Original Title: |
Stryker
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Alternative
Title(s):
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IMDb have spread the idea that Savage Dawn is an alternative title but I have seen no proof of this. |
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Year
of Release:
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1983
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Duration:
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80 minutes 40 seconds PAL (with removed footage) |
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Country
of Origin:
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Tagline(s): |
After the holocaust, nothing matters but survival - Pal VHS
A warrior of tomorrow on the highway to hell - NTSC VHS ...water is power and he who controls the water controls the world! - Pal VHS |
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Reviewed
Version Rating:
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Review: |
The past few reviews I have written have all been pretty negative. This will not be the case for 1985's Stryker.
OK, fine, I may make this film out to be a lot better than it actually
is, but I liked it. It was exactly what an 80's PA should be all about.
We have deserts, silly vehicles, endless bullets and lots of leather. Yep, that's right! Voice-over. Apparently the war was started in error. Presumably, that's why
nukes were dropped in the middle of the desert, too, as that's the nuke
we get to see. Nobody knows why there was this error, and that's fine by
me. No politics. No messing, just straight into it. Additionally we are
told that there's very little water. Thanks Mr. Voice Over Guy!
 Striking. By my reckoning this is Cirio H. Santiago's first PA. He's one of the top PA directors with Wheels of
Fire, Dune Warriors, Raiders of the Sun and Equalizer 2000 all under his belt. Surprisingly,
I think this is one of his best efforts. There's a lack of
confidence in some of the camera work, but this leads to some nice long
wide shots that gives the world a good desolate feeling. Visually,
everything is nice and clear. Unfortunately, plot wise there is some
confusion for the first 20 minutes. Never fear though, all is revealed soon enough.
We start out with a chase sequence. If you don't like chases then this is not the film for you, because there are a lot of chases coming up. A woman is being chased on a bike by some typical gang members (in a car). After a little driving she ditches the bike and runs into the sand dunes. The gang chases after her. Our good friend Stryker (Steve Sandor) just happens to be in the vicinity so he decides to follow. The woman arrives at a tent and reaches for a bow and arrow but is too late, the gang catches her. Water is the reason they were chasing her, apparently, as she has a couple of sheepskin flasks. Luckily for her, two guys come to her rescue, Stryker and a red neckerchief guy called Bandit (although you don't actually learn his name for an hour) who was following her for a different reason, take out all but one of the gang members. The survivor runs away, gets in the car and drives off. Stryker and Bandit have a little face-off about who gets the water and at this point the woman manages to escape in Stryker's car.   Safety protocol went out the window after the bomb.         Bandit has been sent to
find the woman by Truman, the leader of a group of good guys. Stryker
is your average wasteland wanderer. Because the woman knows where to
get more water, Stryker teams up with Bandit to get her back. On their
travels they bump into a group of Jawa-like midgets. Stryker is a nice
guy (for a wasteland wanderer) and gives them some water (though before he almost
killed Bandit over that same water), although one of the Jawa's seems to get the bulk of the handout.
   
"Water, water, water" The woman's (who I am ceremoniously naming Rebela due to her lack of obvious name) bad luck
continues as her vehicle runs out of petrol. The gang member who
escaped earlier is now back with more men. She's chased down and dragged
back to their base. Luckily for Stryker (whom is watching what is happening from a distant dune) he gets his car back. Strangely, it
isn't where Rebela parked it and it's running again too. Spooky.
Meanwhile a group of women, who I'm going to call the Amazons (to make
things easier), are watching everything unfold from up on the hillside.
    Poor Rebela gets pushed around a lot in ths film.   Time to meet the leader of
the evil gang. Kardis is a pretty average PA leader. He actually
looks like he might have some tactical intelligence, but he goes on to
prove that he's just a normal mindless power-hungry mentalist. After
being informed that the water supplies are dwindling he decides to cut
all rations to the sick and wounded, including the warriors. He
even shoots someone in the head just to reinforce how bad he is. Upon
being informed that Stryker killed some of his men, Kardis is kind
enough to give us a flashback. As far as I can tell, Stryker and
Stryker's girlfriend were once captured by Kardis. The woman was killed and
Stryker escaped after chopping off Kardis' hand. Yes, he has a hook! No
wonder he hates him.
