Comeuppance Reviews Ben Stryker (Henriksen) is a former soldier who rolls in on his motorcycle into the dusty ol' Western town of Agua Dulce. He's a man of few words, and lets his short spiky blonde hair do the talking. Or, failing that, he's pretty handy in a fight. He goes to see his wheelchair-bound buddy Tick (Kennedy), and his son (?) Danny, and reconnects with his old girlfriend Katie (Udy). But breaking up all the fond camaraderie is the notorious Savages biker gang. They come to the quiet town and start raising all sorts of hell. Led by Pigiron (Forsythe) and Zero (Jones), their growing presence in the town is pushing the residents to the breaking point. Even the local bar-mistress, Rachel (Black) has taken up with Pigiron, and no one, from the Sheriff (Gordon) to Rev. Romano (Lynch) can do anything about it. That's when Stryker is pushed to do what he does best: Stryke. Will he drive the Savages out of town forever? The first thing you'll notice about Savage Dawn is the amazing cast. Lance Henriksen is very good as the sly Stryker (who's also a byker) - another in a long line of men named Stryker or Striker that we've seen over the years. He makes a nice addition to the Stryker family. And because he co-stars with William Forsythe and the movie is about bikers, this can be considered as a sort of precursor to Stone Cold (1991). But here they're at odds, in Stone Cold they're buddies. But this is like a dry run for that, and in our opinion Stone Cold is the better movie. Karen Black was in Hostage (1987) with Wings Hauser, who was...Striker. Coincidence? George Kennedy put in a sympathetic performance as Tick, and fan favorite Richard Lynch is on board as the creepy reverend. Claudia Udy of Nightforce (1987) and To the Death (1993) gets into a catfight with Karen Black, and Mickey Jones plays Zero, as opposed to Wash Pot. We think he only plays dudes with nicknames. Lockdown (1990)'s Elizabeth Kaitan has a small role, as does, supposedly, Sam Kinison (?) and with all this star-power, you can't go wrong...right? As we've mentioned too many times before, we invented the phrase "Lone Tiger Syndrome" to describe the incidences when you get suckered into watching a movie because there are a lot of names you like or recognize in the cast, but then the movie itself is not that great, and you realize that having a lot of talented actors on board doesn't mean the writing and directing is good. Too often the scales are tipped too far in one direction. We believe that is the case with Savage Dawn - a movie with a lot of filler that doesn't live up to its potential. Which is a real shame, because it was SO CLOSE to being a winner: Henriksen is cool as the renegade "good biker" with all the great lines, George Kennedy has a rocket launcher, and there's even some surprise Punchfighting, but here are the problems...The movie is too long and too slowly paced, which might be more tolerable if it didn't primarily take place in one location. It seems the majority of the film takes place in basically a backyard. The choppy editing doesn't really help matters, and, to add insult to injury, Claudia Udy has a very unflattering hairstyle. All this movie would have needed is a snappier running time, and more Stryker mowing down baddies. Then we'd really have something. But the movie is bloated and sabotages itself at almost every turn. But at one point there is a fruit-cart fistfight, as opposed to a fruit cart car chase, so that's something different. And stunt genius John Stewart of Action USA fame is here as "Blood" and behind the scenes as stunt coordinator. Plus the score is by Pino Donaggio, but somehow all these elements never work together to make a forceful statement.As for the Image DVD, it's an obvious "needle-drop" job (for those that don't know, at least in the world of CD's, fans use that term to mean when companies don't go back to the master tapes, don't remaster anything, or do anything technical to improve matters, they literally just "drop the needle" on the original vinyl and then release that as a "finished" product - too often that is done in the world of DVD as well) - it's basically a rip of the VHS, complete with tracking lines. Luckily, we don't care, we're die-hard VHS watchers, but others out there might take issue with that. It's also highly unusual for a company like Image to release something like that. What happened? In the end, despite some worthwhile moments, Savage Dawn is a disappointing missed opportunity.

Woodyanders Rough'n'tumble, laconic, no-nonsense former Green Beret Vietnam veteran Stryker (a typically fine performance by Lance Henrikson) goes to visit his old soldier buddy Tick Rand (the always affable George Kennedy) in a small Arizona desert town. Unfortunately, a gang of ferocious bikers led by the vicious Pigiron (William Forsythe snarling it up with his customary rip-snorting brio) are terrorizing the community. It's up to Stryker and Rand to put a permanent stop to these nasty no-count hooligans. Competently directed by Simon Nuchtern, with polished cinematography by Gerald Freil, a decent smattering of gratuitous nudity, a funky, syncopated score by Pino Donaggio, well-developed main characters (there's a nice chemistry between Kennedy and Henrikson), and a handy helping of raw violence, this grungy biker version of the classic Western "Shane" makes for an entertainingly scrappy affair. The cool cast of familiar B-feature faces helps matters a whole lot: Karen Black as two-bit floozy barmaid Rachel, Richard Lynch as lecherous weakling priest Reverand Romano, Claudia Udy as Tick's tough hottie daughter Katie, Leo Gordon as the gruff, but ineffectual sheriff, Mickey Jones as evil Harley hound Zero, and wildman stand-up comedian Sam Kinison in a funny bit part as an obnoxious born again Christian barber. Good, low-brow fun.

