, allowing Geronimo to escape and ruin everything.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: "That's pronounced 'Hey-ronimo'." Eventually Geronimo stops bothering to correct people, though.

** For ''that'' matter, the movie's entire premise falls somewhere between dubious and completely absurd. It's never really explained why a small-town Texas Sheriff is assigned, alone at that, to transport Palermo to Italy instead of, say, the FBI or US Marshals. ''Especially'' considering that Geronimo has a personal grudge against Palermo and is already known as a CowboyCop with a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. Presumably we're meant to assume Wilson and the Mob set Geronimo up to fail, but even by the standards of [[VillainBall villain logic]] it's hard to buy such [[BatmanGambit an elaborate ploy]] instead of, say, Wilson assigning his own henchmen to guard Palermo and release him upon reaching Malta.

* BadHabits: Palermo attempts to hide out in a church by wearing a priest's robe, but gets caught when a woman seeking confession keeps him around so long he's quickly spotted. Responding to her confessions with lines like "Yeah, whatever" wasn't exactly the smartest move.

* {{Confessional}}: A fugitive tries to evade cop Joe Don by dressing as a priest. It might have worked, except a distraught old woman then begged him to hear her confession. He attempts to get it over with ("Sure... whatever you want") only to draw more attention to himself.

* RealityEnsues: Some dialogue near the start of the film explains that Geronimo was involved in a shootout in Dallas, during which he killed a lot of people ("I bagged my limit that day, that's for sure!") including a senator's brother who was "doing dirty." Sounds like the climax of a typical cop movie, except that instead of riding off into the sunset as the big hero, Geronimo ended up ReassignedToAntarctica, and with an {{Achey Scar|s}} inside him that forces him to drink Maalox or milk after every meal to prevent it from hurting too much.