Mark Foley was adept at playing the role of a Republican congressman trying to save at-risk kids.
He did it for nearly 12 years as chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.
He also did it in a high-camp, low-budget action flop called Strike Force that went straight to DVD.
UPDATE: CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE CLIP
In the film, which also features a cameo by Burt Reynolds, Foley plays a congressman (identified in the credits only as "Republican Fairchild") who hires a band of violent, jet-setting vigilantes to rescue his kidnapped daughter.
Shot in Palm Beach County, Florida, which Foley represented, the film was originally released in 2001 as The Librarians—named for the vigilante group that collects "overdue people." Lionsgate bought the rights and rereleased it in 2003 as Strike Force.
Whatever it's called, the movie opens with an awkwardly choreographed gunfight. At least a dozen hapless bad guys succumb to bullet wounds before the leader of the group, played by William Forsythe, rescues Fairchild's spawn, setting up a father-daughter reunion on a wooded road.
Foley emerges from the back of a black stretch limo—a gold pin resembling those worn by members of Congress glinting on his lapel—and kneels as the girl rushes into his arms, setting up this exchange of inspired dialogue:
FOLEY: [Eyes clenched] "Oh, I missed you too, baby."
GIRL: "There were a lot of bad men."
FOLEY: "I know, baby, but it's all over now [deep sigh]. God, I love you."
GIRL: "I love you too, Daddy."
Greg Hauptner, a Palm Beach Gardens resident who served as an associate producer on the film, says Strike Force needs to be viewed in context.
"It's not going to win any Academy Awards, but it's a good, little rainy Sunday afternoon movie," he tells Radar. "For a $4 million movie, it looked like it was, like, a $10 million, or $12 million movie."
Since its release, Strike Force has aired on Showtime and is available for $12.99 on Amazon, a price one reviewer asserted was too high "unless you like really poor storylines and acting to boot!"