Lyle Swann is a well-known dirt bike motorcycle racer who is in the desert competing in the Baja 1000, a multiclass vehicle cross-country race. Swann has a reputation for being a great rider but is plagued by technical problems from the high-tech gadgetry he incorporates into his C and J framed XT500 Yamaha. When Swann accidentally goes far off course, he stumbles across a time travel experiment that utilizes "maser velocity acceleration" to send objects (in this case, a simian subject by the name of Ester G) back in time. Swann rides through the field and gets sent back to November 5, 1877. The scientists in charge of the experiment soon realize what has happened, but Swann rides off, unaware of what has happened to him, before he can be returned to the present. While taking a swim break in a local spring, he runs into a gang of outlaws led by Porter Reese. Reese becomes obsessed with stealing Swann's motorcycle, and the outlaws pursue Swann into the small village of San Marcos, but his red suit and dirt bike scare the local Mexicans, who think he is the Devil or 'El Diablo' as the villagers scream which means 'Devil' in Spanish. There, he meets a beautiful woman, Claire Cygne, who gives him a safe place to hide. A maverick motorbike racer wanders into a top-secret time-travel research test site which unintentionally teleports him to the mid-1800s and ends up having to fight violent outlaws for his survival. This film is a great example of what can be done with a low budget, decent story, and a great cast. The direction is broad, and at the same time both light-hearted and dark. I think it's a good example of balance in that regard. Please see my comments in the message board regarding the ending of the DVD version. I think you have to be able to remember back to the day - 1982 - to appreciate this movie. Superior low-budget time-loops starting with "The Terminator" were still 2 years away…. As a young boy watching the end credits roll, I so badly wanted the Adventure to continue. It did not. Not in movies anyway. But the book series most certainly has continued. As it turns out, this movie was based on a long-running series of books– The Destroyer series by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir.<br/><br/>So, if you are looking for a hard-boiled, martial arts-rich, action-crammed, mystical espionage thriller novel from 1971, on which the 1985 movie, "Remo Williams: the Adventure Begins" starring Fred Ward of "Remo Williams: the Adventure Begins" fame, was loosely based, you should look no further than "Created, The Destroyer", book one of the Destroyer Series.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, if you are looking for a hard-boiled, martial arts-rich, action-crammed, mystical espionage thriller movie from 1985, gently based on "Created, The Destroyer", book one of the Destroyer Series by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, you should, at that point, look no further than "Remo Williams: the Adventure Begins".<br/><br/>Both book and movie are quaint time capsules of their respective bygone eras, the former filled with "hoods", organized crime syndicates, and fresh memories of Vietnam, the latter with "thugs", sinister politicians, and Cold War mercenaries. And both feature "orientals". The chief of which, is Chuin, Remo's aged Korean trainer, the standout character of the book(s?) and the movie. He is a caricature to be sure, laden as he is with the folksy eastern mysticism, and a distaste for all things western, but with the improbable exception of our soap operas– so he is at least a charming caricature.<br/><br/>There is some talk of a reboot of the movie, provisionally titled, "The Destroyer". Meanwhile, if you already revisited this bit of mid-eighties childhood kitsch and are looking for more, may I remind you of 'Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swan'. If "Back to the Future III" didn't quite do it for you, you have another option. This entry in Fred Ward's oeuvre notably also involves the word, "adventure" in the title. And a colon.
Shodar replied
295 weeks ago