adonis98-743-186503
The archetypical renegade Texas Ranger wages war against a drug kingpin with automatic weapons, his wits and martial arts after a gun battle leaves his partner dead. All of this inevitably culminates a martial arts showdown between the drug lord and the ranger, and involving the woman they both love. Lone Wolf McQuade is packed with terrific perfomances by both Norris and Carradine and their fight scene was just beautiful, the soundtrack was pure joy to my ears and the action just beautiful looking. Definitely a 80's Spaghetti Western Classic. (A+)
utgard14
Chuck Norris does a spaghetti western....sort of. Chuck plays a Texas Ranger (not named Walker) who plays by his own rules. He's a lone wolf and likes it that way. I felt more manly just watching him. Anyway, Chuck is annoyed by quite a few things in this film, including the new partner forced upon him and his new girlfriend who cleans his house without asking. But those minor annoyances don't matter compared to the trouble bad guy David Carradine causes for him. The two eventually square off in a fight scene that ranks among the best of Chuck's long career. Lone Wolf McQuade is a fun movie that any Chuck Norris fan will enjoy. It has some elements of the earlier Chuck-Fu years but it's definitely moving into the Cannon era, with Chuck shooting as much (if not more) than he kicks in this one. This would be the last film he did before he signed with Cannon and went on to make many great '80s actioners. Chuck's good in the role, which obviously requires very little. David Carradine is fun as the villain. The supporting cast is fine, with Barbara Carrera as Chuck's girlfriend with a tie to the villain, Dana Kimmell as Chuck's annoyingly perky daughter, and vet L.Q. Jones as Chuck's buddy. The action scenes are well-done and the direction is solid. As for my opening statement about this being "sort of" a spaghetti western. Well, that's because of Francesco De Masi's score, which is heavily influenced by Ennio Morricone. Take away that music and you wouldn't think there was anything remotely like a spaghetti western here. But the score is a large part of the film's style and really helps make this work. Not my favorite Chuck movie from his glory days but it's one of his best pre-Cannon efforts.
Maziun
"The Lone wolf McQuade" is one of Norris most known movies and also one of his best. Norris character in "Expendables 2" is referred to as being a "Lone Wolf". Also the famous TV show with Norris "Walker Texas ranger " was obviously inspired by this movie . The producers of this movie sued CBS for copyright infringement. CBS was later on issued a retro-active license by Orion.This movie is a homage and a tribute to Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns and has often been compared and likened to those movies. Even the pretty good music by Francesco De Masi seems to borrow from Ennio Morricone score from "Once Upon a Time in the West".As the title suggest Norris plays a Dirty Harry type of cop – independent , incorruptible, brave, often in conflict with his bosses. The movie makes one difference compared to Harry Callahan – the creators gave Norris quite nice love story here. It shows us that McQuade is tough on the outside , but soft on the inside.From what I've remember McQuade has got a wolf instead of dog. He likes beer , but only one kind of beer. He won't drink anything else. He's divorced , yet he's a friend with his ex-wife and daughter. He's got a sidekick who is a total rookie. He's stubborn and not always plays by rules , so he gets suspended quite often by his bosses. And it's good that he's portrayed here as human who can be hurt emotionally or physically , because that makes the movie much more interesting if Norris was just a killing machine.According to the producers, had Bruce Lee been alive at the time, he would have been offered the part that eventually went to David Carradine . Had Lee taken the part, the producers would have billed the film as "the rematch of the century". That would been awesome.Still , David Carradine is not bad as the villain Also he's a worthy kung fu opponent for Chuck. As we know a villain is very important in action movie . Barbara Carrera is good as the love interest .A fun action western from the 80's. After "Delta force" it's Norris best movie. I give it 6/10.
bayardhiler
1983's "Lone Wolf McQuade" is without a doubt Chuck Norris' best movie in every way possible, from the fight scenes to even Chuck's dramatic performance. As you no doubt may know, McQuade is a Texas ranger who does what he has to do to bring the bad guys to justice, no matter what. But when his daughter is injured for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, it gets personnel. It turns out some pretty nasty gun runners are at work, led by Rawley Wilkes who's played with such evil zeal by the late great David Carradine. To make matters more complicated, McQuade and Wilker's wife, Lola (played by the stunning Barbara Carrera) fall in love and begin an affair. In addition to all this, Chuck has to look out for his new partner, Kayo (played innocently but with toughness by Robert Beltran) and his retired mentor Dakota (the understated talented LQ Jones). Rounding at the cast is R.G. Armstrong as McQuade's annoying by the book captain who tries to get him to change his ways (what do you think the chances are of that happening?), Sharon Farrell as McQuade's ex wife, and Dana Kimmell as his daughter. But the one thing that really makes this movie stand out is the amazing music score by Francesco De Masi. Granted, it does borrow heavily from Ennio Morricone's score for "Once Upon a Time in the West" but still manages to stand on its own as one of the best epic scores of any action film. It also helps to have a little bit of cheese to make things more fun, like McQuade's supped up truck that can get him out of any situation (try not to laugh at how he and his truck get of the buried alive dilemma). But its all part of the fun. This is one of those movies that I always have to watch when it comes on TV not only because of all the above reasons but also because there is that indefinable movie magic that always draws me in; I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, this movie has it. So, even if you're not a Chuck Norris film, I highly recommend this one because as far as these types of movies go, they don't get much better than this. 9 out of 10.
AD
