Two VHS outings starring Rutger Haeur. I remember renting these from the local Video shop and can recall the fun of watching these kinds of movies, with their Undemanding action and wry humour. The growth of Video back then meant that a large amount of movies were released that otherwise may not have seen the light of day.
Haeur was a underground actor who became the blueprint for Steven Segal, but had a certain swagger to him. Wanted Dead or Alive was released on the back of Haeur’s triumphant performance in Blade Runner. Having appeared in Nighthawks as a terrorist it was not a great surprise to see him in action movies.
Wanted: Dead or Alive stars Rutger Haeur as Nick Randall i a Los Angeles-based bounty hunter, the descendant of the character Josh Randall, played by Steve McQueen in the 1958 television series of the same name.
He’s also an ex-CIA operative, who is asked to help track down terrorist Malak Al Rahim, played without make up by Gene Simmons of Kiss. However, Rahim is also looking for Randall, and Randall's employers tell him where to find him, resulting in the death of his best friend, Sgt. Danny Quintz (Robert Guillaume), and his girlfriend Terry, eventually forcing a showdown on the waterfront.
The bombastic ending has Randall bringing out Rahim handcuffed with a grenade jammed in his mouth while Randall is holding the pin. Randall explains to his bosses that they should send his payment to the family of Danny Quintz and he'll just keep the extra bonus for bringing him in alive. As he starts to leave, he says, "F*ck the bonus"; what follows is straight out of Scanners.
Full of sensational one-liners, delivered with an absolute straight face by all involved, it’s a perfectly formed 80's action movie. My favourite line?
Malak al Rahim-“I am a terrorist”
Nick Randall-“You’re not a terrorist, you’re a fly standing on a piece of shit”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7nYjyJOrco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qHISC_q6HI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ9fuHQIR_4
Blind Fury is a 1989 samurai/action film directed by Phillip Noyce. It is a loosely based, modernized version of Zatoichi Challenged, the 17th film in the Japanese Zatoichi film series. Rutger Hauer plays Nick Parker, an American soldier who is blinded while serving in the Vietnam War. Parker is blinded by an explosion, but is rescued by local villagers, who help him recover his health (though he remains blind). As part of his recovery, he becomes an expert swordsman.
When he returns to the United States and befriends the son of an old friend. Parker decides to help to help the boy find his father, who has been kidnapped a major crime syndicate.Impressed by Parker's martial-arts skill, the kingpin hires a Master Ninja Sho Kosugi to defeat Parker once and for all.Of course Parker wins the day with a mixture of swordplay and Closeauesque bumbling. It’s a lot of fun.