Featured by Phil Carlson In his latest film, Phil Carlson summarizes all of his main themes. There are sophisticated psychological portraits of people, and beautiful women, overflowing with internal sexual tension, and corruption, seizing all pores of society and the fight against it. As in his previous film, he bets on Joe Don Baker, who, just like in “Steping Wide”, will confront the entire criminal elite of the town, which at the same time became his formal executive power.
Unlike most of Carlson’s films, the characters will behave easily, at ease, even when faced with mortal danger. The main character goes through his odyssey - from a stalwart player-winner of fair tournaments to a policeman framed by all the killer, from a prisoner hated by the guards in prison to a policeman. However, this will not reveal all the details of the plot. The only thing that matters is that Baker shows samples of courage, goes ahead and napalm burns out the criminal “behind the scenes”. All this is presented spectacularly, not without humor and a certain amount of sadness.
And in the background, an equally touching story flares up - our hero loses his girlfriend. Connie Van Dyke plays a singer who faces a difficult choice. Having been subjected to violence, she withdraws into herself and actually fails, even betrays, her man. She has not only to establish a relationship with him, but also to overcome her inner tension, fear of living and acting. Her character goes a long way and watching him is interesting.
So, this is only at first glance before us a banal action movie about how a confident loner “without compromises” fights crime. The story goes much deeper. As if Carlson took as a basis his famous “Phoenixian history” and showed from the heart, in the most ardent style of the “free” seventies, how to do justice. The entertaining nature of the film and its deliberate departure from realism here should be interpreted as an author’s fantasy, rather than a guide to action. In this area, Carlson's tape looks more than confident. One wonders why the film never became a hit. It’s definitely a pleasure to watch even these days.
10 out of 10