One of Quentin's favourites, and he explains why in 'Cinema Speculation'.
A somehow very watchable revenge thriller (from opening song 'San Antone' on) with William Devane a returned soldier who's been imprisoned and tortured by the Vietnamese. So when violent criminals torture him and kill his wife and son, he goes after them for revenge, with a hook hand. (They didn't make as much use of this as I would have thought.)
Didn't expect wife's lover / cop to be wasted.
Considering he's 'dead' already (events pre-capture were when he was 'alive'), I'm surprised he bothers. Linda Haynes is the lovesick fool who tags along.
Written by Paul Schrader (and reputed to be 'unfilmable') and rewritten by Heywood Gould for AIP. Devane also contributed, getting rid of much of his character's dialogue. In Schrader's original ending, the two ex soldiers converse in Vietnamese through the final shootout, which I think would have been a great touch.
A big credit for editor Frank Keller, who did Bullitt and The Hot Rock. Photographed by Jordan Cronenweth.
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