Mort ou vif

After making his mark playing vicious characters in NIGHTHAWKS, THE HITCHER and FLESH + BLOOD, Rutger Hauer plays the hero in a solid action thriller,set in LA. While it is not as slick as the first LETHAL WEAPON movie, it is still quite witty and entertaining. Gene Simmons gives an understated, menacing performance as the terrorist and there's some good action.

Rutger's the MAN! I found this film at Best Buy about 4 or 5 months after September 11th, and it just hit the spot! I had never heard of the movie but being a Rutger fan I usually will spend the money to add his films to my ever growing collection. Sometimes he's the only thing that adds to the life of some very dreary films and he's in a bunch of them. The '80's however seems to have been his decade and this film is a pretty good outing for him.

It is in the B-Movie range, for sure, but it works well. Gene Simmons plays a great villain. The action and pacing of the film works well, and frankly the subject matter couldn't be more up-to-date.

I wish they were making more movies like this today where the terrorists get what they deserve and the audience can enjoy the pay back and feel like they are participating in the action.

The very end of the film is great and it certainly is a statement that works even better today. I think most people would feel the same way as Rutger does at the end of this movie and want to do the same thing. I certainly did!

For fans of action and/or Rutger hunt this movie down!

and this is one of my favorites, although he look really big and out of shape he adds some real gravity and feeling to the lead role and his nemesis played by Gene Simmons is very effetive.

Full of sensational one-liners, delievered with an absolute straight face by all involved, it is fast, furious, 80's action.

My personal favorite (used it the other day) "next time give me a kiss before you f*ck me".

In fact I'm off to the video store to rent it right now.

Jimbo

I saw this movie back when it came out in 1987, and it had a tremendous amount of hype about the Steve McQueen connection to the original 1950s TV series. Steve McQueen had died in 1980, and the buzz about the Wanted Dead or Alive movie started around 1984.

Rutger Hauer had big shoes to fill, to capture the spirit of Josh Randall. Steve McQueen's Josh Randall character was very direct and to the point. He was not sentimental at all, and he often had to use his smarts and his sawed off rifle to get out of trouble. Josh Randall also used a lot of snappy dialogue and quick wit. Josh never stayed in one place. He was always on the move, making decisions on impulse. He loved women, but he was never in love.

Rutger Hauer's version of the character is very morose and sentimental. He is in love with a girlfriend. He has a boat that is also his man-cave, and a warehouse that is his main headquarters. Rutger has a motorcycle, but he is very much grounded to his possessions. He is not a traveling bounty hunter in this movie. Hauer is very methodical, his style is closer to Hunter, or Walker Texas Ranger than to the original Josh Randall. The spirit of the TV series Renegade was closer to the original Wanted: Dead or Alive, than this movie.

The action is typical of a Chuck Norris movie, The A-Team TV series, or Hunter TV series. There is a fair amount of shooting, explosions, and killing. Gene Simmons plays a major role in this movie, and that is a plus for KISS fans!

This movie is not bad, but it could have been better. There was a feeling from the tone of the movie's ending that sequels were intended, or a TV series re-boot, but it never happened. This film is an interesting footnote to the legacy of the original Wanted: Dead or Alive TV series.

I watched this movie now for the first time, but it made me feel very familiar. It was like all those action movies that I watched from tv in mid-90's when I was very young. This means two things. It's got the classic b-movie cheese, the style before everything was done with computer effects. But also, I get the irritating feeling that it's "not a very good movie". Even when I was a teenager I sometimes felt this same thing when watching action movies. I liked them but at the same time even as a youngster I sometimes felt a bit stupid, like wasting my time with those movies.

Rutger Hauer is a cool actor and for some reason I haven't ever seen many of his films. But now I started to check them out because fans of cheesy action movies often mention Rutger's name as some sort of cult icon. He does have a certain charm and makes this movie enjoyable.

I was maybe expecting a little bit more action. There are big guns but they are being shot only rarely, and most of the film is like a detective thriller drama. But the action scenes are nicely divided throughout the movie so it doesn't get too boring.

So, I'm not going to take a Rutger Hauer tattoo but I'm probably going to watch a couple more of his movies.