My review was written in March 1986 after watching the film at a Times Square screening room.
"3:15" is a weak entry in the trickle of gang rumble films which made some box office noise back when Walter Hill's "The Warriors" was released. Debuting helmer Larry Gross, formerly a screenwriter for Hill, minimizes the action and comes up with a forgettable pic ill-suited to theatrical release. Filmed two years ago, it has been in regional distribution since January.
Adam Baldwin (title roler in "My Bodyguard") is too old to be the high school student here, a former member of the Cobras gang who is now at odds with the Cobras' leader, Danny De La Paz. Crisis comes when a drug bust, organized by cop Ed Lauter, nabs De La Paz and Baldwin refuses to help his former leader. Branded a traitor by most kids at school, Baldwin is also being pressured by principal Rene Auberjonois to fink on his former crony.
On a half-day of school (morning only), Baldwin sets u a final confrontation with De La Paz' gang at, surprise, 3:15 p.m. Showdown is an anticlimax, with only Baldwin's girlfriend Deborah Foreman and a nerd played by Joseph Brutsmancoming to his aid against five armed toughs. Pledges of support to Baldwin from a black gang and an Oriental one amount to nought.
Pic suffers from the absence of action, with fights mainly consisting of kids running down school hallways and stabbing each other. Low budget and weak production values are inferior to a typical telefilm.
Acting is also weak, with Baldwin generating little sympathy in the lead underdog role (he physically towers over the rest of the cast) and Foreman stuck with an inconsistent part, De La Paz is the most impressive performer, upsetting the script's balance since he wins sympathy by virtue of forceful thesping yet is supposed to be the hissable villain. Screenplay skirts over racist conflicts, though the good guys are all white and the bad guys are mainly Chicanos.
