Review of Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) by David L — 09 Jun 2008

If you want to see a typical 1980s-era Chuck Norris film, check out LONE WOLF McQUADE. It is probably Chuck's best film and he basically would spend the rest of the 1980s playing the same character.

Norris, a limited actor but pretty good in the physical acting department, was one of Bruce Lee's students and his duel with Bruce in RETURN OF THE DRAGON (1973) is the highlight of that movie. By this point in Chuck's career, he had starred in a slew of low-budget martial arts films and wanted to branch out into general action movies. So in LONE WOLF McQUADE he spends as much time shooting bad guys with a S&W .44 magnum revolver as he does killing them with his bare hands.

Davud Carradine is a reasonably talented actor (check out his perfomance in Hal Ashby's BOUND FOR GLORY) and his presence in a B-movie is welcome. Carradine, after starring in the TV series KUNG-FU wanted to prove that he was actually a martial artist and opened his own school but was never the same level of martial arts star Chuck Norris was; but Chuck was never the same level of actor David was.

This film is probably worth watching for one key scene in which Ranger McQuade is shot, beaten up, tossed into his ugly but powerrful GMC pickup. The truck is pushed into a pit and buried under a mound of dirt by a bulldozer. McQuade is not seriously injured (just a flesh wound) and he recovers, opens a can of beer and drinks it, starts the engine of his truck and simply drives out of the deathtrap. Its so outrageous and over the top, but it works.