  Look! A hook. Brilliant!   A blue tint and some slow-motion = flashback Time for the action to move
up a gear. Bandit and Stryker ambush a water tanker and its escorts.
It's all rather easy for them. The guy on top of the tanker doesn't even put up any
resistance to being thrown overboard. Still, I can't resist a truck
battle-scene no matter what happens. Why are they ambushing water tankers?
Well, it's not what you would think!
    A tanker/truck chase automatically adds to the films overall rating, no matter how good or bad it is.     In the mind of a goon: 1. "Oh, shit! Here he comes, what should I do". 2."Maybe I should punch him? Oh, where's he going? I think I will put my arms in the air for no reason"   3. "well that didn't work. Woah he's sweeping me off my feet. Maybe he loves me and wants to carry me to his love shack?" 4. "Oh dear, this is going to hurt. I really should have tried to defend myself..." Meanwhile Rebela is
tortured for information about the water supply. Kardis is annoyed,
especially when he's told the water convoy hasn't arrived. There's plenty of water for him to shave his goatee though (all EVIL dudes must have
one)!
  Unfortunately, this whole
next scene is a little too dark. A DVD re-master would be nice please!
Stryker and Bandit purposefully crash the tanker just outside the base.
As the water flows the thirsty people rush to get some. There are
endless criess of "water, water, water" from the people just to
make it really, really clear what's happening. In all the confusion,
Stryker and Bandit are free to sneak into the base. After meeting a bit
of resistance they finally find Rebela who is being raped by one of
the guards. This is mostly deleted from my UK Pal VHS but it's obvious what's going on. Stryker breaks
the guys neck, gives Rebela a quick cuddle, then they all leg it out.
    Now we finally find out
what's going
on. Rebela is from a hidden mountain village that has a fresh water
spring. She's looking for Truman to tell him where it is because she
believes they need someone to protect the town and that it's only fair
that they share the water. Bandit is from Truman's group and was
looking
for her. Stryker is actually Truman's brother (yep), but that really
doesn't
matter, he hasn't seen him for years. So where is this Truman? Well
he's not at his base when they get there. He has been captured while
out
on patrol. Yep, another kidnapping.
  "gather round everyone and check out my new hat!" Yep, some of Kardis' men
have captured Truman and decided to bury him in the sand. They even
have the group of midget Jawa people tied up. "water, water" begs
Truman. Kardis' commander helps him out by relieving himself on him (stolen from the miniseries of Shogun I am told).
Yeah, thanks for the liquid. That's a real help.
    Is this guy Scotish? Stryker, Bandit and a
couple of others sneak up to rescue Truman. Why didn't the whole army
storm in? Anyhow, there's a nice little fight. Stryker saves the Jawa's
(they are becoming real friends) who help dig up Truman. Where does the
hole go, though? Unfortunately, there are still loads of enemies so they
quickly retreat.
    Wait a second - where did the hole go? The Amazons turn up again and help cover their escape. Mission accomplished.
  New invisible arrows. Careful you don't get your hair stuck!   That night Truman chats
with the Rebela and decides to go
and join forces with the group who has the fresh water spring. When
everybody is asleep, the
Amazons appear yet again and this time kidnap Rebela (yes, again).
They are from
the water place (from now on called LottaWattaVille for ease) group and
don't want anybody to know where it is, unlike Rebela who thinks they
should share there good luck. Strange how
the water group are protected by a group of crossbow-toting women.
That's
the future for ya. Every woman in the film has tight underwear,
mostly leather, and nothing else. Obviously, this is a necessity in the
future, too.
