Two years before FIRST BLOOD told the story of a Vietnam vet killing machine harassed by yokels to the point where all hell breaks loose, there was a movie called RUCKUS, which told the story of...a Vietnam vet killing machine harassed by yokels to the point where all hell breaks loose!
Writer director Max Kleven made the low budget flick with a bunch of friends, and the geniune "hey kids, let's put on a show" attitude makes this a great B movie.
Dirk Benedict, between gigs as Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica and Face on The A-Team, played the shell-shocked vet "Kyle Hanson" and Linda Blair played the female lead, with a great cast rounded out by Richard Farnsworth as the local sheriff and John Ford regular Ben Johnson treating the proceedings with respect. Willie Nelson contributed to the banjo-heavy soundtrack. Playing out like a tongue-in-cheek TV movie of the week version of Rambo, but with stunts that look so suicidal and reckless you can't imagine what maniacs outside of a Hong Kong movie would possibly agree to perform them, it's one heck of a fun movie.
A great company called Anchor Bay put out a DVD of RUCKUS in 2000, but it has since become unavailable. DVDs on Amazon will now run you upwards of $65.90! Ouch.
SHELF LIFE CLOTHING COMPANY is part of a graphic, web, audio and t-shirt design studio daringly based in glamorous Cleveland, OH. Why Cleveland? Why not? Our screenprinting is done right here, and we get to see Lebron James play all the time.
We make high-end, limited run, 100% ring-spun soft cotton shirts with a humorous underground vibe.
We source our blank shirts from American companies, ANVIL KNITWEAR and AMERICAN APPAREL, ensuring our products are environmentally and socially conscious.
Our inspirations are drawn from a wide array of pop culture imagery – particularly from classic Japanese, Hong Kong and Bollywood cinema, 60s spy movies, vintage rock album art, WWII aviation art, spaghetti westerns; eurotrash cinema, and pro sports – Shelf Life makes a point of paying eye-popping tribute to unsung B-movie classics while also satirizing commonplace ideas and delusional behaviors.
Our designs have been discussed and featured by a diverse range of media, including ESPN, The Plain Dealer, Salt Lake Tribune, DIME magazine and Film Score Monthly.
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