Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1986)

Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1986)-* *1\2

Directed by: Gary Sherman

Starring: Rutger Hauer, Gene Simmons, Mel Harris, and Robert Guillaume











Nick Randall (Hauer) is an ex-CIA agent and bounty hunter. He is asked to track down an extremely dangerous and ruthless terrorist, Malak Al-Rahim (Simmons), who has been killing lots of people and only planning to do more damage. Randall will stop at nothing to track down Al-Rahim, especially after an attempt on his life kills some people Randall cares about. Will Randall succeed?

As you can see from the brief plot description above, the storyline here is pretty cut-and-dry, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the movie should have been shorter, and with Rutger killing more goons. That would have livened things up. But as it stands, Wanted: Dead or Alive has some good 80’s atmosphere and un-PC moments. So that’s a good thing, and they tried to give Nick Randall a bit more character development than usual, which is also good.  He gets plenty of snappy lines and loves the harmonica, which mirrors on the soundtrack. He even has what may be the first car GPS seen on a movie screen.

It was also nice to see Gene Simmons looking slick, and while he himself is Jewish, he plays an Islamic terrorist. The terror aspect of the film is still relevant, but this movie has too much padding and needed more action. Interestingly, in the movie theater scene, they are playing the movie “Rambo” - and while there are many Rambo references in many other 80’s and 90’s action movies, the filmmakers here should have known there was no such movie by that title at that time.

Naturally, it all ends in a classic Steam Factory shootout. So while WDOA has some good moments, the movie should have been tightened up and had some edge added to it. It’s not bad at all, but it’s not very memorable either.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Night of the Warrior (1991)

Night of the Warrior (1991)-* *1\2

Directed By: Rafal Zielinski

Starring: Lorenzo Lamas, Ken Foree, James Lew, Anthony Geary, Kathleen Kinmont













Miles Keane (Lamas) is a motorcycle-riding smart-ass bad-ass who is an amateur photographer. He owns a club with his mother. He has to pay back a loan to gangster Lynch (Geary). In order to pay back the loan, rather than use money, he is forced to fight in, of course, underground punchfighting tournaments. After years of scrapping, Miles walks away from Lynch. For the next 45 minutes, he takes pictures of bums, falls in love with waitress Katherine (his real-life wife Kinmont, of Final Impact fame), She cannot fail to fall in love with him, after he says the immortal line: "Keep the change, it's been real." Miles then tends to his kabuki strippers in his club. When Lynch beats up Miles' mom and kidnaps Katherine, Miles is forced to fight one last time. Will Miles be able to defeat Lynch and go back to a life of photographing bums and ride off into the sunset on his Harley with Katherine?



Possibly a first in punchfighting movie history, in Night of the Warrior, men "mud-fight", and bite each other like animals. When this isn't delighting the eye of the viewer, there are Body Rock-like dance sequences. Of course, there is a training sequence featuring Lamas alone meditating with candles.

About Miles' fascination with bum photography, he claims in all earnestness, "I want to be inside them". Note he didn't say "their heads". There is an opera-singing bum meant to be comic relief, especially when he lets loose an operatic "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" If this silly subplot interests you, might we suggest Bums?

On the subject of comic relief, there is Coco the chef, Katherine's uncle. He has a silly long mustache and he burns all the food. On the subject of photography, Lynch has his own headshot, which he gives to Mom to give to Miles to say Katherine has been kidnapped. Isn't that weird?

Surprisingly, there is a sufficient lack of action here. There are really only two action scenes. Many of which feature Lamas karate-chopping people in the neck. As in Ring of Steel and Cobra, the climax occurs in a "steam factory". Apparently it's a great place to settle your disputes.

If you appreciate the other films in Lamas' oeuvre, you will get a kick out of Night of the Warrior!

Comeuppance review by Ty and Brett