L'oeil du tigre

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.

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.

It don't matter to me.

No, it don't matter that this film doesn't have the greatest actors. Gary Busey does a great job as a Vietnam Vet who comes home to lose his wife to a gang of motorcycle thugs, led by A-number-one total scumbag with a really bad haircut, William Smith. Yaphet Kotto is a perennial favorite of mine, and he does the right thing her. Yeah. And then there is Seymour Cassel as the crooked Sheriff that needs to be taught a lesson.

Yes, the story is pretty unbelievable, but that doesn't matter. It's the little guy getting kicked around, the cops on the take, the townspeople who have ceased to care, and scumbags that need to be flushed down the toilet.

A guilty pleasure for when you need to get the adrenaline flowing.

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

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.