A tepid action saga, DESERT KICKBOXER concerns a half-breed Arizona lawman named Joe Highhawk, or Hawk (John Haymes Newton), who is haunted by the memory of having killed a man in a San Franciso kickboxing match years earlier.
He runs across gorgeous accountant Claudia Valente (Judie Aronson) and her dimwitted brother Anthony (Sam DeFrancisco), who are fleeing from dangerous Mexican drug king Santos (Paul L. Smith), mainly because they've stolen $20 million of his loot. Hawk decides to help them, even though they are
technically felons, since he's been after Santos for a long time. Obstacles in their path include a mean biker gang and Hawk's crooked sheriff (Robert O'Reilly), who leads Santos and his heavies to a final showdown at Hawk's isolated desert trailer. In the finale melee, Anthony is killed but Hawk,
breaking his promise never to kill again, demolishes the villains.
Star Newton, who played the lead in the short-lived TV series "Superboy," is the year's most dismal new action hero, whose attempt at mythic taciturnity reads more as if he just can't find his surfboard on a really great beach day. However, there's nothing much in the film to help him out, with a
cliched screenplay, stodgy direction by Isaac Florentine, rote acting, and clumsy action and martial arts sequences, the latter poorly choreographed, with last-gasp overuse of slow-motion, by Florentine.
As usual for the genre, the villain, played by veteran Paul L. Smith (POPEYE, HAUNTED HONEYMOON), comes off best. Originally titled DESERT HAWK, this film was released direct-to-video. (Violence, profanity, nudity.) leave a comment
