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Wednesday, February 8, 2017

80's Month Day 8: Lone Wolf McQuade


It's "80's Month" so as with last week, I'm taking a little detour from my normal "Western Wednesday" reviews, which tend to be more traditional genre films, in favor a film that is a sort of a 80s-meets-Western. That's where 1983's Lone Wolf McQuade comes in. It's one of my all-time favorite Chuck Norris movies, and it combines big 80's action with martial arts and a spaghetti Western feel. Even the score is very reminiscent of the one in Sergio Leone's 1968 classic Once Upon a Time in the West.
  Lone Wolf McQuade also came in at #1 on my "10 Chuck Norris Movies Everyone Should See" list and you can check out that post by clicking here.

So, what's the movie about?
Well, Chuck Norris plays a badass Texas Ranger named J.J. McQuade, who lives out in the middle of nowhere, prefers to work alone (as all badasses seem to) and he has a pet wolf because, why not? McQuade has all the typical characteristics of an 80's action hero; rough exterior, ex-wife, has a new partner despite insisting he doesn't need one, etc. Pretty early on he encounters the movie's villain, an arms dealer and martial arts expert named Rawley Wilkes (played by David Carradine). The plot pretty much hits all the beats you'd expect but it's done in such a way that, at least in my opinion, it's very entertaining. There's a love interest named Lola (played by Barbara Carrera) who's husband was killed by Wilkes and she falls for McQuade pretty soon after meeting him. McQuade's daughter Sally is kidnapped at one point and, overall, McQuade is seemingly being bested by Wilkes at every turn until the end when our hero finally kills the villain. There are explosions, shootouts, Chuck Norris kicking people, and plenty of other cool stuff. It's just a fun movie that I always enjoy rewatching.

It's not something that everyone's going to get into, and I don't think it's a universally beloved film but, I recommend checking it out.
I give it a 4 out of 5.


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