By Erin Free
FilmInk salutes the work of creatives who have never truly received the credit that they deserve. In this installment: stunt coordinator and director Craig R. Baxley, who helmed Action Jackson, Dark Angel, Stone Cold and Sniper 2.
Along with horror, the movie genre to cop the most critical hits is the action field. Sure, topline examples of the genre (which, to be honest, are often fused with another descriptive moniker, such as sci-fi or adventure) like The Terminator, Mad Max, or John Wick are feted in their own way, but when it comes to action in a more exploitative, or even just more populist, vein (think The Fast And The Furious), most mainstream film critics tend to approach it with a distinct case of snobbish side-eye. And as with horror, this means that the action genre is densely populated with Unsung Auteurs. One of these is Craig R. Baxley, who has left his imprint on the genre as both the director of a small selection of films, and as a stuntman and stunt coordinator on many, many, many more.
The son of legendary stuntman/stunt coordinator/second unit director/ director Paul Baxley, Craig Redding Baxley was born in 1949 in Los Angeles, and made his move into the film industry as a stunt performer, taking the hits and making the falls on popular TV series and mini-series of the 1970s like Police Story, Harry O, Rich Man, Poor Man Book II, Gemini Man, Roots and M*A*S*H, before moving into the position of stunt coordinator and second unit director on essential 1980s shows like The Dukes Of Hazzard and The A-Team. Mixed in amongst his TV work, Baxley also assisted in meshing together the extraordinarily balletic and utterly unforgettable fight sequences for director Walter Hill on his 1979 cult classic The Warriors. A true masterpiece of the action genre, this gritty but cartoonish fight-fest owes much to Craig R. Baxley. An occasional actor (he featured in minor roles in TV shows like Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Mannix, Marcus Welby, M.D. and S.W.A.T), Baxley also appears in The Warriors as the sneering, dead-eyed roller-skating frontman of the overalls-wearing gang The Punks, who memorably throw down against The Warriors in a subway restroom.
After engineering the action and directing the second unit on a huge number of TV and film projects (including the classic Predator and John Schelsinger’s notorious smash-up Honky Tonk Freeway), Baxley made his directorial debut in 1988 with the rollicking Action Jackson. Though predictably trashed by critics, this top-notch action belter stars the late Carl Weathers in bone-crunching form as Detroit PD Detective Sergeant Jericho “Action” Jackson, who uncovers a plot by a nefarious businessman (Craig T. Nelson is excellent in bad guy mode) to get political and financial traction by influencing the next US President. Boasting brilliant action sequences, solid characterisations, and an intriguing supporting cast that includes both former Prince paramour Vanity and a pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone, Action Jackson is a fine slab of 1980s action and marked an impressive debut for Craig R. Baxley.
Baxley showed a fine eye in selecting material by following up the textured Action Jackson with 1990’s Dark Angel, a highly enjoyable mix of action and sci-fi starring Dolph Lundgren as a Texas vice cop who slowly realises that a spate of drug-related deaths is actually the work of a murderous alien with his own sinister intentions. With its curious mix of white-collar drug gangs, FBI agents, furious fight scenes, and a second alien tracking down the alien killer, Dark Angel (which was an early script from highly successful screenwriter and eventual director David Koepp) once again showcases Baxley not just as a director of relentless action, but also as a filmmaker with an interest in unusual material and nicely drawn characters.
Next up, Baxley tried to establish gridiron star Brian Bosworth as an action hero in 1991’s hard-hitting Stone Cold, in which The Boz’s tough guy cop goes undercover in a bikie gang. It’s a fun action cruncher, but despite Baxley’s best efforts, Bosworth didn’t translate too well to the big screen, and the hard-edged hulk had an up and down acting career afterwards. Baxley later prompted an effective bad guy turn from Charlie Sheen in the 1997 thriller Bad Day On The Block; delivered a solid sequel in 2002 with the Tom Berenger-starring Sniper 2; and brought his finely honed action sensibilities to a high-profile Christian-themed franchise with 2005’s Left Behind III: World At War. Throughout most of the 1990s and 2000s, however, Baxley has worked mainly on TV series, mini-series and telemovies, displaying a particular affinity for author Stephen King on titles like Storm Of The Century, Rose Red and Kingdom Hospital.
Still hard at work at the age of 75, Craig R. Baxley is not just a fine proponent of on-screen action; he’s also an author of fiction, while his prolific stuntman son Craig Baxley Jr. and grandson Cash Baxley are currently continuing the family tradition in vigorous, bone-cracking form.
