For my second Rutger Hauer post, I selected another Rutger Hauer as good guy (although he is somewhat questionably "good" sometimes in this one. Wanted: Dead or Alive is a 1986 flick directed by Gary Sherman and starring Rutger Hauer as Nick Randall, a former CIA agent turned bounty hunter. The movie kicks off with Randall capturing a gun-toting redneck (they were very popular in the 80s apparently) cop-killing fugitive and handing him over to his best bud LAPD Det. Danny Quintz (William Russ). As they are filling out the paperwork, we also find out that, for the first time, Randall has finally found a woman he wants to stick with. Played by Mel Harris, Terry is getting her doctorate in Anthropology and is apparently the first non-bimbo Randall has ever dated.
Next up we meet main bad guy Malak al Rahim, a Middle Eastern terrorist played by non-other than Kiss' Gene Simmons. He disguises himself as a rabbi to get into the country and first thing he does is blow up a movie theater full of families watching Rambo. Nick's old CIA buddy Phil Walker (Robert Guillaume - love him!) comes knocking because they decide they need Randall's help to capture Rahim.
Unbeknownst to either Randall or Walker, an old CIA nemesis names Lipton (Jerry Hardin) really just wants to use Randall for bait because Randall and Rahim have a history and Rahim wants Randall dead. Lipton sneaks intel to Rahim that Randall is on the case but Rahim figures it's a trap. Randall almost gets killed and that is when he and Phil find out that the CIA has been playing them both.
In the meantime, we find out that Rahim is planning something big - the explosion of a chemical plant that will send lethal chemical fumes all over LA. While the CIA continues to try to find out what Rahim's plan is, Randall doesn't really care. He just wants to catch him and collect the bounty of $250K (plus a bonus if he's brought in alive).
So, Randall decides to pursue Rahim on his own but first he has to lose the CIA tail. They are still hoping to use him. Randall asks his friend Danny to pretend to be him and go to Nick's boat and take it out for a spin. Danny gets to the boat where Nick's girlfriend Terry is and they start to take the boat out. Unfortunately, Rahim has already found out about Nick's boat and as Danny and Terry start sailing away, the boat explodes killing them both. The CIA and Rahim now think that Randall is dead. Now Randall wants revenge too. Randall gets his friend Phil to sneak him away and get him the address of Rahim's explosives guy.
Nick shows up at the explosive guy, Robert Aziz's house and discovers that he is the one who blew up Randall's boat. Randall torures Rahim's whereabouts out of Aziz and heads off. The CIA hear about a report of shots fired at Aziz's house and are able to get another address - that of Rahim's home base. Randall goes to the address Aziz gave him - they are making oil drums for the chemical plant and planting explosives and terrorists inside them to ship to the chem plant. Randall hijacks a ride on the flatbed carrying the drums and gets to the chemical plant. At the home base, the CIA also finds information leading them to the chemical plant. The question is, will any of them be able to stop Rahim before he succeeds in his plan to blow up the plant and kills tens of thousands of Los Angelans.
I don't want to ruin the entire ending so I will just tell you this - the final scenes of the movie include one of the funniest without meaing to be funny death scenes ever! You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it! Enjoy and next up...The Hitcher...
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