Interview:
Sam Firstenberg,
director,
"Riverbend"
Directed by 1980s and 1990s action film specialist Sam Firstenberg, the Waxahachie-shot racially charged political thriller Riverbend barely received a theatrical release in 1990 and quietly faded into obscurity soon after arriving in video stores on VHS. Thanks to the efforts of Firstenberg and the film’s most dedicated advocate, Reelblack Renaissance founder Michael Dennis, Riverbend is no longer a film “lost” to time. Having undergone a 6K restoration, Riverbend will be available on Blu-Ray in June. The film is also on tour, with director Sam Firstenberg, cast members Julius Tennon, Margaret Avery, Alex Morris, Vanessa Tate-Goodrich, and Reelblack Renaissance founder Michael Dennis in attendance scheduled to attend a retrospective screening of Riverbend at 7 p.m. Friday, March 6 at the AFS Cinema. Set in 1966, the Seven Samurai-inspired Riverbend stars the late, great Steve James as Major Samuel Quentin, one of three Black soldiers being transported to a court martial hearing in Georgia to answer trumped-up charges of disobeying orders while serving in Vietnam. Quentin and the other soldiers (played by Alex Morris and Austin native Julius Tennon) escape and find shelter in a segregated rural community. When several prominent members of the Black community are murdered in cold blood, Quentin rallies the Black residents to rise up against their white oppressors, symbolized by the cruel and vicious Sheriff Jake (Tony Frank). Riverbend represented the first film Sam Firstenberg directed outside of his work for Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus’s Cannon Group. He spent the 1980s making films for the Cannon Group, beginning with the 1981 drama One More Chance, continuing with the action thrillers Revenge of the Ninja, Ninja II: Domination, and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, and then joining forces with stars Michael Dudikoff and Steve James for American Ninja, American Ninja 2: The Confrontation, and Avenging Force. In the 1990s, Firstenberg directed American Ninja 4: The Annihilation, Delta Force 3: The Killing Game, American Samurai, Cyborg Cop, Cyborg Cop II, and Operation Delta Force. He last directed the 2002 Michael Dudikoff thriller Quicksand and the 2003 sci-fi comedy The Interplanetary Surplus Male and Amazon Women of Outer Space. He discussed his film career in the 2020 interview book “Stories From The Trenches: Adventures in making High Octane Hollywood Movies with Cannon Veteran Sam Firstenberg” by author Marco Siedelmann and editor Nadia Bruce-Rawlings.
Aired: Feb. 18, 2026. Web sites: https://www.austinfilm.org/screening/riverbend/ https://samfirstenberg.tripod.com https://www.reelblack.com/riverbend-restored |
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