Among all Chuck Norris movies I've watched so far, there were a few I rather liked (especially "Missing In Action" was so hilarious they had to quote it in "Hot Shots 2"),but "Lone Wolf McQuade" is the first time I actually loved every minute. I confess. There are many good reasons for it, though. Already in the opening scene, I noticed the excellent music by Francesco De Masi. The guitars, bells, trumpets, harmonicas are straight from the school of spaghetti western and turn every close-up into larger-than-life drama. David Carradine is a opponent way ahead of the villains Chuck battled in other flicks. Barbara Carrera ("Never Say Never Again") catches the eye as a widow falling in love with Chuck. The story is (intentionally or not) kept as basic as possible: hero meets bad guys, tries a solution with violence, doesn't work, tries MORE violence, then it works. Much in this movie defies reason and logic, but don't ask "why?", just view it as a kind of ritualistic fantasy western in a modern day decoration, thus it can be great fun. And you learn a lot of useful things, for example: you can revive a seemingly dead and definitely buried man with two cans of beer. And don't miss one of the first computer hacking scenes in film history, you won't believe your eyes.

Chuck Norris isn't much of an actor. Basically, he plays the same character in every movie. Most of those films qualify as predictable pabulum, but "Lone Wolf McQuade" ranks as his best actioneer. This violent shoot'em up with kung fu never wears out its welcome and it boasts a terrific orchestra soundtrack from Spaghetti western composer Francesco De Masi who scored "I Am Sartana, Trade Your Guns for a Coffin," "Any Gun Can Play," and "Seven Pistols for a Massacre." David Carradine provides Norris with one of his most worthwhile adversaries, and they have a great fight before fade out. "Big Bad Mama" director Steve Carver stages several exciting shoot outs and "Lone Wolf McQuade" never runs out of steam. The best scene occurs about 80 minutes into the action after the villainous Carradine takes Norris prisoner and buries him alive in his Dodge truck at Carradine's remote airfield somewhere in the desert. Earlier, Norris and female co-star Barbara Carrera wallow in each other's arms in the front yard of his house with a water hose between them spouting water. Talk about sexually charged tension! The supporting cast is far above-average with Leon Isaac Kennedy, L. Q. Jones, R. G. Armstrong, Robert Beltran, Sharon Farrell, William Sanderson, and a bunch of scruffy looking dastards that are either swapping lead or fists with our hero. Clearly, "Lone Wolf McQuade" served as a prototype for his television alter-ego "Walker, Texas Ranger."

I don't usually like Chuck, but this one hit the spot. I thought the producers could have left out the cornball love scenes, but it still played pretty good. It was totally predictable, particularly the big kick-off between Chuck and Carradine at the end. If you like martial arts, car chases, explosions and hammy, overdone acting then you will go for this one. Funny, Chuck seems to be a crummier actor now than he did when filming this movie.