Steve Niles and Kevin Spotts devised the plot for Countdown while standing in a movie theater parking lot after a late show. Stoked by the action movie they had just seen, they developed the plot, concerning the attempts of a mad bomber to wreak havoc on the life of an industrialist named Granger (Rich Spotts).
For a big change of pace, the two decided to this give Greg Niles the center stage.
In his first starring role, Greg played Jake Mansfield, a bomb diffusal expert who must thwart the villain’s deadly devices. This he does with great success, making this perhaps the first and only Mad Bomber Movie in motion picture history not to feature a single explosion.
Mansfield is eventually joined by a sidekick named Boomer (pun intended) played by the hilarious Adam Gerhard. Together, the pair trade quips while working to rescue Granger’s
daughter, Lee Ann (Robin Niles), from an enormous chemical bomb. In the exciting finale, Mansfield wrestles the mad bomber for control of the detonation device while Boomer navigates a treacherous maze of trip-wires to reach Lee-Ann and the explosive. Eventually, the day is saved, and the
last we see of Mansfield and Boomer, they are speeding off on their way to another adventure.
Countdown was a short piece thrown together when the majority of the cast was not busy at its day job as a team of student painters. Though brief and hastily produced, Countdown is a fun, highly watchable movie. The comic banter between Greg and Adam, most of which was completely ad-libbed, keeps the story afloat despite the admittedly thin material.
A scene to watch for: When the mad bomber sets a special trap for Mansfield by planting a bomb in a cooler at a lakeside park, Greg Niles appears extremely stiff legged as he hurries to the scene. This is because the day before, he had just run a marathon, resulting in some seriously strained muscles. Soldiering on despite the pain, Greg completed the sequence, which included an extended chase on foot through the woods.
 |
Back to Movies |  |