Lone Wolf McQuade is set in Texas where renegade Ranger J.J. McQuade (Chuck Norris) lives & works by his own rules, McQuade has a problem with authority & his rough tactics means McQuade is unpopular with the media. His captain dumps rookie cop Kayo (Robert Beltram) on McQuade as a partner which McQuade is less than happy about. While with her boyfriend McQuade's daughter Sally (Dana Kimmell) witnesses the hijacking of an army convoy carrying a huge cache of weapons & ammunition, her boyfriend is murdered & Sally is left for dead & McQuade is now angry. The FED's are called in but McQuade decides to take the law into his own hands to protect the state of Texas & his own family as the weapons & ammunition are to be sold off to every terrorist & criminal organisation going...
Produced & directed by Steve Carver this is a pretty bad early 80's action film, I am quite surprised by the amount of love for Lone Wolf McQuade although I suspect that a fair amount of it I detect a certain level of sarcasm involved. First of all at nearly 110 minutes long this is very slow going & is quite frankly dull, the build-up is slow & the whole film feels padded with lots of little bits which are unnecessary. The character's are all standard action clichés from the tough no-nonsense play by his own rules cop, he has a mismatched rookie partner forced upon him, his daughter & wife are there for the bad guy's to threaten & to turn things personal, there's a love interest, a craggy police captain who dislikes the hero, a bad guy who stands around & acts menacing but never actually does anything else & the typical army of bad guy's who can't shoot straight. The film plods along, we never find out anything about the bad guy's other then they want to sell weapons, McQuade himself has no real personality & isn't that likable, he never seems to do any sort of work apart from drive around in his truck & practice firing guns. There are lots of random moments here, the bad guy burying McQuade in his truck while still alive, why not just kill him? The bad guy's killing Sally's boyfriend but leaving her alive, again why? The way the bad guy's kill McQuade's mate but leave his partner alive, why? Why stage a daring rescue in broad daylight? A fairly tiresome, predictable & routine feeling mid range budget 80's action film that I thought was pretty poor & only saved by one or two half decent action scenes & some unintentionally funny randomness.
The fights are alright, there's nothing amazing here but it's competent & watchable. There's not much else here apart from a brief scene as McQuade is dragged behind a truck & a couple of explosions. In fact it's a rather bland & forgettable film all round with far too many bland shoot-outs where the bad guy's can't shoot straight & just wait to be shot themselves & I am genuinely surprised that anyone would rate this. Originally rated 'R' in the states it was given a 'PG' on appeal & while there's a few swear words the action is bloodless & feels like the sort of stuff you would see in an A-Team episode. There's a lot of scenic views of the Texan desert which gives it an almost classic Western feel with open plain vistas & the like. The producers of Lone Wolf McQuade sued CBS after they made Walker, Texas Ranger (1993 - 2001) with Chuck Norris for copyright infringement, Orion Pictures eventually issued CBS with a retro active license.
With a reasonable budget of about $5,000,000 this had some money spent on it & it's well made but it's just not very good, shot in El Paso in Texas. Headliners Chuck Norris & David Carradine do OK but are given little material to work with & Carradine is basically wasted while Norris has no on-screen presence. Ex-model Barbara Carrera plays the love interest & isn't very good.
Lone Wolf McQuade is a poor 80's action film, having heard lots of positive things said about it I expected a half decent action film at least but it's a pretty dull, slow moving plot less advert for the Texan desert. Nowhere near the film many make out & nowhere near Norris's best.
Produced & directed by Steve Carver this is a pretty bad early 80's action film, I am quite surprised by the amount of love for Lone Wolf McQuade although I suspect that a fair amount of it I detect a certain level of sarcasm involved. First of all at nearly 110 minutes long this is very slow going & is quite frankly dull, the build-up is slow & the whole film feels padded with lots of little bits which are unnecessary. The character's are all standard action clichés from the tough no-nonsense play by his own rules cop, he has a mismatched rookie partner forced upon him, his daughter & wife are there for the bad guy's to threaten & to turn things personal, there's a love interest, a craggy police captain who dislikes the hero, a bad guy who stands around & acts menacing but never actually does anything else & the typical army of bad guy's who can't shoot straight. The film plods along, we never find out anything about the bad guy's other then they want to sell weapons, McQuade himself has no real personality & isn't that likable, he never seems to do any sort of work apart from drive around in his truck & practice firing guns. There are lots of random moments here, the bad guy burying McQuade in his truck while still alive, why not just kill him? The bad guy's killing Sally's boyfriend but leaving her alive, again why? The way the bad guy's kill McQuade's mate but leave his partner alive, why? Why stage a daring rescue in broad daylight? A fairly tiresome, predictable & routine feeling mid range budget 80's action film that I thought was pretty poor & only saved by one or two half decent action scenes & some unintentionally funny randomness.
The fights are alright, there's nothing amazing here but it's competent & watchable. There's not much else here apart from a brief scene as McQuade is dragged behind a truck & a couple of explosions. In fact it's a rather bland & forgettable film all round with far too many bland shoot-outs where the bad guy's can't shoot straight & just wait to be shot themselves & I am genuinely surprised that anyone would rate this. Originally rated 'R' in the states it was given a 'PG' on appeal & while there's a few swear words the action is bloodless & feels like the sort of stuff you would see in an A-Team episode. There's a lot of scenic views of the Texan desert which gives it an almost classic Western feel with open plain vistas & the like. The producers of Lone Wolf McQuade sued CBS after they made Walker, Texas Ranger (1993 - 2001) with Chuck Norris for copyright infringement, Orion Pictures eventually issued CBS with a retro active license.
With a reasonable budget of about $5,000,000 this had some money spent on it & it's well made but it's just not very good, shot in El Paso in Texas. Headliners Chuck Norris & David Carradine do OK but are given little material to work with & Carradine is basically wasted while Norris has no on-screen presence. Ex-model Barbara Carrera plays the love interest & isn't very good.
Lone Wolf McQuade is a poor 80's action film, having heard lots of positive things said about it I expected a half decent action film at least but it's a pretty dull, slow moving plot less advert for the Texan desert. Nowhere near the film many make out & nowhere near Norris's best.