Blind Fury (1989)
Dir. Phillip Noyce
First up is Rutger Hauer in Blind Fury (1989), an American remake of Japanese director Kenji Misumi's Zatoichi Challenged (1967) that somehow isn't as bad as I'd feared it would be.
Rutger was a good choice to play the blind swordsman; his cheesy factor is balanced out by his strength of character and his ability to play it wryly comical when needed.
The plot has the sword-wielding Vietnam vet taking on the role of protector to a kid who's wanted by the one-note villains. It's part escort mission and part revenge drama that descends into something resembling an episode of The A-Team that, for me, worked in its favour because I love The A-Team.
I'm surprised there was no Blind Fury 2, given that there are more Zatoichi films the makers could've plundered a similar kind of story from.
Silent Rage (1982)
Dir. Michael Miller
Blind Fury was the only one of the three films that I'd seen before, I knew nothing whatsoever about the other two, so it came as quite a surprise when the opening of Silent Rage was channelling John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) and Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980).
That was before Sheriff Chuck turned up, but even after that it strayed in and out of competent slasher territory more than once. There was also an odd crazy-science element, in the form of an experimental drug administered to the main villain by a surgeon who liked to play god.
For Chuck's part, before the big finale he turns on the manly charm when the ladies are around and has to also contend with a group of rowdy bikers whose sole function was to give the action star something to beat seven shades of shit out of in an obligatory barroom brawl.
Overall, the individual parts barely held together, but it was a semi-enjoyable time waster with some interesting eerie electronic music. Oh, and Stephen Furst was Norris' deputy; as a fan of Babylon 5 (he played Vir Cotto), seeing Furst in other roles always makes me smile.
White Line Fever (1975)
Dir. Jonathan Kaplan
My eyes were beginning to tire by the time I got to the third film. Starring Jan-Michael Vincent, it's the story of an independent trucker who suffers financial strain when he chooses to stand firm in his belief that an honest day's work is the only way to live. His refusal offends the people who think otherwise and they do all they can to make life and work a living hell for him.
Dir. Jonathan Kaplan makes the best of what he's given, but there's not much to work with in the script. It's a straightforward story of a blue-collar guy being targeted because he refuses to join the bad-guy club. It passes the time well enough, although the ending could've been better.
NOTE: while the text on the inlay claims the collection to be Region A, it's actually Region FREE and at time of writing is as cheap as chips in both RA and RB territories.
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