Savage Dawn

George Kennedy is in a wheelchair, and builds rocket grenades in his barn. Lance Henriksen is the bleach blonde hero, but vanishes for long periods of the film. Karen Black mumbles her lines throughout. Richard Lynch plays a priest with impure thoughts and lusts after biker chicks. William Forsythe is the gang leader who steals a tank, to add to the ridiculous mayhem. The movie basically has no plot, just a series of explosions between poorly choreographed fist fights. Despite the intriguing cast, "Savage Dawn" is one to avoid, even for fans of the actors. It is on a trifecta DVD with "Drug Traffikers", and "Caged Fury", which I have not yet viewed, but they will have to go some to be worse than "Savage Dawn". ....... - MERK

In SAVAGE DAWN, Lance Henriksen stars as the mysterious Ben Stryker, drifting righter of wrongs. Returning to his old stomping grounds, Stryker reunites with his friend, Tick Rand (George Kennedy).

Oh no!

Serendipitously, a hellish biker gang, including the gigantic "Meatrack" (Charles Hyman) and "Pigiron" (William Forsythe) rolls into town. They're called The Savages, and they're one of the most colorful, hyper-violent gangs since Billy Jack took on the Born Losers!

True to form, The Savages start bullying the locals right away. Can Stryker and Tick defeat these unwashed ogres before they wipe out the entire populace?

When Stryker opens up his arsenal of kung fu, the war begins!

Action-packed and sublimely bananas, this movie delivers the goods! Henriksen is at his best in this nearly non-stop fight fest!

Co-stars Karen Black as Rachel, and Richard Lynch as the slimy Rev. Romano...

Awesome Guy movie! Everything you would want and more from a mid Eighties action flick... While being more low budget that most Hollywood films this didn't feel like it, while the acting wasn't gonna gain any awards it worked! Just fun, grab some beers and friends kinda movie! A must watch for anyone who enjoys some cheesy action from the eighties

"Savage Dawn" is a major disappointment and I can't possibly recommend it. But of course, you'll ignore this statement, as well as the low rating, and watch it whenever you have the change. And I don't blame you; - I would to. Everything about "Savage Dawn" just seems so damn cool! It's biker-exploitation from the mid-80s, with a terrific small-town setting and a downright phenomenal ensemble cast, so how can it possibly be bad, for crying out loud? Well, in all honesty, I don't understand myself. In spite of the enormous potential and all the right ingredients present, Simon Nuchtern's film is an underwhelming and incompetent mess. The director somehow continuously undercuts the pacing himself, Lance Henriksen's tough-guy character is made out overly and unnecessarily enigmatic, most of the iconic B-movie stars are sadly wasted, the action & violence footage is dull and - quite frankly - the symbolical "hell" never breaks loose. Henriksen is supposed to be a former Green Beret. George Kennedy, his old and crippled buddy, manufactures rocket launchers in his basement. Richard Lynch is a priest but primarily a sexual deviant. Karen Black is a treacherous tramp. The town's deputy is a bare-chested cage fighter and has a dwarf as sidekick. What a wonderfully twisted range of characters, and these are just the townspeople, mind you! How can a film, in which people are run over by tanks and blown off their bikes by missiles, be so tedious? Cult/exploitation fanatics can only get frustrated by this type of films.

A drifter, loner and ex military badass "Stryker" visits an old friend in an odd town and encounters a Biker Gang who are bent out of shape in destroying the town. Plenty of trashiness, senseless villains who just want to cause havoc with that 80's over-the-top flare. Don't watch with any expectations except to kill some late night movie time, but It has plenty of cheese to keep you watching even if you don't try. Despite the mediocre script, and moments you will laugh at some dialog, William Forsythe still shows his acting chops here early in his career playing the bike gang leader and of course Lance Henriksen holds his ground.