lost-in-limbo Ben Stryker an ex-green beret stops off at a little town called Agua Dolee to visit an old friend Tick Rand. Soon after riding into town on his Suzuki and settling in. A motorcycle gang known as 'The Savages' who's led by tyrant Pigiron invade and finally take over the place. Stryker doesn't want to get involved, but that changes when he friends become the actual targets.Is there anything good to say about this scuzzy item? Tough call, as the only fundamental reason to watch this low-budget car wreck is for the tremendous b-cast the crew managed to get hold off for this project. While I don't think it's a complete botch job, it's not terribly good either. Now what a cast! Lance Henriksen (being the main character, he strangely doesn't have top billing, but the final one), Karen Black, George Kennedy, Richard Lynch, Bill Forsythe, Mickey Jones and Leo Gordon. Now what went wrong with this scummy low-budget bungle. The shallowness of the material is too one-dimensional that it heavily borrows ideas from better movies (namely Mad Max) and comes up with a complete mess of ideas that just don't gel and could have been better thought out. The clichés that are used can be manipulated into a good viewing, despite being predictable, but "Savage Dawn" seems to let it skimpily rush all by without letting the viewer soak it all up. The cast are mostly wasted in nothing roles. A bleached-blonde Henriksen is capably solid and even with his commending presence that provides an enigmatic glow to his character. He doesn't get up to hell of a lot and sometimes goes missing in action. Too much sideline action, but when he did kick some bikers' ass, the good times flowed. Karen Black's hissing performance is a very odd one and is all about the screaming and cursing. Although she does get into one memorable catfight with Claudia Udy's flirtatious vixen character Katie. A wheelchair bound George Kennedy roams around aimlessly until the final assault and Richard Lynch looks embarrassed as a wayward priest / town mayor in a very redundant role. An on edge Bill Forsythe simply chews it up as the head honcho of the notorious biker pack.The junky story (written by William Milling and Max Bloom) has that cheesy comic book getup and very much is influenced by the western genre. Just look at the villains for that. How they came up with their names is mystery. Maybe they drew them out of a hat. It's pretty second rate material that more often moves onto one lacklustre scene after another. Unfunny comical elements are chucked in and as well a bit of sleaze. Tacky exploitation that doesn't get gritty enough and the deaths are quite laughable. A clumsy script is filled convoluted details and unbearable trite. Simon Nuchtern's spotty direction was by the numbers and tepidly laid out. One or two intense scenes can't makeup for its tortoise-like pacing and many cack-handed stunts. The cardboard sets had down 'n dirty look, but lack that organic sense. The gravel-like cinematography by Gerald Feil was better handled when the main focus wasn't on the town, but on the desolate backdrop (like the beginning and ending climax of the film) with some neat camera touches. Pino Donaggio's clunky music choices are drowned out by its own incompetence."Savage Dawn" is a forgettable quickie midnight movie that's a definite misfire for most part. There are better and more convincing exercises of the same ilk out there.

Joey Jones (sullivanradley) I saw SAVAGE DAWN -- for the first, and, sadly, last time -- when I was 14 years old (I'm 32 now); my cousin and I rented it on tape from Southern Star (a cool, now-defunct video store that featured movie rentals and, in the back, a couple of pool tables, a pinball machine, a couple of arcade games, a jukebox, and some tough-looking, pool-playing locals (who were not unlike the bikers in the film) -- and it was a place that turned a blind eye when a horny, gore-obsessed teenager wanted to rent an R-rated picture). SAVAGE DAWN was cheaply made (which was one of the things I liked about), featured lots of guys on motorcycles (another thing I was crazy about) and one bike in particular -- a cool-looking, silver-gray Suzuki GSP1000. I remember a fantastically gory scene -- maybe it wasn't visually gross, but in my mind it was -- where a guy is (taken off his motorcycle, I believe, and) impaled on the teeth of a huge hay-rake. I recall a couple of seedy scenes that really warmed my pubescent loins: (1) where two slutty-looking gals approach a guardhouse (to a trashed-out, post-apocalyptic fenced-in compound) and commence to entertain the guards with very vulgar, yet sexy, forms of distraction; and (2) where the wayward (maybe alcoholic) priest (was this Henriksen?) succumbs to the beautiful, naked upturned breasts of a young temptress. Sadly, I loved it all!