the good guys!

The Good Guys! opens during the moment four teenage criminals storm a Good Guys Electronic store, toting a duffle bag full of guns and bullets. They quickly gather the hostages and demand to speak to the police. They have a long list of confusing demands: one million dollars in cash, a thousand year old ginseng root, a ‘Robocop’ style bullet proof armor, a military helicopter to take them to Thailand so they can fight the Vietcong, and a letter from the president confirming their safe passage out of the country. The police and SWAT team immediately surround the store and an 8 hour standoff begins. The police are able to get a few of the children out by trading them for one singular bulletproof vest at the start of the crisis. This ultimately enrages Loi Nguyen, the eldest brother of the Nguyen family and mastermind of this standoff, because one small vest is not enough for four people. He is joined by two of his younger brothers, Long and Pham Nguyen and a like minded friend, Cuong Tran. Long is a hot head that is anxiously awaiting his moment to create bloodshed. Pham and Cuong are the youngest of the bunch that constantly look to Loi and Long for orders on what to do. The hostage negotiator, Sgt. Gomez, constantly bounces between Loi and Davey, the assistant manager of the store, to try and control the situation, but repeatedly fails because Loi refuses to release any more hostages and the Sheriff refuses to budge on sending in more bulletproof vests. Meanwhile, we are shown the backstory of the Nguyen family through the eyes of a young Loi. His story is told in small chunks throughout this film as we begin to learn his trauma and see what led to his decision in holding the people in the Good Guys! store hostage. When night falls, Long no longer trusts Loi to lead this standoff and forces him to hand over the phone. Similarly, the Sheriff is fed up with Sgt. Gomez’s soft negotiation approach and switches him out with a tougher veteran. This results in a series of intense moments that includes a hostage getting shot in the leg in exchange for his release, a hostage having a heart attack and an internal conflict between Loi and Long which pits Pham and Cuong against him. At the film’s climax, the Sheriff agrees to trade one more bulletproof vest for one more hostage. When the door opens a sniper takes a shot at Long, but the bullet gets blocked by the heavy glass door and misses. The SWAT team storms in from the rear and Long makes the cold decision to go down the line of hostages and unload his pistol at point blank range. Three hostages get killed in the shootout, along with Long, Pham, and Cuong. Loi Nguyen is the lone survivor among the hostage takers and currently sits in a California prison serving 41 consecutives life sentences.