Dabney Coleman, James Best, Linda Haynes

Major Charles Rane comes back from the war and is given a number of gifts from his hometown because he is a war hero. Some greedy thugs decide that they want to steal a number of silver dollars from h...( read more  read more... )im. In the process they also manage to kill his wife and son and destroy his hand. The Major wants revenge so he enlists the help of his war buddy Johnny to meet the thugs in a final showdown.

Flixster Users

82% liked it

910 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

5 critics

R, 1 hr. 39 min.

Directed by: John Flynn

Release Date: January 1, 1977

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Flixster Reviews (130)


  • May 17, 2007
    Original grindhouse grist.
  • October 1, 2008
    Decent revenge flick. Slow pacing and weird shifts in tone make this an average film. The ending saves it overall.
  • March 17, 2008
    This sucker is really a different sort of film. Maybe it's that it kinda has two slow burns, one that hits about 20minutes into the film, and then one that takes the duration to explode. The direction is amazing with this sucker, given the viewer some great sequences. William Dev...( read more)ane is such an interesting anti-hero, that kinda distances himself from the viewer at the begining and then makes you love him for some reason. The end scene of this film is one of the most entertaining and violent in history. Writer Paul Schrader needs to be honored for his contribution to the film world.
  • January 30, 2008
    Damn good vigilante film that maybe gets a bit more credit than it deserves since Tarantino decided to name his now defunct label after it. Still, a great kick arse, tough guy, you can never go home again movie.
  • November 15, 2009
    Portrays the gritty, violent realism of what men will do for.... just a little over 2,000 bucks in silver dollars.
  • August 19, 2009
    Haunting, and very powerful. Human behavior at its most brutal.
  • April 20, 2009
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  • April 15, 2009
    Badass film, just seeing the last scene and to see how Tommy Lee Says he will go get his stuff is badass enough. It was a fun and really, one of the more unique revenge films I have seen.
  • November 12, 2008
    "Major Charles Rane is coming home to war!" Granite-hard, no-nonsense revenge thriller with William Devane as a returning war hero who is beset by local thugs. Covering similar ground to the later "First Blood", this Paul Schrader scripted thriller doesn't shirk on the violence (...( read more)which apparantly gave some of the studio bigwigs at Fox the jitters) as Devane's wife is killed and his hand is severed in a heartless attack by the thugs on his home. In true 70's tough guy fashion he heads out for payback (with a sawn-off shotgun and a prosthetic hand, Bruce Campbell eat your heart out!), bringing his old army pal (a youthful Tommy Lee Jones) along to help sort out the do-badders. This sadly has nothing to do with the ace arcade game of the mid-eighties with which it shares its title. Boo!
  • August 26, 2008
    The quintessential film of the post-Vietnam loner and the Vet Revenge film. The performances and script are downright freaking SPECTACULAR and this is a memorable film for how it takes such cliche elements and gives them a weight and realism to make the audience entrenched and gr...( read more)ipped by the drama.

    EDIT: NEW REVIEW. I was able to see this as a real film print on August 16th, which turned this film from just a movie I absolutely love, to one of my favorite films of all time. It wasn't just the audience or the gorgeous print, but the experience in the theater opened my eyes to the brilliance of the movie and I saw now with more aware eyes (especially having seen another John Flynn film, The Outfit, about 6 months ago) that this is the kind of film that knows it can be a masterpiece and tries to be. Not out of pretension, but because the story's really good and the script is great. Some could complain about it, but it delivers the experience you want and gives the audience what they desire - catharsis and release in a hopeless feeling situation.

    There is nothing like seeing the audience go crazy with applause and cheers when Tommy Lee Jones utters the one line, "I'll just get my gear." :D

    If you have ANY chance to see this movie, especially at a theater screening, do so!

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