![]() ![]() He almost ends their relationship in a fit of machismo during which McQuade pops open a foaming beer can at crotch level and growls, "Lady, if I want to kill myself, that's my business." Lola storms out in a feminine huff, but the big tough guy immediately begs her to return. She cleans his house, does his laundry, buys vitamins, cooks real meals for him, and throws out his beer (!), putting McQuade into a complete panic. Rawley Wilkes' girlfriend, Lola Richardson (the incredibly sexual Barbara Carrera at the peak of her powers) decides she likes white hats, and moves in with the Lone Wolf. Wilkes tries to kill McQuade's daughter Sally (Dana Kimmel) for having witnessed a major arms hijacking, and this plot contrivance propels the film. Lone Wolf McQuade's nemesis, Rawley Wilkes, is a big-time gunrunner, played by David Carradine (the former star of KUNG FU). After being assigned a new partner (the rookie Ranger Kayo, played by a very young Roger Beltran, later of STAR TREK fame), McQuade withdraws to his sanctum sanctorum, a remote, filthy house in the desert cluttered with beer cans, dirty laundry, year-old take out food, gun catalogues and God-knows-what-else, all guarded by a coyote (in other words, a typical bachelor pad). This entree sets the movie's tone of violent but cartoonish excess leavened with snarly comedy.ĭespite McQuade's record of making more felony arrests than any other Ranger, the Establishment (personified in a fat, balding, self-righteous and pompous Ranger Captain) wants to rein McQuade in and make him part of the team. In the first five minutes of the film we are treated to a large scale automatic weapons shootout between a gang of modern-day Mexican horse theives on one side, and McQuade on the other. ![]() Broadly sampling Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns and Sam Peckinpah's slow motion mass destruction epics, LONE WOLF McQUADE established Chuck Norris as a scion of the Clenched Jaw School of Acting personified by Kirk Douglas, James Coburn, Lee Marvin, and the early Clint Eastwood. This A- movie is a cinematic monument to macho men, albeit with it's tongue firmly jammed into it's cheek. In what ranks as his finest starring vehicle ever, Chuck Norris plays Texas Ranger J.J. This is a prime entry in the "redneck action" subgenre." If you're a fan of action movies in general or Norris movies in particular, you can do a lot worse. Yes, it's a bit dated, but those looking for some great pure action will not come away disappointed. While the camp factor in "Lone Wolf McQuade" is still pretty high, that's certainly to be expected from a Norris movie. And while their fight scene may not quite match the legendary battle between Norris and Bruce Lee in "Way of the Dragon," there's still plenty of impressive brutality and technique for the martial-arts buff. Naturally, the bad guys have to make things personal by kidnapping McQuade's daughter, but all that does is raise the stakes when he finally does face Rawley. Joined by a Mestizo partner and a renegade black FBI agent with a classic jheri curl, McQuade plows his way through a small army of inbred-looking thugs on his way to the inevitable showdown with Rawley at the end of the movie. After all, if we wanted substance, we could watch something else. I'm not sure why, but that's just one of those inspired ideas that make a huge difference in movies.The plot is rather minimal, but the makers of "Lone Wolf McQuade" were smart enough to give Norris fans what they want: action, action, and more action. Even better, Carradine is joined in his crimes by an equally amoral partner who just happens to be a dwarf in an electric wheelchair. Even if his first appearance in the movie didn't make it obvious, you'd be able to tell from one look at Rawley that he's pure evil. Carradine fills the villain role very well as Rawley Wilkes (cool name), a smirking, smarmy, cigar-chewing gun-runner whose martial-arts expertise is matched by his fondness for argyle sweaters. Perhaps more importantly, Norris actually gets a suitable foil in the form of "Kung Fu" legend David Carradine. Yes, his character may be a cliche and a stereotype, but Norris plays him with admirable conviction, which is really all you can ask from him. McQuade delivers plenty of steely glares along with punches, kicks, and bullets, and has little respect for proper procedure, but he always get his man, as exemplified by an implausible opening scene in which he takes out about a dozen Mexican border criminals by himself. McQuade, a monosyllabic rebel who's earned legendary status as a Texas Ranger. It perfectly plays to Norris's strengths, letting him to a little talking and a lot of butt-kicking as J.J. "While Chuck Norris has certainly appeared in some regrettable films during his lengthy career (can you say "The Hitman"?), I must say that "Lone Wolf McQuade" is one mightily entertaining movie.
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