I saw this movie back in 1987, and it had a tremendous amount of hype about the Steve McQueen connection to the original 1950s TV series. Steve McQueen had died in 1980, and the buzz about the Wanted Dead or Alive movie started around 1984. Sadly, the movie had nothing of the spirit of Josh Randall at all. Steve McQueen's Josh Randall character was very direct and to the point. He was not sentimental at all, and he often had to use his smarts and his sawed off rifle to get out of trouble. Josh Randall also used a lot of snappy dialogue and quick wit. Josh never stayed in one place. He was always on the move, and he loved women, but he was never in love. Rutger Hauer's version of the character is very morose and sentimental. He is in love with a girlfriend. He is attached to a boat and a warehouse that is also his man-cave. There is no witty dialogue from Hauer. There is no fast action either. Hauer is kind of boring to watch. The action is typical of a Chuck Norris movie, The A-Team TV series, or Hunter TV series. It looks like generic action sequences were used from some "Action Scenes Handbook." There is a fair amount of shooting, explosions, and killing, but it is not fresh or exciting. This movie is not bad, but it is far from great.

Rutger Hauer stars as Nick Randall, a bounty hunter, ex-CIA, called into a case to capture(..dead, preferably alive)a wanted terrorist, Malak Al Rahim(..played by Gene Simmons, an undeniably good heavy)whose Arab organization is bombing selected locations across Los Angeles. When Malak kills Randall's girlfriend and cop buddy(..a boat bombing intended for him), it gets personal.The premise is pretty much a by-the-numbers actioner, a skilled hunter after a dangerous terrorist and his dedicated followers while the CIA often look foolish in their attempts to capture their quarry themselves. The real fun for me, being a Rutger Hauer fan, is seeing the man do his thing..he's perfect for a role such as this, a specialist at hunting down and securing the dregs and lowlifes of society, dangerous criminals the police have a hard time capturing, often earning a wealthy pay day in the process. Simmons, while limited to a small number of scene, is quite effective as a cold-blooded Islamic extremist who bombs a theater full of innocent people(..leaving behind his hand print on the window of a phone booth, teasing the authorities)just to make a point..a chilling moment shows Malak greeting a little girl who was walking into the theater with her parents. Robert Guillaume is a CIA officer, Walker, who lures Randall into taking the job of nabbing Malak, helping him along the way with certain information to assist in the search. William Russ, in a thankless role, ably portrays Randall's best friend Sergeant Danny Quintz..his tragic fate, in an effort to help out his pal, certainly amps the frequency, adding extra motivation for Randall to take out the Arab scumbags. Jerry Hardin has the stereotypical role of incompetent CIA leader, Lipton, needing the help of others to catch the bad guys..how he uses Randall as bait in an attempt to get to Malak bares extra emphasis on the joy of seeing him fail at his job. There's always a tug-of-war between Walker and Lipton, over the treatment of Randall.The real fun is watching Randall evading Lipton's men on the street while also successfully uncovering Malak's operation through the various underlings who work for him. Randall is indeed a role tailor-made for Hauer, whose effortless cool and charisma transcends the rather so-so material. Pretty predictable outcome, but satisfying conclusion as Randall gets his revenge and then some. Pretty violent, with lots of people getting shot.

Having only a passing tie to the late '50's/ early 60's Steve McQueen helmed TV show of the same name (Nick is Josh grandson or some such nonsense), this movie is a mean and violent little number has B-movie mainstay Rutger Hauer starring as Nick Randall, a tough talking, no nonsense, 'my way or the highway' type bounty hunter who comes out of retirement at the request of Benson..sorry I mean Robert Guillaume (who always has some of the best lines in the movie as Philmore Walker) to apprehend a nefarious terrorist Arab (played ironically by Gene Simmons). He does so with tactics that would make Jack Bauer whimper in the corner, while at the same time dealing with slimy bureaucratic red-tape. This is a great mindless action flick and holds up well amongst repeat viewings. But the mere fact that the Writer/Director of this great little film went on to write and direct the utterly horrid "Poltergeist III" right afterwards boggles the mind.My Grade: B+

"Wanted: Dead Or Alive" was by no means an Oscar worthy film (or even an especially well made one), but it marks Hauer's peak in the late 80's before he ran his career into the ground by appearing in an endless string of 3rd and 4th rate films in which he was often the only thing worth watching. These days his films are often direct-to-video schedule fillers, although I have hope he could yet regain the prominence his talent deserves (in his favor, he's had a meaty role in "Surviving the Game" and a powerful three minute scene in "Sin City" that practically steals the film.) But "Wanted" is a lot of fun due to its setting, its lead character, and its renegade machismo atmosphere. Hauer gets to wear black leather jackets, pistol whip fugitives, drive an enormous truck, keep a cache of oiled-and-ready guns and knives and blackjacks. And he gets to live in a huge warehouse full of motorcycles and weights and electronics that he can play with ANYTIME HE WANTS - it's the ultimate Boy's Club Treehouse/Fortress of Solitude. He's essentially an loner and an outlaw who makes a living by supporting the law - a Lone Ranger for modern times. Any young man between the ages of 15 and 65 wanted to BE this guy at some point in his life - either this guy, or else Batman. So this film practically gets over on the lead character alone.So all the movie has to do is give him something to do, and someone to be against. For that, the film-makers chose to cast Gene Simmons as a terrorist who is, of course, completely despicable, cowardly, opportunistic, etc., etc. It's an OK choice, I guess, since Simmons has a nice sinister cast to his features, and he looks appropriately mean and hateful and gleefully sadistic in his role. In fact, it's the exact same performance that he put on in a similar role in "Runaway" about the same time. Really, though, it's nothing a dozen other character actors couldn't do better, especially with such a cardboard, unsympathetic character. (I can't help but wonder what M. Emmett Walsh could have done with this role - he could have come across as both lots funnier and 10 times more sociopathic if he'd been given the chance).So anyway, Hauer is put on Simmon's trail, Simmons get a hint of who is tracking him and decides a preemptive strike is in order, and hijinks ensue. Loved ones are killed or injured, Hauers gets madder and madder, Simmons leers and capers, it turns out that the authorities are double crossing our Hero, giving him even more reason to take off the kid gloves...any one who has ever watched 'renegade cop on the edge' movies can predict how this one will end. One nice touch here is that Hauer ends up stuffing a grenade in Simmon's mouth and pulling the pin, a 'coup de grace' that had not been used yet (to my knowledge).In spite of the formulaic nature of the plot, and the fact that Simmons is obviously only in this because he was a member of KISS, the film is much better than it should be. There is some kind of alchemy going on here - the director knows how to use his lead actor, and the pacing is good, and lots of little details work out and lines of dialog are given effective readings, etc. Maybe it was the spirit of Steve McQueen hovering over the set...who can say? I am sorry there was never a sequel to this movie with this character, but then again, it might have sucked, so I guess I should count my blessings. After all, I hoped for a sequel to "Lethal Weapon" and got it, only to watch that franchise become a mockery of itself. In summary: good viewing for anyone into Chuck Norris movies or 'renegade cop on the edge' movies, or action/thriller movies in general. If you like Rutger and haven't seen this yet, change your viewing plans for next Friday night and find yourself a copy.