Blastfighter (1984)

A former policeman sets out to unleash violent vengeance upon deer poachers when they rape and kill his long lost daughter.

Director:

Lamberto Bava

Writers:

Luca De Rita, Massimo De Rita,

Stars:

Michael Sopkiw, Valentina Forte, George Eastman

Cast

Cast overview:
Michael Sopkiw	...	Jake 'Tiger' Sharp
Valentina Forte	...	Connie (as Valerie Blake)
George Eastman	...	Tom
Stefano Mingardo	...	Wally (as Mike Miller)
Ottaviano Dell'Acqua	...	Matt (as Richard Raymond)
Massimo Vanni	...	Dying Police Officer (as Patrick O'Neil jr.)
Elizabeth Forbes
Carl Savage
Michele Soavi	...	Pete (as Michael Saroyan)
George Williams	...	Cochran

Storyline

The hero of the film is a murderer. He is an ex cop who served eight years in prison for the murder of his wife's murderer. Upon release from prison, he decided to return to his hometown to escape from his past. En route to his ancestral home in Georgia, one of his friends gives him a gun that fires grenades, smoke bombs, steel balls, rockets, and several other types of projectiles. One day, while just looking through the scope of his gun for no apparent reason, he happens to spot a large buck. He follows the deer with the scope and is surprised when he witnesses a group of local boys poach the deer. The hero puts the gun under the floorboards of the porch, where it remains until very near the end of the movie. Upon investigating the poaching, he uncovers a horrifying poaching ring run by a man from Hong Kong who is paying the locals a couple of thousand dollars per deer and using bits of the animals for Oriental medicines. Our hero decides to clean up the ring. However, he runs into ...

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Plot Keywords:

deer | gun | poacher | hong kong | police | 

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Taglines:

The Force Of Vengeance

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Force of Vengeance

Filming Locations:

Clayton, Georgia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Medusa Distribuzione, National Cinematografica, Nuova Dania Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lucio Fulciwas originally attached to direct, but eventually backed out to make _New Gladiators, The (1984)_

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Quotes

Jake 'Tiger' Sharp: Where are your balls, Connie?

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Crazy Credits

Footage contained in this film which depicts animals suffering was archive documentary footage and was not instigated by the production company.

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Connections

References A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

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Soundtracks

"Evening Star"
Written by Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, and Maurice Gibb
Performed by Tommie Baby

User Reviews

BLASTFIGHTER (Lamberto Bava, 1984) *1/2

Italian Cinema from the 1970s onwards is littered with examples of rip-offs of big-budget Hollywood productions, from THE GODFATHER (1972) to THE EXORCIST (1973) and from JAWS (1975) to DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978); this one here is, believe it or not, a lamentable attempt at a FIRST BLOOD (1982) clone! To start things off, leading man Michael Sopkiw hardly has the adequate physique to survive some of the harder ordeals he goes through in this film and his character is made even less interesting than Stallone's John Rambo by having him a disgraced police officer with a teenage daughter who eventually tags on for the wild ride with her fiancée' and her father's pal!! What is this - shades of DELIVERANCE (1972), now? Incidentally, the backward kid in that film's celebrated "Duellin' Banjos" sequence also makes a cameo appearance here very early in the film (as does the camera equipment, twice, in a poorly-executed car chase towards the end)!

Anyway, predictably, Sopkiw is left all alone before long and he exacts a terrible revenge on his increasing horde of trigger-happy pursuers via his ultra-sophisticated multipurpose rifle which, unfortunately for the viewer, he only decides to use ten minutes before the end credits!! Euro-Cult staple George Eastman plays Sopkiw's old hunting buddy whose younger brother (along with his beer-guzzling cronies) is causing all the mayhem. What this film does have that makes it stand out ever so slightly is its unusual (for its time) pro-ecological stance since the trouble literally starts over the merciless mistreatment and exploitation of deers and the wildlife in general by the greedy, ignorant rednecks.