score-10

Just the thing for a lazy Sunday afternoon - like all those TV westerns from 50s/60s which this reviewer found when perhaps more impressionable - when men were Men, spoke deep, dressed clean and drew sixguns easy fast. The story/plot in detail is (surely ?) corny ridiculous soap - to this nonAmerican anyhow - but, once that is accepted, this film can entertain as a straight "shoot 'em, cowboy" with a hero in the Hollywood tradition of the (semi-official) vigilante from the Lone Ranger to the Dark Knight. Definitely competently acted and made q well enough, this film is a nice reminder of how the fun Western used to be. Canadian Lorne Green went on to greater fame; going by this movie, Madison and French were unlucky not to do same.

If not an actual sly spoof, was this meant to be some sort of dark 'send up' of either the series itself, the genre or even America, albeit in keeping with Garner's most liked/successful screen persona from the original 'Maverick' TV westerns on to the original 'Rockford' series ? (Perhaps Garner never made the top tier of 'action' or 'tough guy' actors with his pals Eastwood & Willis because his humorous and gentlemanly streak/side/leanings do not quite fit the taste of filmgoing America) Otherwise, unless US civilisation was actually even sicker or weirder in the 90s than suggested by CNN, this episode/movie featuring a pill-popping black-belt gang boss, psycho sex- and crime- crazed kids, an unwordly saint and wacko cops was just too far overboard or 'over the top' and did not capture the original series premise or magic as straight detective drama with (sometimes cynical) humour; at least one crime scene was needlessly graphic too.

This (presumably absurd) episode disappointed and did not entertain this nonAmerican fan of the original 70s series

This is an unexpectedly classy spoof, possibly the best in some while and certainly the best that Eddie M has done since Trading Places. The movie obviously spoofs the Cruise Mission Impossible as well as the superspy/secret agent genre in general, including the original TV series but is vastly more amusing than Neilson's and Atkinson's more or less contemporary offerings. The gags are not 'cookie cutter' and the action/drama actually has tension/suspense too.The support cast is fine with femme fatale Fannke (?) playing her part perfectly while Wilson entertains as the Bond wannabe; unless some FX was involved, Eddie is in amazing physical shape. The story, screenplay and direction are well done. The gods were in a sour mood indeed for this film to not have done better at the box office; ce la vie