Synopsis:
With help from his eager new partner (Robert Beltran), Texas ranger J.J. “Lone Wolf” McQuade (Chuck Norris) enters into a vicious battle against a psychopathic drug runner (David Carradine) whose girlfriend (Barbara Carrera) falls for Norris.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Chuck Norris Films
• David Carradine Films
• Drug Dealers
• Sheriffs and Marshals
• Westerns

Review:
Chuck Norris does what he does best — stereotypically embody traditional notions of masculinity — in this neo-western which was purportedly inspired by Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. While there’s apparently a popular drinking game in which rounds are consumed upon hearing the term “Ranger” being spoken, I found it more fascinating to focus on how relentlessly one hyper-masculine image or trope after another — guns, explosives, beer, drugs, horses, tanks, turbo-charged cars, helicopters, planes, smoking, seduction — manage to be crammed into this film, ranging from Norris’s initial take-down of a horse thief and his banditos:

… to his single-move slamming of a bully in a bar up onto a pool table:

… to a strategically placed image of bullfighting (I guess they couldn’t justify an actual scene of that!) behind Norris in a later sequence:

… to his chemistry with Carradine’s mistress (Carrera), who has requisite sultriness and allure but was more amusingly memorable as a Bond villainess in the same year’s Never Say Never Again (1983).

Sweater-clad Carradine, meanwhile, seems to be having a ton of fun playing a sadistic baddie who’s equally comfortable blowing people away and showing off his martial arts chops.

In his third film after Zoot Suit (1981) and Eating Raoul (1982), Beltran is well-cast but given too little to do (perhaps inevitably) as Norris’s sidekick; he’s primarily meant to represent a nervous new ranger who learns to overcome his fears and act like a “real” man by heading out guns blazing.

In the image above he’s shown alongside character actor L.Q. Jones, who has some memorable early moments as “Dakota Brown.” Also adding extra quirkiness to the cast is Daniel Frishman as a megalomaniac little person in a wheelchair:

… and William Sanderson — “Sebastian” in Blade Runner (1982) — as a buffoonish drug dealer named Snow, with coke bottle glasses.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Good use of location shooting in El Paso
  
• Norris and Carradine’s final battle
  

Must See?
No, though it’s worth a look as an archetypal Norris film, especially given his duels with Carradine.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Review
• Spinning Image Review