On their way back to the hills they are chased by some more of Kardis' men, this time in tanks. Yikes, those tanks are fast. No joke, really fast. Not a bad chase, but it does drag on. There's a bit of an on-foot fight too with swords. The group spits up, and eventually Truman and co turn up and grenade one of the tanks. Two of the surviving Amazons head back to LottaWattaVille and one Brown haired Amazon (we will call her Ama) with Rebela is persuaded to join up with Truman.           So off they all head to the
hills. Truman has quite a big convoy. On the way they do a bit of
moralizing and there are some romantic glances, firstly between Stryker
and Rebela and secondly between Bandit and Ama. Woah
look, there is a woman with trousers on (I simply will not accept such foolishness in my PA movie...)!
      Look - that woman has trousers! So now we have much more
convoying and plenty of shots of Kardis and his four-tank army. I
imagine a lot of people could get quite bored of this, but I'm quite
happy. Tanks = good.
    Truman and co finally arrive at LottaWattaVille. This spring is at the top of a little mountain. Now, I
may be totally wrong here, but shouldn't a freshwater spring be further
down? It turns out that Rebela is the daughter of the red-robed leader of LottaWattaVille, an old friend of Truman's (is everyone related in this movie?). Truman is begrudgingly handed control of the place so they can be prepared to defend it from Kardis.
Bandit and Ama get it on in a long drawn-out scene that ends before you may expect. Another waste of time. Stryker decides to leave. This isn't his fight and as any self-respecting wanderer (think Han Solo) he wants to leg it before it's too late. Stryker and Rebela have a passionate kiss but it's not enough to keep him there.       Both of our heroes get their girl. The very second that
Stryker steps out of LottaWattaVille he's captured by some of Kardis' men
in a big net. Not so cocky now, Stryker! They drag the poor guy all the
way to Kardis who has parked up nearby. Kardis gloats a little
and then, instead of just shooting him, he hands him over to some of his
men to kill once he has left with his tanks. A typical schoolboy error
from Kardis there (he could be a Bond villain - he has the beard for it).
        Twice now Stryker has
helped out the Jawa's, and now it's time for them to repay their debt.
Just when Kardis' men start attacking Stryker the Jawa's appear and
rescue him. They even wash his head for him! What a waste of precious
water. Now, I imagine a week or two in hospital and he may have
recovered.
    Attack of the Jawa's The big battle begins.
After bombarding the base with what looks like flour bombs for a while,
Kardis and his men move in. Lots of shooting, lots more shooting.
General battle stuff. Not bad. The same extras get shot over and over
again (they don't even seem to change clothes). Bandit manages to take down loads of enemies. Coming up from the
rear the Jawa's attack the people who stayed with the tanks.
        After collecting weapons
from the tanks the Jawa's pass a high-calibre machine gun to Stryker,
who is amazingly almost fully recovered. Amazing. And guess what?
"Yargh!!!!" Every bullet hits!
     "Yargh!!!!"   Somehow, despite all the
fighting outside, both Stryker and Kardis find themselves in the mountains caves.
Instead of fighting properly, they decide to roll around on the floor a
little. It's certainly not the greatest fight ever. Meanwhile, back at
the battle, Ama gets shot in the back. Bandit gets his revenge
but is obviously pretty distraught.
     Eventually Stryker gets the upper hand in the fight. The result is as expected.
   After finishing off Kardis,
Stryker finds a crying baby in the cave. The fighting is still going on outside
when suddenly something unexpected happens. It starts to rain. Yes,
rain, one of the most common ways to end a post-apocalyptic adventure.
The fighting stops and even Kardis' men realise that they don't need to
fight any more. Stryker walks out into the rain with the baby and is
joined by Rebela. Do you get it? Can you read the symbolism?
Could they make it any clearer for us? Yes, it's a brave new world....
