RELEASE DATE: 1986
RATED: R
REVIEWED BY: The DarkSider
Even with the littlest amount of testosterone, there is hardly a man alive today who can't feel the energy of this song. From it's epic build up (digga-digga-digga-digga-digga-digga-digga) to it's explosive beginning (DUN-DUN DUN DUN-DUN DUN DUN-DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN) to the vocals about being down and out but rising to the challenge once again, this song is all about attitude. Excuse me............ok I just picked a fight with someone walking down my street. Back to the review...
Indeed Survivor had themselves a number one hit that road out a good part of the early 1980s. By the time 1986 rolled around, Rocky IV saw Apollo Creed dying in the ring and Rocky raising the gloves to a rather large Russian. Survivor had come up with Burning Heart for Rocky's training clips which really kind of sucked compared to Eye Of The Tiger. So how could such a ballsy song be rebounded into the mainstream? Someone put the responsibility on the one man they thought tough enough to do bring back the ballad of ass kicking...and who would that man be...um...well...they picked Gary Busey...
Yes all you youngsters read this; At one time Gary Busey was known more for his acting than his zany off screen antics. In this film he plays a fellow by the name of Buck Matthews. The flick starts with him and Tony Montana clone Jamie being released from jail. Buck heads back into his one horse town on foot but is later picked up by Jamie. He gets a lift into town and meets with the Sheriff who is also doubling as his parole officer. F*cking hick towns amaze me. The Sheriff gives him a bunch of flack and Buck heads out.
On the way out he meets up with a guy by the name of JB played by long time B-Movie journeyman Yaphet Kotto. Turns out he works for the Sheriff and is a good buddy of Buck. Buck stops by a store to pick up a few gifts and is given a ride by JB. Let me say now that during all of this some obvious sh*t is going down.
1.) Buck is set up to be the nice guy who did his time and wants to move on with life. To save you some later plot points I'll tell you now that he was imprisoned by the Sheriff after some bar fight although it was in self defense. He also served in Nam.
2.) A group of bikers is roaring around town much to the displeasure of it's residents who cower in fear. Somehow Buck keeps missing them.
3.) Jamie gives Buck a number to call for anything, any place, any time.
So is it safe to assume warrior ready Buck will make a stand against bikers with the help of Jamie. Gee I wonder...lets move on.
Buck makes it home to his cute daughter Jennifer and loving wife Christie. Buck and Christie banter away about how she wants to move out of there. Buck demands they stay because its his hometown. Matter of fact the next day he heads off to work at his old construction site. Later in the evening he rescues a woman who falls under attack by the biker gang. The gang's leader Blade (played by long time tough guy actor William Smith) calls off the troops making Buck a local hero.
Oh but retribution shall be had by the bikers. Matter of fact JB warns Buck of their destructive nature but alas it is too late. The biker boys make a mess of Buck's house and beat the sh*t out of him. Christie dies in this scene but might I say I have no f*cking clue what happened. They just kind of cut to her dead body which is being looked upon by a frightened Jennifer.
Buck recuperates and Jennifer is left in a fear induced coma. The bikers push their luck when they invade Christie's funeral. After the show, JB takes Buck aside and tells him about the bikers. Apparently they run some sort of crack factory in the middle of the desert. It is from there they ship drugs all over the U.S. The Sheriff ignores them letting them do what they want which makes the town live in fear. Thats because he is on the take from the gang. JB doesn't want to take on the gang himself because he is almost ready to retire and move away.
I have to add a side point right now about the gang. If the town considers 30 guys and girls scary that either look like they came out of a Duran Duran video or a bit on the child molester side, maybe they should grow a pair. I had a very hard time buying into the threat of these guys. After all the town is at least 100 strong so they could easily make mince meat out of these f*ckers. Oh and since when is hick towns the central hub for drug smuggling? As for the Sheriff's hand in it, the guy is almost 60 for f*cks sake. Can't someone take his gangly ass out?
