Nick Parker is a blind Vietnam vet presumed dead for years who tracks down an old war buddy and gets unwittingly involved in kidnapping and murder. Despite his handicap, he determines to rescue his friend and his friend's son from some sleazy Reno drug-pushers.
Loosely based on the old Japanese Zatoichi / Shintaro Katsu blind-swordsman movies of the sixties, this is a pretty agreeable little thriller with an offbeat premise, a great cast, some good stuntwork and many nice moments - the chase in the cornfield, the old blind-man-driving routine, the relationship between Hauer and Call, the final showdown with arch-ninja Kosugi. But, as with too many action films, it's nothing special; there's no real atmosphere, a lot of the characters are just stock goons, the score is weak and the production seems half-hearted, as if nobody was really passionate about the movie. It's a pleasant way to kill time but with the talent of these people it should be much better (see for example Noyce's later Rabbit-Proof Fence). It's still fun though, and Hauer is terrific in the lead as usual, with fine support from O'Quinn (here billed as Terrance for some reason), the always-amazing Foster and the iconic Cobb (Lenny the biker from Raising Arizona). Cassavetes and Overton seem to be having a whale of a time as a pair of goofy hoodlum brothers called Lyle and Tector Pike, who wind up shooting each other. This movie makes me a bit cross - Hauer puts more into it than it deserves, and with a bit more care and originality it could have been something special, but instead it's fairly flat and formulaic. Produced by well-known actor Tim Matheson and a very bad director called Dan Grodnik, and shot in Houston and Reno.
Loosely based on the old Japanese Zatoichi / Shintaro Katsu blind-swordsman movies of the sixties, this is a pretty agreeable little thriller with an offbeat premise, a great cast, some good stuntwork and many nice moments - the chase in the cornfield, the old blind-man-driving routine, the relationship between Hauer and Call, the final showdown with arch-ninja Kosugi. But, as with too many action films, it's nothing special; there's no real atmosphere, a lot of the characters are just stock goons, the score is weak and the production seems half-hearted, as if nobody was really passionate about the movie. It's a pleasant way to kill time but with the talent of these people it should be much better (see for example Noyce's later Rabbit-Proof Fence). It's still fun though, and Hauer is terrific in the lead as usual, with fine support from O'Quinn (here billed as Terrance for some reason), the always-amazing Foster and the iconic Cobb (Lenny the biker from Raising Arizona). Cassavetes and Overton seem to be having a whale of a time as a pair of goofy hoodlum brothers called Lyle and Tector Pike, who wind up shooting each other. This movie makes me a bit cross - Hauer puts more into it than it deserves, and with a bit more care and originality it could have been something special, but instead it's fairly flat and formulaic. Produced by well-known actor Tim Matheson and a very bad director called Dan Grodnik, and shot in Houston and Reno.