Eye of the Tiger [Blu-ray]

Director: Richard C. Sarafian Richard C. Sarafian

Overview

The budget may be loftier, but Eye of the Tiger is essentially an up-to-date AIP motorcycle flick. Ex-convict Buck Mathews (Gary Busey) lives as quietly as possible in his old home town. The corrupt local sheriff (Seymour Cassel) would give anything to drive Buck out of town: thus, the sheriff looks the other way when a motorcycle gang headed by Blade (William Smith, who else?) invades the community and targets Buck for extermination. With no one else on his side, Buck turns to honest cop J.B. Deveraux (Yaphet Kotto), but he's a few days away from retirement and doesn't want to get involved. It turns out that the only "good guy" Buck can depend upon is a "bad guy": A well-connected Latino drug lord who owes Buck a favor. When the chips are down and Buck's daughter is kidnapped, Deveraux joins in the climactic offensive against the bikers--which, of course, boils down to a mano-y-mano struggle between Buck and Blade. You've seen it all before, but in this case familiarity does not breed contempt.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/25/2021
UPC:	0738329253721
Original Release:	1986
Rating:	R
Source:	Scorpion Releasing
Language:	English
Time:	1:32:00
Sales rank:	19,035

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Gary Busey	Buck Mathews
Yaphet Kotto	J.B. Deveraux
Seymour Cassel	Sheriff
William Smith	Blade
Bert Remsen	Father Healey
Kimberlin Brown	Dawn
Denise Galik	Christie
Judith Barsi	Jennifer
Eric Bolles	Doctor
Joe Brooks	Jake
Douglas Dirkson	Jimmy
Kathryn Fuller	Bingo Lady
Jorge Gil	Jamie
Amelia Haas	Melody
Ray Habercorn	Police Officer
Cooper Huckabee	Roger
Ted Markland	Floyd
Brigitte Muller	Kidnaped Girl
Thomas Rosales Jr.	Jamie's Relative
Jim Staskel	Raider-Napper
Timothy Scott	Deputy
Nicholas Testa	Rolls Royce Driver
Mike Walter	Ray
Jimmy Dirkson Douglas	Actor
Thomas Rosales	Jamie's Relative
Eric Boles	Doctor
Don Preston	Composer

Technical Credits

Michael Montgomery

Michael Barrett Jr.	Special Effects
Jon G. Belyeu	Special Effects
John Coles	Special Effects,Special Effects
Richard Helmer	Special Effects
Gunther Jennings	Special Effects
Herb Nanas	Executive Producer
David Peterson	Special Effects
Richard C. Sarafian	Director
James Schwalm	Special Effects
Ben Scotti	Executive Producer,Producer
Louis Siegfried	Special Effects
Tom Thelen	Special Effects
Michael Montgomery	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Eye Of The Tiger takes its title -- and part of its soundtrack -- from the song of the same name by Survivor but the music is incidental to the action here. Michael Montgomery's script takes a basic revenge-film scenario and gives it a lean, straight-faced treatment that keeps the slender storyline moving at just the right pace, with the right amount of color to keep things interesting. Richard Sarafian gives the tale a stylish veneer, making effective use of Peter Lyons Collister's slick cinematography and some atmospheric locations to give the film the feel of a modernized Western. He also handles the action, peppering the film with a handful of setpieces and standoffs that get the blood pumping. Best of all, the film has a fantastic cast: Gary Busey makes for a charismatic and sympathetic hero while William Smith creates a mysterious, frightfully intense bad guy. Elsewhere, Seymour Cassel chews the scenery in an endearing manner as the town's sleazy sheriff and Yaphet Kotto lends solid support as the one lawman willing to come to Busey's aid. The end result is modest but effective -- it won't be confused for a classic but it gets the job done with style and economy. In short, anyone who likes action fare -- particularly that of the 1980's variety -- will find Eye Of The Tiger to be a tidy little surprise.

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