Alicia
I love this movie so much
Kaelan Mccaffrey
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Lela
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Comeuppance Reviews
Jim Paradine (O'Keeffe) is a Miami Cop on the Edge who is tired of the justice system continually releasing criminals back into society. He has a loving wife and daughter, and is about to take two weeks vacation. Suddenly a gang of thugs carjack the family, and end up killing Paradine's two beloved family members, and shooting him as well. Though left for dead, he does what would only be natural after an event like that, he moves to a snowy, rural location, grows a beard, and becomes a mountain man. When the same gang of baddies shows up in this cold, remote location and disrupts his life again, Paradine gets revenge one by one, and even Sheriff Mantee (Williamson) can't stop him. Will Paradine use his white coveralls while stalking through the snow to eliminate the criminal scum and become the ultimate SILENT HUNTER? Silent Hunter was directed by Fred, who gave himself a modest supporting role as the Sheriff. He graciously made Miles O'Keeffe the main hero, instead of himself. We're definitely fans of O'Keeffe, having enjoyed his performances in Cartel (1990) and Zero Tolerance (1994) - though not so much in Liberty & Bash (1989), but we'll let that one go because it wasn't his fault that movie sucked. When he grows his beard and long hair, it's surprising how much he looks like Ashton Kutcher. When the movie starts out, he's on the streets of Miami, battling it out with goons with outstanding hair. The next thing you know, we're in the midst of a snowy wilderness slog. The movie should have stayed with what was going on in the first third, where ideally Miles battles a bunch of meatheads until he finally gets revenge on his attackers. That's almost what happens in the wilderness, but it takes a patience-testing 97 minutes to get there. Silent Hunter, while not too bad, should have been shorter and snappier.While O'Keeffe is good, Fred is good in his limited screen time, and Jason Cavalier, who plays the role of the classic 90's psychotic, cliché-spouting baddie, Dewey, is good, truly the movie is stolen by one Dakota Horvath. Who is Dakota Horvath you ask? Well, he can only be described as a "pint-sized Sinatra" - a young tot who, dressed in a tuxedo, belts out a classic tune like a man four times his age. This occurs at Paradine's daughter Kathy's (Rafuls) birthday party. This is the sort of entertainment normally seen at a 12 year old girl's birthday party, right? Our hats go off to you, Dakota Horvath, wherever you are.So while the momentum slows during its overlong running time, Silent Hunter isn't without some redeeming qualities. Like the song, "You're A Long Way From Home", by Raymond Fabi and Mark Hillard, and interestingly there is a poster for the movie Scarecrows (1988) on someone's office wall. While it's not a showcase for on screen Fred, Silent Hunter makes a relatively decent one-time watch.For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com
ian-crowley
First off, I can understand being disappointed if you (like some previous reviewers) rented this expecting a half-decent, legitimate action movie. If that is the case, however, you obviously either don't rent enough action movies, or you got the rare blank, black-covered version that didn't list the cast and director.Silent Hunter was no Cartel, but it paid the bills. Highlights included Miles' bullet-proof sternum, which absorbed three bullets from about 10 feet away, his obviously pasted on rustic mountain-man beard, the wheelchair bound veteran, apparently of WWI (at least he called it "the Great War"), the love interest reprising her role from Battlefield Earth, the corner store grenade salesman, and the villain's female henchman who switched between being Debbie Harry and Pat Benetar depending on the situation.Overall, the movie is more than worth it, and ends on a brilliant note as Miles walks off triumphant as an amazing 80's guitar-rock clone plays. The film was also made much more amazing knowing who was directing. Fred Williamson was like a renaissance master and Silent Hunter is his Mona Lisa. I hear his moustache did the cinematography.
jbav_99
This movie had to be one of the worst movies I've endured in a long time! I've seen better acting at my son's elementary school Christmas play! If it wasn't for Fred's girlfriend getting out of the bed this movie would have been a total waste of an hour and a half. What are the chances of these two-bit criminals running into one of their previous victim's in a place way up north in a snow covered two horse town? Well whoever wrote the script thought it could happen...I caught it on cable and I am glad that I didn't spend $4.99 on a rental. Oh and the ending, it looked like they just wanted to end it and had some brainstorming meeting and came up with the idea that the last bad guy would actually climb down the rope that the good guy shot around a tree......Whew! Now that was really climactic!!!!! Please if you have any cinematic sense you WILL not sit through this piece of garbage!!!!!
Kuratowa
There are few movies in which all actors can be said to be wooden. This is one of them. Even the kids at the birthday party at the beginning seem to be reading of cue cards. Have you ever seen kids look enthusiastic when they really are not? Here is your chance. The only actor who brings any presence to the film is Fred Williamson, veteran actor of blaxploitation classics such as Black Ceaser. He reprises these roles right here, in particular the swinging ladies' man.The plot basically revolves around an ex-seal and cop nearly gets killed after watching three criminals kill his daughter and wife in Miami. He recovers and moves to be a hermit-like mountain man in some northern state. Until, as in such movies often happens, the criminals come to that VERY SAME town and he gets the chance to extract his revenge.Despite poor sound, poor action, wooden acting, and implausible set-ups. Here is where this film breaks down. It takes two-thirds of the movie to set up the avenger hunting them down one-by-one. The wrap-up is too fast, he needs Fred to take them down, and it elicits sympathy for the crazed killers in much the same way other thrillers make you care for innocent victims. The only high part is the cheesy 80s power ballad as our hero walks away triumphant, but suddenly alone (what happened to Fred?).