Well it doesn't take long for Buck to realize how easy everything I just mentioned was. Matter of fact he decides vengeance is the best medicine and phones up Jamie. Old Scarface comes through in the clutch delivering a bullet proof Dodge Ram complete with rocket launchers, machine guns and a CB scanner. Buck strikes first by taking out a few bikers at night. Blade finds out about this and delivers Christie's casket to his door step.
Round two...Buck blows up his old truck killing a bunch of bikers. He heads out to see JB who is working on a bi-plane. Since Buck has Survivor as his theme music, they gave JB some soul providing The Godfather himself James Brown...HEEEEEEY!!! Buck asks for JB's help in finding a guard for Jennifer which he does supply. Buck gets on the horn with the county DA which leads to a dead end. Buck finally convinces JB to join in on his assault on the baddies.
The two waste no time in tracking down a few bikers who are in the middle of an assault on some people. One gets blown up, another gets backed in to by Buck and the other one gets roped crushing his larynx. The fellow is unable to speak and it turns out he is the brother of Blade. Buck pleas to the town's folk at the bingo hall for their help. As with most town under siege movies, the townsfolk do jack sh*t.
Buck later meets up with the nurse he saved from the bikers. A romantic angle is briefly explored between the two for what reason I have no clue because it is never gone back to. This is interrupted when Buck finds out Jennifer was taken by the bikers. Buck sneaks into the hospital and makes Blade's brother talk about where his daughter was taken to in a most amusing way (hehe). The Sheriff tries to arrest Buck but is stopped by the town's preacher. Buck meets up with JB and now is a time to kill. Cue the music mutha f*ckas.
Buck does a little surveillance on the biker's base to find his daughter in a cage. Buck starts the ground assault in his truck blowing up a whole bunch of sh*t while JB attacks via the air with his bi-plane. They both virtually destroy the drug base and Buck is able to secure Jennifer. This is all much to the anger of Blade.
Buck meets up with JB on the ground and head into town. The Sheriff greets them and demands his men to arrest Buck. However Buck stands up to the Sheriff and takes him for a ride back to the plant. On their charge to the plant the Sheriff pleads for his life as the bikers fire away at the truck. Finally one grenade hits it's mark and Buck jumps out leaving the Sheriff to perish.
This leads to the final conflict between Buck and Blade. Buck gets the upper hand quick with a nice kick to Buck's balls. However Buck finds his own "Eye Of The Tiger" and unleashes an assault on Blade. Eventually he is able to shove Blade's face in a pile of crack. I'm assuming Blade snorted enough to kill himself leaving Buck the winner. Survivor cues up again which scares away the rest of the bikers for good.
This film was swallowed up in the mid 80s action film scene. Although it is campy and reads like a text book, the film is actually not that bad. The battle scenes had a lot of effort put into them and the Dodge Ram was bitchin. 1980's culture was apparent in this movie with the "Just Say No" aspect of the movie. As for Survivor's epic song, it really didn't fit the movie. Although I guess the lyrics could represent the movie's plot line but lets face it, it could represent Bambi if you really stretched it. As already mentioned the song was made primarily for Rocky III. Gary Busey just needed some theme music. As they said in I'm Gonna Get You Sucka, every good hero should have some.
1.) Who Put That There - Buck takes out a biker with the use of a wire cord which decapitates the driver helmet and all. Apparently the only rule the bikers follow is a "safety first" one for helmets.
2.) Pushing Up Christies - The gang roll into Buck's yard with Christie's casket in tow. Funny how some women just won't go away, even in death.
3.) Talk Damn You - Buck shoves a stick of dynamite up Blades brother's ass and lights it to make him talk. This eventually gives the bed ridden fellow a heart attack. Thats ok, if that didn't get him the hospital food does the same to a colon.
1.) The Sheriff - You just can't argue with a guy who considers flatulence as part of a parole violation.
2.) Blade - Just once I would like to see a gang leader in movies with a non-threatening name like Cuddles, Pookie or Cutiepie.
3.) The Biker Gang - Its good to see these guys went to Ponch and John's class on riding side by side in a straight line.
