Fighting Mad

A man returns from the big city to his traditional family ranch in northwest Arkansas (Peter Fonda), only to discover that a determined land developer (Philip Carey) is buying up land nearby for strip mining and, of course, wants his dad's ranch. When beloved citizens turn-up dead, the kid gloves are off.

"Fighting Mad" (1976) comes in the tradition of "Walking Tall" and would influence "First Blood" six years later. Car crash movies from the 70s are also comparable, like Fonda's own "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry." This is the least of 'em, however, because the dramatics are curiously boring and needed a rewrite to flush out the potential, but it's still worth catching if you like Peter and these types of flicks. The best parts are the vehicular mayhem and the closing confrontation at the castle-like manor of the tycoon.

It runs 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot in Washington County, Arkansas, and the corresponding town of Springdale, which are in the northwest corner of the state. The jail scenes were shot in the studio in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-

Henry Fonda should have been--appalled, that is--with his counter-culture son playing the hillbilly-vigilante-avenger who goes after the eee-vill mining company in Jonathan Demme's Fighting Mad.

Peter Fonda got off to an interesting start with Easy Rider, but it didn't take a lot of acting skill to cruise around on a Harley, stoned out one's gourd, so he wound up doing junk like this for producer Roger Corman.

I'm not going to give a synopsis of this thing, lest I start thinking about the time I wasted watching it. I just wanted to warn you 70s action fans out there to steer clear of Fighting Mad the next time Fox Movie Channel shows it. For the life of me, I can't understand why they chop up other movies for broadcast, but they slapped a TV-MA on this one because . . .

Hearing a couple "f-bombs" and seeing some boobage so helped advance the story. Don't get me wrong, boobs are just fine and a couple "fungoos" don't offend me. It's the fact that having the love interest of Peter Fonda scold him not to go out there and get hisself dead while airing out her mommy parts after sex isn't worth my time.

I must be getting old. In 1976, I would have elbowed my best friend to make sure he was grooving to the boobs on screen, the orangey blood being spilled, and the bad words that the three networks would hack out for broadcast.

Now.

Now, I look for things like originality, dialogue, depth and breadth of visuals, and intellectual stimulation. You know . . . the stuff you would never find in anything like Fighting Mad.

Mountain justice is usually the way to keep what belongs to you. A father and son go home to be at a farm in the mountains of Oklahoma to help out family there. But along the way, he would encounter greedy land developers who to deprive the people there of their homes. They would kill his brother and his wife when a celebrate the homecoming. The development crew with their machines cruelly destroy homes, blast rocks, and send the kind hard-working people out from their native land. Kind of like the Native Americans removed from their land out west in the 1800's. Peter Fonda's character doesn't play around when they attacked his family. This movie is like "Deliverance" meets "Gator Bait" meets "Death Wish". This movie has got a lot of action. It's not a let down. 4 out of 5 stars.

I knew about FIGHTING MAD only because it's one of Scott Glenn's movies I hadn't seen until last Autumn and because it's one of Jonathan Demme's first movies (and coincidentally Demme would direct Glenn again in his masterpiece THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS). Last October I finally saw it and I liked it more than what I expected since the low score and mostly mediocre reviews.

Tom Hunter (Peter Fonda) is a farmer that just returned home with his son for paying a visit to his dad Jeff; Pierce Crabtree (Philip Carey, a familiar face of the 1950s) is a land developer that wants to handle with his greedy hands some properties including Hunter's lands. Pierce soon employs various thugs for making people sell their lands for having coal, and among the first victims is Tom's brother Charlie (Scott Glenn) and his girlfriend while they're having a good time at home. After some other casualties Tom snaps and stars a private war against Crabtree and his henchmen using only his bow and arrow... I won't spoil how, but he'll win.

While it looks like one of those many drive-in movies from the 1970s (when videocassettes weren't even made) it's still good. Mostly because of the acting by all (Fonda, Glenn, Carey, John Doucette and a pre-WALKER TEXAS RANGER Noble Willingham) and also because of the idea. While it has already been used in other movies (and in a matter of years the RAMBO movies were made) here in a different contest it's still exciting.

Overall, not a must-see but still highly recommended if you are curious to see where some directors started or if you love the theme of a one-man fighting against an army.

Jonathan Demmes' third directorial effort for producer Roger Corman is good, solid revenge fare - manipulative, to be sure, but the manipulation is done with skill, and the characters and story are respectably entertaining.

It's a story of two opponents, both possessed of an incredible stubbornness and obsessiveness. The good guy is farmer Tom Hunter (Peter Fonda, good as always), usually an easygoing guy but who CAN be pushed too far. He's returned home to his dad Jeff (John Doucette) with his son Dylan (Gino Franco) in tow. The bad guy is arrogant fat cat Pierce Crabtree (Philip Carey), a combination land developer / strip miner who wants to get his greedy mitts on certain properties, including Jeffs'. The fat cat employs various thugs who infuriate Tom with their evil methods; Tom's cheery brother Charlie (Scott Glenn) is just one of the people victimized along the way.

As you can see, Demme directs a top notch cast in this heartfelt film. Also appearing is the delectable Lynn Lowry as Toms' girlfriend Lorene. Lowry even does a brief nude scene that's highly appreciated. Noble Willingham plays the mildly crooked senator in league with Crabtree, and Ted Markland the angry local farmer Hal Fraser.

One thing is for sure: Demme does a fine job of working on our emotions and getting us to despise the villains and hope they get what's coming to them. The film also stresses the effect that Toms' relentlessness is having on Lorene and Jeff and doesn't portray him in a completely one dimensional manner. And while Crabtree may be an unsubtle villain, not all the supporting characters are stereotypes. Willinghams' senator is really not such a bad guy, and things are kept ambiguous as to whether Sheriff Len Skerritt (Demme regular Harry Northup) is also in Crabtrees' pocket.

By the time "Fighting Mad" has reached its climax, we're all primed and ready for the inevitable bloodbath. It's exciting at times, harrowing during the scene of the burning barn, and nicely realized in one major set piece halfway through as Tom commits a night time act of sabotage; it's done as a crane shot. Bruce Langhornes' music, beautiful throughout, is especially effective during this sequence. The cinematography by Michael Watkins likewise impresses.

The acting is solid all the way down the line, with Glenn immensely likable in his brief time on screen. All in all, this is good entertainment of its type, and well worth checking out for fans of the director and cast.

Eight out of 10.