COLLISION COURSE (1989) – Yes, it’s Pat Morita and Jay Leno as reluctant investigative partners. For starters, I owe an apology to Chinatown Connection (1990), which I previously called the worst Two-Race Buddy Cop film I’d ever seen. In that flick Lee Majors the Second and Bruce Ly play the mismatched cops who have to work together to bring down some bad guys.
Collision Course and Chinatown Connection may have the same initials, but the former is actually a worse movie, as hard as that is to believe. Collision Course went through three different directors on its way to cinematic infamy.
Despite this Pat Morita-Jay Leno joint having a bigger budget and a supporting cast made up of real actors (Chris Sarandon, Al Waxman, Soon-Tek Oh and others), this production sucks like a Hoover vacuum. Not even some 80s street cred in the form of Randall “Tex” Cobb could save Collision Course, which was recognized as such a bomb that it didn’t get released – on video, at that – until 1992. And even then it was done solely to exploit Leno taking over The Tonight Show from Johnny Carson.
Mr. Miyagi and Pelican Head’s attempt to make the next 48 Hours or Lethal Weapon or Running Scared is set in Detroit, where an engineer from Japan named Oshima has come to sell a newly developed turbo charger to a struggling new car company run by Derek Jarryd (Dennis Holahan).
Oshima tries to back out of the deal but organized crime boss Philip Madras (Chris Sarandon) is secretly running Jarryd’s auto manufacturer so he has his goons torture Oshima, who took the precaution of hiding the turbo charger. Oshima dies of a heart attack before he can reveal anything, and one of Madras’s thugs kills an ex-cop witness to the torture with a rocket gun! Eighties action-flick weaponry fetish officially pandered to!
But the slain witness (or what’s left of him) was an ex-partner of foul-mouthed Detective Tony Costas (Jay Leno), who wants to solve the case to get revenge. You know the drill in such movies – Tony’s boss (Al Waxman of Cagney & Lacy fame) takes him off the case because he’s too emotionally invested. So OF COURSE Tony starts investigating the murder on his own time, beginning with breaking into Oshima’s cordoned off hotel room.
Also having just broken into the late turbo charger go-between’s hotel room is Japan’s Investigator Fujitsuka Natsuo, played by Pat Morita. Natsuo was sent to covertly investigate Oshima’s death because his bosses back home don’t trust the Detroit PD since they’re in the pocket of gangsters like Madras. Japan also wants to keep the new turbo charger a trade secret for their own auto manufacturers.
When Costas and Fujitsuka clash, it all threatens to blow up into a big international incident, so Leno is suspended and Morita is called home by his superiors. Luckily, Tony Costas has a “break glass in case additional other-race partner is needed” backup. A fellow Detroit cop called Shortcut (Ernie Hudson) surreptitiously turns a lead over to our stars so they can continue playing by their own rules, blah, blah, blah.
Collision Course doesn’t skimp on shoot-outs or vehicle chases, but they all seem perfunctory because the very capable Pat Morita is saddled with non-thespian Jay Leno. Jay never seems comfortable in his own skin and while such a quirk is a boon for a master stand-up comedian like him it’s a hindrance to bringing a character to life onscreen. Plus he keeps forgetting his character was just shot in the leg.
I can understand the thinking behind casting Leno. Stand-up comedy geniuses like Eddie Murphy and Billy Crystal did surprisingly well in their buddy crime films, so why not give him a try? There were any number of reasons why not if the creative team had seen Leno’s awkwardness in American Hot Wax, but what can ya do?
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Costas and Natsuo find the turbo charger and arrest or kill all of the villains. Leno lets Morita have the turbo charger since the deal between Oshima and Madras’s front man never technically went down.
If the ending seems to come out of nowhere, Leno said it’s because the money ran out right before the finale was filmed.
*** Neither Jay Leno nor the venerable Pat Morita ever seemed the least bit fond of this messed-up project but they both had ample success outside of Collision Course.
Balladeer's Blog 
Wow! How do you sit through turkeys like this? Must be a super power!
LOL! Friends and family tell me it’s more of a mental defect on my part.
You’re super hero cape is well deserved!
😀 Thanks very much!