Ruckus

The lead, Dirk Benedict, is really cool. There is a lot of comedy in the way he makes monkeys of all of the country rednecks that try to take him out. There is nothing he doesn't know about how to defend and take care of himself. His relationship with the young and delectable Linda Blair is tender and cute.

The country songs, especially "One Day at a Time," complement the hokey, but cool and entertaining story perfectly. The supporting actors, including Ben Johnson and Richard Farsnworth, are great. I've watched the film dozens of time, first when it came out on cable in 1982, and then after 2000, when I bought the VHS tape. You'll really enjoy this film.

I was too young when I first saw this movie to connect it to First Blood, knew they were similar but didn't realize until way later that this was likely born of the circulating First Blood script. Don't hold that against it though. While it does get much sillier and the repetition of the same song over and over is quite noticeable this movie is very much a product of its time and a great, fun flick from 1980. It's very much flawed but Dirk Benedict makes Kyle Hanson a very likeable protagonist. The villains are terrible, like rejects from a Smokey & The Bandit movie and the violence is more of the A-Team type with no one being injured beyond the likes of a schoolyard brawl but it is still a good time and I will always remember it as a childhood favorite. Check it out at least once and try to judge it on its own merit!

It is the same story as in First blood with Sylvester Stallone, but this film is much better and the storyline has been a lot better. I like this film a lot and it is one of the best actionfilms I ever have seen. If you like it too send me a comment.

The copy of "Ruckus" that I own (an old-fashioned VHS tape ... still the best collectible) features something I've never seen before, not even in all my many years as a cult-movie fanatic. Before the opening credits, there's a message on the screen stating: "Ruckus has a similar theme as the well-known Sylvester Stallone movie, but got released more than a year before First Blood". Ha! Seems to me the distributors were sick and tired of hearing their film was nothing but a lame imitation of Rambo. It's definitely true that "Ruckus" and "First Blood" have the same basic plot, namely that of a bewildered and traumatized Vietnam veteran who isn't welcome in a sleepy little town, and where the local rednecks attempt to chase him away.

The resembling plot is where the comparison stops, though. "First Blood" is an intense and gripping action/drama, with complex characters and underlying messages, whereas "Ruckus" aims straight for slapstick and pretty much gets ruined by its combination of excessively dumb yokel characters and endless car chases to the tunes of banjo music. Dirk Benedict, in between his TV-successes "Battlestar Galactica" and "The A-Team" doesn't has to do much acting, as he's the strong silent type - mentally scarred by his experience as a POW - who likes to climb in trees and manufacture his own bow and arrows. The gorgeous Linda Blair is utterly wasted, unfortunately. The film doesn't have a few remarkable and unexpected strong points, I must admit. The two characters of which you assume they are the slimiest villains actually turn out to be completely anti-stereotypical. Richard Farnsworth (as the intelligent Sheriff) and Ben Johnson (as the town's rich industrialist) are guaranteed to surprise you.

Two years before "First Blood", there's "Ruckus". A Vietnam veteran(Dirk Benedict who was fresh off from "Battlestar Galactica") arrives at a small town. He is trying to get back to civilization when the local rowdies decided to harass him. He uses his techniques from his military days to even the score. Dirk Benedict would years later play a lieutenant in the army TV show "The A-Team" where he is more of a slick than a soldier. Linda Blair plays a mother and widow of a Vietnam veteran who asked the veteran if he had known her husband. This movie is more of the comedic version of "First Blood". Not a satire. Just comedic. Yes, there's a lot of action, and a lot of slapstick. This movie is just plain funny. It has opened up a door to future entertainment. It was great fun. 3 out of 5 stars