         It's raining! This ending was quite original at the time. |
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Now you may laugh at this, but I think there's a lot more realism in this that you would think. Sure, it's mostly ridiculous and over the top, yet you can't help but think that in the same circumstances there may well be small groups of people fighting it out for precious resources. The acting is reasonable and the action is pretty good. you get what you expect. If you expect it to be great then you will be disappointed. It's just a good solid PA. All the costumes, props and sets are fun, if a little minimalist. Okay, so maybe as a film it really doesn't deserve 8 out of 10, but this is a website dedicated to post-apocalyptic films, and you can't get much more post-apocalyptic than Stryker. |
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Alternative
Versions:
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Interesting Facts: |
There's another film called Stryker (IMDb) which isn't post-apocalyptic but is directed by Enzo G. Castellari (The New Barbarians and Bronx Warriors). Monique St. Pierre who played Cerce was Playboy Playmate of the year 1979. |
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Quotes:
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"Everyone's got their own highway to
hell. You've got yours and I've got mine." - Stryker "you're like a cloud in the sky, you look promising but you never give" Stryker to Truman |
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Connections
With Other PA's:
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Director Cirio H. Santiago has made lots of PA's. Joseph Zucchero (Character Brazil - I'm unsure who this is) was in numerous Santiago PA's. Tony Carreon is also in Raiders of the Sun. Cinematographer Ricardo Remias also worked on The Sisterhood and Santiago's Wheels of Fire. |
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Critic's
reactions:
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Unknown (from the cover of US VHS). Probably made up: "Pulsates with vibrant life" |
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Regular Movie Goers Reaction: |
They will all say it's crap but you know they are secretly enjoying it.
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For
the PA Collector:
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An important PA for your collection. Essential.
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http://www.crazedfanboy.com/npcr07/oddpcr366.html "It's worth mentioning that I had the privilege of seeing "Stryker" at the movies during its initial release in 1983. As I constantly remind everyone, back then it was not uncommon to be able to go to your local theaters and enjoy non-Hollywood exploitation/cult/grindhouse cinema. I knew what I was getting into: a sucker's bet for cheap thrills and chills, but loved it anyway. What lulled me in back in '83 was the newspaper ad and the movie trailers. I realized it was a blatant rip-off, but back then post-apocalyptic was a huge sub-genre. Those were times before pixellized penguin pratfalls and Lindsey Lohan cinema." http://www.badmovieplanet.com/inferno/archives/stryker.html "Well there's something in this flick I noticed...where are these people getting food from? I didn't see one animal! (and animals need water!) They ain't eatin' fruits and veggies because I didn't see any plants either.. and plants need water! So we can rule out fish!.. because fish need water! You know, when I'm hungry a glass of water just ain't gonna cut it!" http://www.badmovieplanet.com/unknownmovies/reviews/rev262.html This guy didn't really like the film. while he has a lot of good points I tend to disagree with 80% of them. Although there is some initial plot confusion it all makes sense eventually. "One quote from the opening narration, "...The nuclear holocaust wiped out any semblance of rhyme and reason..." possibly explains a lot of what subsequently happens. After the standard opening shot of a mushroom cloud (though why an empty desert plain would be nuked is a mystery - unless this is stock footage we are looking at), we're immediately introduced to the story and the characters. Actually, a better way to put it would be that we are dropped into what seems to be chapter five of the story. " |
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Countries
Released:
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Mostly worldwide.
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DVD
Release Info:
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No
DVD, which is a real shame, and you're going to have real trouble
tracking down a VHS copy too. Even eBay only has 2 English copies at
the time of writing. |
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Actual
Budget/Guessed Budget:
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This
depends on the vehicles. If they paid to use the tanks etc then it must
be something like $500,000, but I doubt it was really that much. |
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Media:
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| Box Cover(s): | Pal VHS (click to enlarge) Nudity on the box but not on the tape!  German VHS (click to enlarge)  US VHS (click to enlarge) The front picture is taken from a Battletruck poster  Alternative US VHS  Alternative PAL cover |
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Advertisement
Poster(s): |
 Belgian cinema poster  French poster (I think)  German poster |
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Press Cuttings
etc: |
Wanted |
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| Trailer(s): | Wanted |
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| Comments: |
Post your comments
here - Stryker |
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| Factsheet: | Check out the - Fact Sheet |
