Sam Panico After Burton's Batman, Hollywood wanted tentpole movies that could make sequel after sequel. So why not turn to men's paperbacks, like The Destroyer, a series of 152 books written by the team of Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir (as well as some ghostwriters) that have 30 million books in print?Sam Makin (Fred Ward, The Right Stuff) was a tough New York City cop who died in the line of duty before being resurrected as Remo Williams, now the CURE organization's front man in the war against the enemies of the United States. Now with a new face, no fingerprints and training in the assassination skill known as Sinanju from the Korean martial artist Chiun (Joel Grey, who is not Asian and is actually a Jewish man from Cleveland), Remo is ready to battle corrupt weapons dealers and save Kate Mulgrew's military officer character.I've been begging Becca to watch this movie for years and she responded to it by asking, "Was this a real movie or one of those ones you like that no one knew about?" It was an actual movie. Maybe people didn't care as much as me, because in 1985 I was fully into The Destroyer thanks to Marvel publishing a black and white comic book version.Watching this film years later, it's weird how little happens. "Are they ever going to do anything or is this the entire movie?" my wife asked. "This is his origin story," I tried to say, but she's right. For all the amazing things Remo learns to do, he gets to do very little of them.But hey - Wilford Brimley is great as Remo's boss, Harold Smith. And Michael Pataki is always a welcome face in a film. There's enough to like in this one, like cameos by Reginald VelJohnson (Die Hard) and William Hickey (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation).This was intended to be a blue-collar James Bond. Which makes sense, once you realize that they used Bond screenwriter Christopher Wood (The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker) and Bond director Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun).Sadly, there was a 1988 TV spinoff of the movie that never made it past the pilot stage, starring Jeffrey Meek as Remo and Roddy McDowall as Chiun (who was British and also not Asian).

sol- His death faked after his car plunges into a river, an American policeman is given a new identity and forced to become an assassin for a government-run secret organisation in this mix of action and comedy starring Fred Ward as the title character. As evidenced by the title, this was intended to the first in a series of James Bond like movies that never quite took off, which is unfortunate since this is as riveting and entertaining a ride as one would expect from 'Goldfinger' director Guy Hamilton. The story is not without its weaknesses. Ward is a little too accepting of his new identity and role in life, never once pining for what he left behind. The film also spends little time on the idea of assassinations made to look like accidents despite an intriguing suggestion that the secret organisation has been run for decades as a way of the government dealing with shady figures that cannot legally be touched. All of Ward's training scenes are very well done though and frequently suspenseful (hanging off amusement park rides). Joel Grey is also dynamite as Ward's trainer who compares him to a yak claims that "fear is nothing more than a feeling" while dodging bullets by predicting muscle movements (!). The film is filled with great set pieces too; whether it be hanging off the Statue of Liberty or evading intelligent guard dogs, there is nary a boring moment to be had here.

SnoopyStyle A secret government organization in the service of presidents called CURE fakes the death of a NY patrolman and inducts him into the organization. They give him a new identity Remo Williams (Fred Ward), and give him a trainer Chiun (Joel Grey) master of Korean martial arts Sinanju. Based on the series "The Destroyer" by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy.This is definitely cheesy and pulpy. Joel Grey has great fun as the Korean master. The training sequences are fantastic and does all the well worn classic clinches. He's dodging bullets, and walking on water. It's all fun. I'm also amazed that they filmed an action sequence on the Statue of Liberty. It fun to see. The serious part of the movie doesn't work as well. Maj. Rayner Fleming (Kate Mulgrew) gathers evidence of defective weapons and faces a deadly weapons manufacturer. It's the more forgettable part of the movie.

FlashCallahan A cop who answers a call is ambushed. The next day he is buried. But in reality he is in a hospital and his appearance has been altered.He is then told by a man named McCleary that he now belongs to "them". "Them" being CURE an organisation whose job is to battle corruption.They give him the new name of Remo Williams. He then meets the head of CURE Harold Smith, who spends most of his time sitting in front of a computer and perusing over reports of individuals that have to be dealt with.They then give him to Chiun, a Shinanju master, which is the art of killing someone and making it seem like an accident or natural causes.Chiun's regimen is hard on him. Smith then discovers a man named Grove, who is a defence contractor. It seems that whenever there's a case against him, the key witnesses and investigators disappear....Plot wise, the film isn't very original. It's the same old story about good guys who behind closed doors just want money, blah, blah...But thanks tho the chemistry between Ward and Grey, this film excels in the training scenes, which are the heart of the film.The banter between Chiun and Williams is priceless, and at first it's because they dislike each other, then toward the end of the film, it's out of a father/son relationship.It's a shame that the rest of the cast are so very poor, and add nothing to the rest of the film.Set pieces are good, the statue of liberty scene is filmed amazingly, but what else would you expect from a director of so many Bond films.It drags a little toward the end, but it's well worth two hours of your time.