‘Blind Fury’ Is a Surprisingly Heartfelt ‘80s Exploitation Film [Watch]
Tyler Doupe'
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Welcome to The Overlooked Motel, a place where under-seen and unappreciated films are given their moment in the spotlight. I hope you enjoy your stay here and find the accommodations to be suitable. Now, please take a seat and make yourself comfortable. I have some misbehaving guests to ‘correct.’
This week’s selection is one of my favorite exploitation pictures of the ‘80s. Blind Fury may not be overly original or even the least bit plausible. But it’s fast-paced, surprisingly poignant in its quieter moments, and entertaining as hell. Director Phillip Noyce serves up a nonstop barrage of action sequences that build to an epic conclusion.
The proceedings follow Nick Parker (Rutger Hauer) who was injured and lost his eyesight while serving in the Vietnam War. Taken in by locals, he was nursed back to health and schooled in martial arts. Twenty years later, Nick turns up in Miami, hoping to reconnect with Frank (Terry O’Quinn), an old Army buddy. Nick finds that Frank has relocated to Reno where he works as a chemist. However, his ex-wife, Lynn (Meg Foster), and son Billy (Brandon Call) still live in the area. As luck would have it, Nick is just in time to foil an attempt to kidnap Billy. It turns out an unsavory character in Reno wants Frank to put his chemistry skills to work cooking meth. And the criminal overlord believes he can use Frank’s son as leverage. Lynn is killed by the kidnappers, which leaves Billy in grave danger. So, Nick sets off with Billy on a cross-country journey to reunite the young man with his father.
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Though Blind Fury was clearly produced with the intent of cashing in on the success of martial arts features like Bloodsport, Above the Law, Kickboxer, and the Karate Kid movies, it manages to hold its own amongst its peers. The film makes the most of an outlandish premise, keeping the viewer invested with a touching dynamic between Billy and Nick.
Nick and Billy don’t start as fast friends. In fact, at the onset, Billy is little more than an insufferable brat. But his character has a substantial arc throughout the film’s runtime. As he and Nick grow closer, Billy begins to feel like an actual human boy. It’s touching to see Nick, who just met Billy, step in and come to the boy’s aid in his time of need. Nick serves as an interim father figure for Billy. But Billy provides Nick with a sense of connection that he seems to have been missing. Setups of this nature run the risk of being overly sentimental. But I think Blind Fury pulls it off pretty effectively.
Aside from Nick and Billy, the lead henchman, Slag (Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb), is another memorable character. He’s a cigar-smoking behemoth of a villain who doesn’t say a whole lot. But his imposing mannerisms and hulking physique contribute to his larger-than-life presence, which fits right in with some of the picture’s more outlandish themes.
The flick’s sense of humor is another effective aspect. Screenwriters Ryôzô Kasahara and Charles Robert Carner don’t script that much overt comedy into the proceedings. But there’s a subtle wit that often makes me chuckle. Rutger Hauer has a couple of one-liners that could easily be groan-inducing. And to some, they may be. But Hauer pulls them off with such great sincerity that I find it impossible not to laugh. The redneck characters trying to track Billy down are also really amusing. They get a couple of great lines of dialogue and look like they could have walked out of an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.
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Blind Fury winds down with an epic conclusion that sees Nick embroiled in a showdown with famed martial artist Sho Kosugi, who, in typical exploitation fashion, is simply billed as “The Assassin”. Kosugi is a familiar presence in martial arts exploitation fare and it’s nice to see him show up for an intense round of swordplay with Hauer’s Nick. The proceedings get especially intense when the duo is fencing around the edge of an electrified hot tub. Look, I said it wasn’t plausible. Just go with it.
Speaking of swordplay, the film has some great kill sequences. One character is cut in half and sent over a cliff, another has his hand lopped off, and plenty are stabbed or impaled. The sendoffs are imaginative, brutal, and often campy.
I will rest my case by saying that Blind Fury is an intense exploitation picture with a compelling emotional core. Moreover, the action sequences are impressive and some of the humor really lands. If you’re looking to check the film out, you can find it streaming on YouTube Movie & TV as of the publication of this post.
That’s all for this installment of The Overlooked Motel. If you’d like to chat more about under-seen and underrated films, feel free to hit me up with your thoughts on Twitter, Threads, or Instagram.
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