Written by the man who gave us TAXI DRIVER, Paul Schrader, this tale of a Vietnam Vet returning home after being a prisoner of war and finding his life not what it once was is up there with movies like DEATH WISH among the top 70's revenge flicks. Things start out slowly and build up to a typically action-filled finale but in-between we get an interesting look at a man who basically considers himself dead and just going through the motions of life as things unravel and just get worse and worse. I think it's thanks to the slow build-up that I get sucked into this movie every time I watch it. Tommy Lee Jones plays our main protagonists war-buddy who is more than happy to help him out when the shit hits the fan. Jones is pretty awesome as he tell hookers he has to leave to go kill a bunch of people and star William Devane does a great job of showing emotions without use of much dialogue to do it. James Best(Rosco P. Coltrane from THE DUKES OF HAZZARD show) shows up as a bad-ass who's not above sticking a fellow's hand down a garbage disposal just for a few stupid silver dollars.
As everyone already knows Quentin Tarantino named his production company after this movie which is pretty cool. Too bad that company doesn't exist anymore.
I caught this in the middle of a horror marathon yesterday and even though it's not a horror film at all it was the highlight for me. I say check it out for some hook-handed, sawed-off shotgun, revenge-filled entertainment.
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