m_roberts_07
I just got this on DVD and watched it. The plot has been done to death, nothing original here. Lance Henriksen does well with his character known as Stryker who is a bad ass war veteran. Stryker comes to town and has a run in with the local bikie gang who eventually over take the town so he goes out on a rampage and starts beating the living crap out of them all. The movie could have been fantastic if was a bigger budget. There were plenty of fight scenes but the choreography was slow and somewhat boring. I love good action movies with lots of fights but I have to say I was disappointed with this one.I'll give Savage Dawn a 4 put pf 10 just for the efforts put into the movie from the lead actors mainly Lance Henriksen and William Forsythe who eventually move on to become decent actors since they made this movie together. Apart from that I will sadly say Savage Dawn doesn't have much to offer for the die hard action fans.
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.
angelsunchained
Talk about a bore-snore. This 3rd rate biker film was putting me to sleep as soon as the opening credits came on the screen. The shame is that the cast included many fine actors, among them-George Kennedy, Karen Black, Leo Gordon, Richard Lynch, Lance Henriksen and William Forsythe.A take off of the Western classic, High Noon, this is basically the story of a former U.S. army green beret (Henriksen) trying to get someone to help him rid a one-horse town of a gang of creepy bikers.Everyone tries, but the script is on grade-school level. Sad to see academy award winner Kennedy in such a comedown from his out-standing performance in Cool Hand Luke. If you have trouble sleeping at night, this would be a perfect movie video to rent..........you'll be sleeping in no time!
Ozzy1977
This is the typical bad late night movie you would expect to see on cable. The movie is about a man who comes to town to save it from a bunch of bikers who have taken over. Some parts were pretty comical, but as far as biker movies go there are a bunch of them out there that are far better than this garbage. You know it's bad when you actually start rooting for the bikers.