With Rutger Hauer’s recent passing, many reflected on a long and varied career that included memorable bad guys (The Hitcher, Nighthawks), heroic warriors (Ladyhawke) bizarre adverts (Guinness, Lurpak) and post-apocalyptic sports dudes (Salute of the Jugger a.k.a. The Blood Of Heroes). It goes without saying that his iconic role as replicant Roy Batty, in Ridley Scott’s tech-noir potboiler, Blade Runner (1982), is the one he’ll be best remembered for.But another of Hauer’s films that is well worth revisiting, is an action comedy directed by Phillip Noyce (Rabbit Proof Fence, Patriot Games, Dead Calm), with mediocre critical scores and tucked away in the middle of his filmography. Loosely based around the classic Japanese swordplay serial character Zatoichi, but transposed to modern day U.S.A., Blind Fury’s (1989) gloriously simple plot sees Hauer’s blind swordsman, and that kid off Baywatch, facing off against some drug dealers. So while we’re not debating the quality of Blade Runner, forget all that ‘tears in the rain’ stuff for a moment, because what we really want to see is Rutger Hauer mistake an alligator for a pet dog, ‘accidentally’ thrash a barroom full of tough guys and slice some geezers up with a hidden sword.
Read the full article at Diabolique Magazine:
https://diaboliquemagazine.com/master-of-the-sword-avenger-of-the-truth-blind-as-a-bat-blind-fury-is-an-action-classic/
IMDB: Blind Fury
