Eye of the Tiger

Gary Busey is the man and this time he's even granted a leading role as an ex-Vietnam veteran, ex-convict and reborn family man forced into a position that leaves him with nothing left but... revenge on his mind. Sounds cool, doesn't it? But jeez, I thought this flick would be at least a bit more fun. Turns out it's nothing more than an average watch, really. I kind of anticipated it to be a FIRST BLOOD (1982) rip-off, given Busey's character and the local sheriff antagonizing him and all, but it's not. Probably would have been more fun if it was. Now, the main evil-doers are some motorcycle gang who've taken on the role of drug-runners near a small town. During one of their nightly pillage & rape routines, they run into Gary Busey who will not have this type of misbehaviour. He rescues some nurse and the biking gang-bangers are not very happy about this. You can pretty much guess what happens next.

There's some fun stuff in this film (decapitaing a biker while riding his motorcycle, dynamite up someone's naked ass,...), but the movie drags too much in places. And when Gary Busey does get his act together, it's basically just him and the bikers teasing each other with various acts of the disturbed. Fair enough, only EYE OF THE TIGER lacks a lot in graphic violence. The climax near the end (as implausible it may be, bombing the desert hideout, automated bazooka's coming out of Busey's truck and such) was silly fun, but the 'end-bossfight' was short and highly unmemorable. Also, the film lacks a true villain. The Boss of the gang was shown too little and just didn't do anything remotely menacing. It all turns EYE OF THE TIGER into an average time-waster, nothing more. Have low expectations and you might not mind having seen it. Obviously, it's still a better accomplishment than Lamberto Bava's BLASTFIGHTER (1984), a rather similar film, but EYE OF THE TIGER simply can't compete with stuff like COBRA (1986), COMMANDO (1985) or the aforementioned first RAMBO film. Even MALONE (another 80's Burt Reynolds action-vehicle and pretty much the same film) was better in most ways.

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.

Well, let me start by saying that Gary Busey is without doubt, my favourite actor of all time. He has an everyman quality which no one else really posessed in the 80's. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's Bobby De Niro, but he's cool okay, so get off my back. Eye of the Tiger, then. A highly enjoyable movie from a great director. Yeah, it has no brains and yeah, the plot fits on a stamp, but any movie with this theme music is always gonna bring a smile to peoples faces. There are countless great moments with the ever watchable, Busey and Yaphet Kotto. Admitedly, the pace does slack a little too offen, but the decapitation scene and the questioning scene rank up there with my favourite moments and it does have the best pull-focus of all time. Watch when you want some 80's action with a little more breeding than most.

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¨

Gary Busey had his best starring role outside of 'The Buddy Holly Story' in this 1986 actioner. He stars as typical 80's action hero, Buck Matthews. He's a decorated Vietnam vet, husband and father, and a wrongly convicted ex-con.

Fresh out of prison, Buck heads home to his small town to lie low and reconnect with his family. This plan goes south in a hurry. His parole officer is the sheriff who set him up on murder charges in the first place. Then Matthews runs across the deadly drug-running biker gang who has been terrorizing the town while he was in prison. What makes things worse is the gang and the sheriff are in business together.

Matthews rescues a rape victim from the gang one night and receives the wrath of the gang's leader, played by veteran bad guy William Smith. Without giving away a crucial plot point, I will simply say that tragedy ensues. Buck goes on a vengeance spree that would make Charles Bronson proud.

This is not the type of movie that is nominated for awards and is discussed on any best movies ever list. It is, however, a fantastic example of the type of action / revenge movies that were popular in the 1970's and 80's. Invite some buddies over, heat up the popcorn, and enjoy this awesome movie.