The lesser known Ruckus has the unfortunate stigma of being compared to 1982's First Blood. It shares the same basic premise as the Sylvester Stallone flick but not only did it come out two years prior but it is also completely devoid of the heavier damaged Vietnam war veteran themes of that film instead opting to be a pretty harmless good 'ol boys action flick that piles on liberal doses of redneck comedy with its lower scale action sequences. It's perhaps this goofiness that makes it not as effective as First Blood and it, thankfully, never hits the grim levels of Combat Shock but it also doesn't rise above being anything more than a silly drive-in flick that you'll forget about not long after the credits roll.

Army vet Kyle (Dirk Benedict) has just drifted into a small Southern town just looking for a quick bite to eat. After ordering a hamburger at the local diner (raw, much to the surprise of the waitress) he soon draws the attention of businessman Sam Bellows (Ben Johnson) who asks some of the local boys to convince him to leave town. This leads to a confrontation on a bridge with an eye gouge and one of them being tossed over the side before Kyle runs away and ends up at Sam's home where he sees newly widowed mom, and Sam's daughter, Jenny (Linda Blair).

Seeing as Jenny is the sympathetic single mom type, they soon become friendly with each other. Cue more mild action in an ensuing dirt bike chase - that has one scene involving a tossed together bow and arrow and reminded me of First Blood - before we're treated to a cheesy slow-motion dirt bike "date" where country music twangs in the background and our two not-quite-lovers pull off a bunch of synchronized, slo-mo jumps. Of course, this doesn't sit well with the locals and the rest of Ruckus has our hero being chased down and getting out of various hairy situations before things end with a pretty anti-climatic feeling finish. Along the way we get a couple of bare knuckle brawls, a few explosions, and a pretty awesome stunt involving a window leap.

Considering that Ruckus marked the directorial debut for stunt coordinator Max Kleven (Rollerball, Batman Returns) there's not nearly enough action to keep you that interested. It might be the flick's low-budget at play but even when the occasional chase scene pops up things seem to be being played safe. Then again, this is such a tame effort in regards to violence that I'm pretty sure not one person even dies from all the stuff blowing up and crashing.

In the lead, Benedict, who would go on to play the charismatic Face on "The A-Team", makes for an affable hero even if I never quite bought his alienated demeanour. Blair does little more than play a bland love interest and watches things unfold with a look of concern on her face but she'd at least follow this up with a couple of pleasing b-movies to the tune of Hell Night and Savage Streets. Veteran character actor Johnson (The Wild Bunch, Terror Train) is pretty solid in his limited role and I quite liked Taylor Lacher who gets to puff his chest out and be all macho as "Sarge" the leader of the town's redneck posse. Also on hand is Richard Farnsworth (Misery, The Straight Story) playing yet another variation of his cop/cowboy roles as the understanding sheriff.

While Ruckus isn't a bad timewaster, it's also not a very memorable one. I kind of liked the fact it went for a more goofy tone considering its hero is a Vietnam vet but I also sort of missed the pathos of Stallone's original turn as John Rambo. Mix in some middling action and a pretty ho-hum batch of scenes between Benedict and Blair and you get the kind of flick you might watch on TV one lazy afternoon if there's nothing else on. (Chris Hartley, 8/25/14)

Directed By: Max Kleven.
Written By: Max Kleven.

Starring: Dirk Benedict, Linda Blair, Richard Farnsworth, Matt Clark.