Der Tiger

Returning home from prison, a Vietnam War veteran called Buck (Gary Busey) goes back his little town . As he arrives at home with his wife and daughter, but a violent event takes place and Buck become into vigilante . As Buck sets out to clean up his hometown which has come under the control of a violent motorcycle gang run by Blade (William Smith) . Then he turns into an avenger and taking the law into his own hands as judge , jury and executioner .With the help from a fellow Vietnam vet, Deputy Deveraux (Yaphet Kotto), Buck exacts revenge against the corrupt town sheriff (Seymour Cassel) and the violent riders .

Passable crime thriller in ¨Death Wish¨ style , this one created the Vigilante genre with Bronson as the main star , here Gary Busey imitates him pretty well . It contains suspense, noisy action-packed, intrigue, thrills and lots of violence . Busey with his usual stoic acting displays efficiently his weapons and an armoured pick-up and killing mercilessly nasties . As Busey turns the one-man vigilante when his family is attacked by furious band formed by some ominous dressed-in-black punks , as his wife is murdered and daughter really upsetting ; then , he stalks the enemies and takes the law into his own hands, searching vengeance on crooks, hoodlums, muggers, making the neighborhood safer and bumping off delinquents . It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the Gary Busey's side . Here Gary Busey is accompanied by a good support cast, such as : Yaphet Kotto , Seymour Cassel , Bert Remsen as priest and William Smith as an extremely baddie .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Richard C Sarafian , though it has some flaws and gaps . Sarafian was a good craftsman and Father of actors as Richard Sarafian Jr., Tedi Sarafian, Damon B. Sarafian, and Deran Sarafian and daughter Katherine Sarafian, being Brother-in-law of Robert Altman . While employed as a reporter in Kansas City , he met the director, Robert Altman, who hired Sarafian as his assistant. Sarafian has a fruitful career making TV episodes and films and directing a classic iconic movie : Vanishing Point¨ (1971) , as his car chase sequence served as inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007) . Richard portrayed two real-life Mafia figures: Jack Dragna in ¨Bugsy¨ (1991) and Paul Castellano in ¨Gotti¨ (1996). And directed a lot of dramas and thrillers as ¨Gangster Wars¨ , ¨The next man¨, ¨Solar Crisis¨, ¨Run Wild , Run Free¨, ¨Terror at Black falls¨, ¨Fragment of Fear¨ , ¨Street Justice¨ and ¨Eye of the tiger¨

"Eye of the Tiger", as sung by Survivor, must be one of the most recognizable and overused 80's songs ever released. The song itself is pretty much an 80's phenomenon, as it's still a classic regularly to be played at dance parties and served as theme song for at least two authentically 80's action flicks. Originally the theme song for the third (and coolest) film in Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky" cycle in 1982, but a couple of years later it also became the title and theme song for this obscure but sweet and exhilarating mid-eighties revenge movie starring the underrated Gary Busey in a rare heroic role. "Eye of the Tiger" is clichéd and heavily derivative stuff, but it's just a simply irresistible action flick with stereotypical small townsfolk and over- the-top cheesy bits of violence. Around that particular 80's period, it was extremely popular in movies and TV-shows for the hero characters to move around in hi-tech vehicles chock-full of hidden armory and mechanical gimmicks. So, yes, Gary Busey also has one: a beautiful black bulletproof Dodge pick-up truck with enough artillery to armor a middle-sized ghetto!

Buck Matthews is a former Vietnam veteran and ex-convict (why choose just one clichéd background if you can have two!) who returns to his beloved hometown, only to discover that a lot of things have changed. The little town is overrun by a gang of criminal bikers, who are running a drug lab in the nearby desert, and they cause amok and raise fear among the villagers. The local sheriff is as corrupt as the pest and even the rest of the police force is too afraid to make an arrest. When Buck prevents the bikers from gang-raping a nurse one night, he involuntarily declares war. The bikers respond by destroying his house, killing his wife and traumatizing his 6-year-old daughter. The only thing for Buck left to do is wipe them all out, with the help of his old friend J.B. and some useful four-wheel-driven donations from his rich and influential former prison buddy. Admittedly this is just another action/revenge movie like there are thirteen in a dozen, but it's nevertheless great fun to watch. "Eye of the Tiger" is full of raunchy sequences that you've seen numerous times before, but remain awesome, like biker-decapitation through wires across the road and dynamite sticks up someone's pooper. The film is very mundane, cheap and trashy- looking, but you're still likely to have a great time. Director Richard C. Sarafian also made "Vanishing Point", which is arguably the coolest and most brilliant 70's car chasing movie ever made, and could here rely on a pretty solid cast. There's Busey, obviously, but also stellar performances from Yaphet Kotto ("Alien", "Across 110th Street") and super-creep William Smith ("Nam's Angels", "The Swinging Barmaids"). My favorite role comes from Seymour Cassel as the Sheriff. He's a sleazy, arrogant and utterly corrupt racist bastard and Cassel depicts him wondrously.

I think the reason this doesn't get a better rating in here is because of the story's believability factor of the movie. It's a "0". Nonetheless its quite an entertaining movie for what it is. If it's got Gary Busey and it's from the 80's, chances are you're gonna get entertained.

Busey is his usual self as an Ex-Con who comes home to a bunch of desert dwelling drug smuggler bikers who harass a town incessantly. If you anything about Gary Busey then you know eventually, he takes care of business. Obviously this isn't up to par with say, Die Hard, or even Cobra or Raw Deal but it delivers the revenge goods for your watching pleasure.

This just came on late-night television and I was captivated. It's everything you want in a B-movie. Bikers getting decapitated, hilarious fistfights, and GARY BUSEY. Clearly not a comedy, but I was laughing for half the movie.

If you're one of those people (like me) who enjoy brainless 80's action movies, especially ones with non-sequiturs and the most unbelievable dialogue ever written, then you would enjoy EYE OF THE TIGER. I was entertained.

I really don't know what else there is to say about this movie. So in closing: Gary Busey.

Gary Busey stars as Buck Matthews a reformed ex-con and ex-Vietnam vet who wages war on bikers responsible for the murder of his wife, Busey resorts to the usual manner in dispatching these bikers, often playing grisly practical jokes that involve using wire at neck level, to decapitate his foes. The fight really reaches the boiling point when the bikers snatch Matthews' daughter (Judith Barsi) and therefore even Buck Matthews turns to his fellow Vietnam vet buddy J.B Deveraux (Yaphet Kotto) and together they blitz the biker's stronghold in this more fun than you would expect one man army thriller. If you really need an accurate description, just picture Death Wish 3 with Gary Busey instead of Charles Bronson. However what makes this biker entry so much fun is watching the traps Busey sets up for the bikers, which always have grisly (and hilarious) results.

3/5 Matt Bronson