“Slayground” (1983) starring Peter Coyote / Z-View

Slayground  (1983)

Director:  Terry Bedford

Screenplay: Trevor Preston; based on SLAYGROUND by Richard Stark

Stars:  Peter Coyote, Mel Smith, Billie Whitelaw.

Tagline: Welcome to Your Funeral

The Plot…

Stone is a career criminal.  He’s ready to walk away from his next planned armed robbery because his regular getaway driver is unavailable.  Stone’s partner has another wheelman for the job and convinces Stone to go through it.

Big mistake.

The new driver is inexperienced.  During the getaway, he causes a crash that kills a nine-year-old girl.  The girl’s father is a millionaire.  He hires a hitman to find and murder the men responsible for his daughter’s death.

The killer is relentless and the girl’s father has money to pay whatever the cost.  When Stone learns there is a price on his head, he goes on the run.

But there is no where he can hide.  The killer is closing in.

Stone… welcome to your funeral.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Slayground is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake).  Except for the title, little else from Stark’s novel makes it onscreen.

When the film was released I thought it was another killer at a carnival movie.  Years later I learned it was based on the Parker novels by Richard Stark.  So I gave it a go only to find out it had little to do with the Stark’s novel.  Meh.

Slayground  (1983) rates 2 of 5 stars.