If you liked this story, check out our features on other unsung auteurs Harvey Bernhard, Bert I. Gordon, James Fargo, Jeremy Kagan, Robby Benson, Robert Hiltzik, John Carl Buechler, Rick Carter, Paul Dehn, Bob Kelljan, Kevin Connor, Ralph Nelson, William A. Graham, Judith Rascoe, Michael Pressman, Peter Carter, Leo V. Gordon, Dalene Young, Gary Nelson, Fred Walton, James Frawley, Pete Docter, Max Baer Jr., James Clavell, Ronald F. Maxwell, Frank D. Gilroy, John Hough, Dick Richards, William Girdler, Rayland Jensen, Richard T. Heffron, Christopher Jones, Earl Owensby, James Bridges, Jeff Kanew, Robert Butler, Leigh Chapman, Joe Camp, John Patrick Shanley, William Peter Blatty, Peter Clifton, Peter R. Hunt, Shaun Grant, James B. Harris, Gerald Wilson, Patricia Birch, Buzz Kulik, Kris Kristofferson, Rick Rosenthal, Kirsten Smith & Karen McCullah, Jerrold Freeman, William Dear, Anthony Harvey, Douglas Hickox, Karen Arthur, Larry Peerce, Tony Goldwyn, Brian G. Hutton, Shelley Duvall, Robert Towne, David Giler, William D. Wittliff, Tom DeSimone, Ulu Grosbard, Denis Sanders, Daryl Duke, Jack McCoy, James William Guercio, James Goldstone, Daniel Nettheim, Goran Stolevski, Jared & Jerusha Hess, William Richert, Michael Jenkins, Robert M. Young, Robert Thom, Graeme Clifford, Frank Howson, Oliver Hermanus, Jennings Lang, Matthew Saville, Sophie Hyde, John Curran, Jesse Peretz, Anthony Hayes, Stuart Blumberg, Stewart Copeland, Harriet Frank Jr & Irving Ravetch, Angelo Pizzo, John & Joyce Corrington, Robert Dillon, Irene Kamp, Albert Maltz, Nancy Dowd, Barry Michael Cooper, Gladys Hill, Walon Green, Eleanor Bergstein, William W. Norton, Helen Childress, Bill Lancaster, Lucinda Coxon, Ernest Tidyman, Shauna Cross, Troy Kennedy Martin, Kelly Marcel, Alan Sharp, Leslie Dixon, Jeremy Podeswa, Ferd & Beverly Sebastian, Anthony Page, Julie Gavras, Ted Post, Sarah Jacobson, Anton Corbijn, Gillian Robespierre, Brandon Cronenberg, Laszlo Nemes, Ayelat Menahemi, Ivan Tors, Amanda King & Fabio Cavadini, Cathy Henkel, Colin Higgins, Paul McGuigan, Rose Bosch, Dan Gilroy, Tanya Wexler, Clio Barnard, Robert Aldrich, Maya Forbes, Steven Kastrissios, Talya Lavie, Michael Rowe, Rebecca Cremona, Stephen Hopkins, Tony Bill, Sarah Gavron, Martin Davidson, Fran Rubel Kuzui, Elliot Silverstein, Liz Garbus, Victor Fleming, Barbara Peeters, Robert Benton, Lynn Shelton, Tom Gries, Randa Haines, Leslie H. Martinson, Nancy Kelly, Paul Newman, Brett Haley, Lynne Ramsay, Vernon Zimmerman, Lisa Cholodenko, Robert Greenwald, Phyllida Lloyd, Milton Katselas, Karyn Kusama, Seijun Suzuki, Albert Pyun, Cherie Nowlan, Steve Binder, Jack Cardiff, Anne Fletcher ,Bobcat Goldthwait, Donna Deitch, Frank Pierson, Ann Turner, Jerry Schatzberg, Antonia Bird, Jack Smight, Marielle Heller, James Glickenhaus, Euzhan Palcy, Bill L. Norton, Larysa Kondracki, Mel Stuart, Nanette Burstein, George Armitage, Mary Lambert, James Foley, Lewis John Carlino, Debra Granik, Taylor Sheridan, Laurie Collyer, Jay Roach, Barbara Kopple, John D. Hancock, Sara Colangelo, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Joyce Chopra, Mike Newell, Gina Prince-Bythewood, John Lee Hancock, Allison Anders, Daniel Petrie Sr., Katt Shea, Frank Perry, Amy Holden Jones, Stuart Rosenberg, Penelope Spheeris, Charles B. Pierce, Tamra Davis, Norman Taurog, Jennifer Lee, Paul Wendkos, Marisa Silver, John Mackenzie, Ida Lupino, John V. Soto, Martha Coolidge, Peter Hyams, Tim Hunter, Stephanie Rothman, Betty Thomas, John Flynn, Lizzie Borden, Lionel Jeffries, Lexi Alexander, Alkinos Tsilimidos, Stewart Raffill, Lamont Johnson, Maggie Greenwald and Tamara Jenkins.
