Lone Wolf McQuade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lone Wolf McQuade is a 1983 action film, starring Chuck Norris, David Carradine, and Barbara Carrera, directed by Steve Carver.

[edit] Plot summary

The main character, J.J. McQuade, is a Texas Ranger who prefers to work alone. He lives in a dirty home in the middle of nowhere with a pet wolf. He has a daughter who came from a past marriage.

The movie opens with McQuade involved in an intense battle with stereotypical Mexican-bandits--a gang of horse thieves--from which he emerges unscathed. Shaking off the dust, McQuade returns to the city to attend the retirement ceremony of his fellow Ranger and close friend Dakota. After the party, his commander attempts to curb his "lone wolf" attitude by insisting he work with local deputy Kayo Ramos, a tough but clean-cut and polite Latino. We meet McQuade's ex-wife and daughter, who is engaged to a young airman When McQuade's daughter is injured (and her fiancé is killed) after witnessing the hijacking of an Army convoy, McQuade more readily works with Kayo to find out who did this to his little girl: Kayo's computer skills allow him to track the errant convoy. At an illegal garment factory, they pick up a young delinquent named Snow, who is reluctant to talk until Dakota points a Mac-10 in his general direction and empties the clip.

As the story progresses, they are joined by Federal Agent Jackson. The trail leads them to arms merchant Rawley Wilkes, who is hijacking U.S. arms shipments for his illicit weapons deals. Wilkes is trained in martial arts and often gives free demonstrations at county fairs, where he often drubs young men who have more testosterone than training.

No good movie is without a love story. The love interest, shared by both our villain and hero, is Lola Richardson, the trophy girlfriend of Wilkes and the widow of Wilkes' late partner. Lola and McQuade when Lola saves daughter Sally by stopping her runaway horse. (Of course, Lola is killed in the final battle, catching a bullet aimed at McQuade.)

Wilkes sees McQuade as a threat and kidnaps his daughter. He also kills McQuade's old friend Dakota and his pet wolf, along with their witness, Snow.. McQuades's search for his daughter and quest for revenge leads the three men over the Mexican border for an intense battle which concludes with a fight between the two Karate experts McQuade and Wilkes.

Symbolism: At the beginning of the movie, McQuade is a stubborn 'lone wolf', refusing to work with anyone. As the movie progresses, he begins to becomes more willing to depend on others. The scene where his pet wolf is killed is symbolic of the death of McQuade's 'lone wolf' nature.

An interesting sidenote about this movie is a fact about the final battle between McQuade and Wilkes. It was written into David Carradine's contract that he could not be defeated in hand to hand combat so at the end Norris' character kills him with a grenade.