Screenplay by JOSEPH McBRIDE, WILLIAM GRAY & JOHN HUNTER Directed by PAUL LYNCH CAST WILLIAM SMITH as Danny O'Neil MICHELINE LANCTOT as Lucky Brown HENRY BECKMAN as Red Henkel BRIAN PATRICK CLARKE as Jim Davenport KEN JAMES as Harry Brown JOHN McFADYEN as Jake McCann VINCENT BRIGHT as Vince SHAWN HOUSELANDER as Pascal PAUL RICHARD as Oscar THE BIT PLAYERS REGINALD LOVE as McCann's Man RANDY JOHNSTON as McCann's 2nd Man DAN JOHNSTON as Kinsky the Demon JUDY SHAPIRO as Laundromat Lady JEANNIE ELIAS as Scranton Bargirl CARYL ANN BROWNING as Buffalo Bargirl HARVEY SONOLOV as Doctor GLENNA JONES as Connie MURRAY CUMMINGS as TV Interviewer DICK MURPHY as Ring Announcer WES LEE as Ring Announcer ROGER FRANCOUR as Ring Announcer ROBERT HODGSON as Ring Announcer JOSEPH McBRIDE as Ring Announcer CHARLES ROSTER as Ring Announcer RUMMY BISHOP as Ring Announcer JILL ASKEW as Party Girl PATTI-JO DENNIS as Waitress HARRY PROUT as Gus Drunk Wrestler ANDREW MARTON as Other Wrestler ROBERT MARKUS as Other Wrestler DWAYNE McLEAN as Bar Punk DENNIS FARBATIUK as Bar Punk DAN DUNSMUIR as Bar Punk DANNY McLRAVEY as Jim's Friend MICHELLE ROSEN as Jim's Friend MILYDA UNGURAIT as Jim's Friend BRIAN MACKNEY as Farmboy PAT FIRODAT as Woman Fan CAMERON GREIG as Steelworker MARC ISAACSON as Referee ALFRED HODGSON as Referee BULL JOHNSTON as Referee TOM ALLEN as Referee

When the person in charge of one of our NiteOwls Thursday video nights announced the theme would be wrestling movies, the  women in the group were not thrilled.  Martial arts yes, boxing and wrestling not so much.  Blood & Guts was a pleasant surprise.  The women actually liked it.  In fact, it gets the majority of female votes for favorite William Smith role.   Although it centers on a wrestling troupe and displays a lot of good wrestling moves, it's very tame by modern flashy wrestling standards.  William Smith says they spent a few weeks training before shooting the wrestling matches.  Of course, Bill does his own wrestling through-out the movie.

Bill as Dandy Dan

Bill poses for the crowd

Bill picks the more comely of the two local contenders

The Psychotronic Video Guide says of Blood & Guts:  "William Smith is an aging, alcoholic wrestler with a young wrestling troupe in this PG-rated film."    We wish we had all "aged" so well.  Bill (in his mid-forties when this was filmed) was aging only in the "competitive athlete"  sense that a gymnast is aging before thirty.  Actually, this movie is about one new young wrestler in an aging wrestling troupe headlined by William Smith's character, Danny O'Neil.  It includes the requisite "heroes" and "villains" and midget wrestlers.  There is no glamour here.  Riding the bus from one town to another to perform in humiliating costumes before small audiences with local punks picking fights with them in bars added up to a weary lifestyle.  Bill does a great job as a weary athlete trying to find either a new life or enthusiasm for continuing the one he has.

The new boy does well

The new boy messes with Bill in the ring

Bill pins the new boy

The movie starts with Bill in the character of Dandy Dan, a wrestling villain, parading around the ring prior to a challenge match.  Two locals come out of the audience.  Bill picks Jim, the cute one, who gives him a pretty good fight.  Red, the manager of the troupe, asks Jim to  join up, which he does.  The addition of this new young wrestler sparks the team and improves their audiences.  We learn that the troupe has been consigned to the backwater venues because the man who controls the top venues hates Danny.  Back when they were both wrestlers, Danny was supposed to fight him to a draw, but beat him instead.

Red asks Jim to join up

Danny drinking

Danny & Lucky

THE REST OF THE TROUPE

LIFE ON A BUS

THE HERO & THE VILLAIN - STAREDOWN

LUCKY THE NURTURING WOMAN AND A MAN WHO NEEDS IT

Danny's girlfriend Lucky is the nurturing sort.  Their relationship is sweeter than just about any other William Smith has had the chance to play.  Not that it's clear sailing.  The pain Lucky massages in Danny's left arm is obviously not a good sign.  And Lucky has an obsessive ex-husband.  To top it off, Red has the idea of promoting a "mock" rivalry between Danny and Jim over Lucky for the benefit of the fans.

Lucky's Ex-husband

Lucky's ex strikes out

But Jim doesn't

Art imitates life when Danny finds Lucky in Jim's room after Danny leaves her alone one night too many to go out drinking in the local bars.

Danny asks Jim where  Lucky is

Jim's guilty look  gives him away

Danny is angry, but not the usual William Smith angry - no one dies

Danny takes his anger out on Jim in their next bout.  He's starting to inflict serious damage when Lucky's ex fires a gun at Danny from the audience and hits Jim in the leg.

Danny confronts Jim

Danny gets mean

A granny-fan grabs the gun

Red is thrilled with the publicity; Danny's not.

Red is thrilled to find that what turns out to be a minor wound for Jim is major publicity for them.  Big enough that Jake comes sniffing around trying to buy Jim's contract.  However, when he won't take on the rest of the troupe, especially Danny, Red turns him down.  Danny is still angry about Jim and Lucky.  But it appears he's not so much angry at Jim as he is angry to find out that he really cares about Lucky, something he's been unwilling to admit to himself.  During a quarrel with Jim, Danny suffers an attack of angina and ends up in the hospital.  The doctor tells him he can't ever wrestle again.

Danny & Jim Quarrel

The Angina Attack

Bad news in the hospital

While Danny's recovering, Jake, unwilling to take no for an answer, sends some thugs to beat up Red and Lucky.  Jim  confronts Jake and makes a challenge.  He'll go against Jake's best man.  If Jim wins, they take the whole purse.  If he loses, Jake gets his contract.  And Jake must give him $10,000 for Red's medical bills. Jim tells Danny not to worry about who the opponent will be, because Danny's taught Jim everything he knows.  Danny responds, "I've taught you everything you know, but not everything I know."  That's enough to get Jim and Danny working together with Danny as  mentor and trainer.

The challenge

Danny trains Jim

As the bout is about to start, Danny recognizes Jim's opponent as Kinsky the Demon.  He tells Jim how to beat him.  However, when Jim starts to win, all hell breaks lose as Jake sends in reinforcements.  Danny jumps into the melee.  Predictably, Danny suffers another attack while in the ring.  But it takes more than a little angina to kill William Smith.  Jim wins the bout and Danny walks off to a better life with Lucky.

Kinsky the Demon

Danny advises Jim

One-on-0ne turns into Many-on-Many

Danny ends up on the cold, filthy arena floor.

The lovers walk off into dim arena lights instead of the sunset.

NiteOwl Review:  The guys in the group who watch modern wrestling with their kids were somewhat disappointed in the 1970's wrestling action.  They'd forgotten how tame it was.  But, as noted above, most of the women thought this was Bill's best role.  He showed more vulnerability and range of emotion than in any other role we can think of.   This little movie is a must for "Bill Collectors," especially female ones.