Eye of the Tiger

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.

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.

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

Gary Busey is the man and this time he's even granted a leading role as an ex-Vietnam veteran, ex-convict and reborn family man forced into a position that leaves him with nothing left but... revenge on his mind. Sounds cool, doesn't it? But jeez, I thought this flick would be at least a bit more fun. Turns out it's nothing more than an average watch, really. I kind of anticipated it to be a FIRST BLOOD (1982) rip-off, given Busey's character and the local sheriff antagonizing him and all, but it's not. Probably would have been more fun if it was. Now, the main evil-doers are some motorcycle gang who've taken on the role of drug-runners near a small town. During one of their nightly pillage & rape routines, they run into Gary Busey who will not have this type of misbehaviour. He rescues some nurse and the biking gang-bangers are not very happy about this. You can pretty much guess what happens next.

There's some fun stuff in this film (decapitaing a biker while riding his motorcycle, dynamite up someone's naked ass,...), but the movie drags too much in places. And when Gary Busey does get his act together, it's basically just him and the bikers teasing each other with various acts of the disturbed. Fair enough, only EYE OF THE TIGER lacks a lot in graphic violence. The climax near the end (as implausible it may be, bombing the desert hideout, automated bazooka's coming out of Busey's truck and such) was silly fun, but the 'end-bossfight' was short and highly unmemorable. Also, the film lacks a true villain. The Boss of the gang was shown too little and just didn't do anything remotely menacing. It all turns EYE OF THE TIGER into an average time-waster, nothing more. Have low expectations and you might not mind having seen it. Obviously, it's still a better accomplishment than Lamberto Bava's BLASTFIGHTER (1984), a rather similar film, but EYE OF THE TIGER simply can't compete with stuff like COBRA (1986), COMMANDO (1985) or the aforementioned first RAMBO film. Even MALONE (another 80's Burt Reynolds action-vehicle and pretty much the same film) was better in most ways.

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.