Jim McQuade is a Texas Ranger in El Paso, nicknamed "Lone Wolf" because he lives alone in a hut in the wilderness with a pet wolf, ever since he divorced his wife. His boss assigns him a new partner, Hispanic officer Kayo, and McQuade starts a relationship with Lola. McQuade is shocked to hear that his daughter Sally was injured when her car was pushed off a cliff, and her boyfriend was shot because they witnessed Mexican mafia smuggling US Army weapons across the border during the night. McQuade investigates the dwarf mafia boss Falcon, discovers an arms depot in the desert, controlled by Wilkes who defies Falcon and kidnaps Sally. In the shootout, Lola is shot, so McQuade throws a grenade at Wilkes hiding in a depot, which explodes. Sally is saved.
One of Chuck Norris' best films, "Lone Wolf McQuade" is a surprisingly simple and effective action investigative film that defies clichés, and was so influential and genuine that it even inspired the TV show "Walker, Texas Ranger". The director Steve Carver refuses to show the title hero as a one-dimensional good guy: McQuade has flaws, is divorced, and even scorns his lover Lola for vacuum cleaning his home, throwing away his beer and replacing it with vitamins, but then apologizes. One slow-motion scene where they playfully embrace on the ground, with the water hose running, is even wonderfully romantic, whereas the opening sequence where McQuade is observing horse thieves with binoculars from a cliff, without any dialogue, is so expressionistic and sharply focused that not even S. Peckinpah would have been ashamed of it. Naturally, several cheesy 80s lines are amusing, staying true to the action genre they appeared from—when McQuade is observing the attractive Lola riding a horse, his friend cannot resist as to comment: "How would you like to bite that in the butt, develop lockjaw, and be dragged to death?" When one of the villains hits McQuade's partner Kayo, throwing him on the ground, he says: "Remember me?" Cue to Kayo taking his gun and shooting him while lying down, replying: "I never forget an asshole." Lola, played by Barbara Carrera, is a surprisingly energetic and three-dimensional character, who refuses to remain passive. In one sequence, while she is sitting with McQuade in a bar at a table for a date, a random punk approaches her and says: "How about a kiss, baby?" McQuade wants to react, but Lola just gives him a sign to remain seated, as she stands up—and slaps the punk herself! The finale loses ground to the typical martial arts fighting and the cliche of the villain shooting someone the hero loves to motivate him to fight even more, which is weaker than the rest of the film. Nonetheless, "Lone Wolf McQuade" shows that even seemingly ordinary stories can be executed in a few refreshing, extraordinary ways.
Grade:++
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