Fire roller (film)

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Movie
German title Fire roller
Original title Firewalker
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1986
length 104 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director J. Lee Thompson
script Robert Gosnell
production Menahem Golan
Yoram Globe
music Gary Chang
camera Alex Phillips Jr.
cut Richard Marks
occupation

Feuerwalze (Original title: Firewalker ) is an American adventure comedy from 1986 with martial arts and outdoor elements. Directed by J. Lee Thompson . The film was produced by Cannon Films and Chuck Norris , Louis Gossett Jr and Melody Anderson play the leading roles.

action

The film begins in a desert, in which the adventurers friends Max Donigan and Leo Porter speed away from their pursuers in a jeep. They are placed and tied to four posts in the sun and left to their fate. The Chinese general had taken revenge on them. However, the two can free themselves from this predicament.

In a tavern , the two are hired by a stranger, who introduces herself as Patricia Goodwin , to look for an Aztec treasure with her in South America . In a cave they come across evidence of Spanish immigrants who had been there in 1527 and find a golden Aztec dagger. An old medicine man named Tall Eagle tells you the stories of the settlement by the Spaniards, the Aztecs and Maya of the 16th century. There they come across the story of the fire roller and his gold treasure. The shaman hands Patricia a pouch to protect her. Following an inspiration from Patricia's, they decide to look for the treasure in San Miguel. During the night there is an attempted murder of Max, which was commissioned by the shaman El Coyote . A spiritual summoning battle ensues between El Coyote and Tall Eagle . The attempted murder can be averted.

In San Miguel they meet a man named Boggs , who sells them information that will lead them to a village called Chajal. They travel there by train disguised as Christian clergy. A man is shot when the train is stopped by soldiers who want to check identity documents. The clergy are to speak the sacraments of death. It becomes clear the man is not badly wounded and will survive. The false clergy are thanked profusely and they can travel on to Chajal unhindered.

Once there, the three of them have to find that the village has been destroyed. They are pursued by soldiers and eventually captured. It turns out that the leader of these men is none other than an old friend Max '- Corky Taylor . He welcomes the three of them in a friendly manner and gives them a VW Beetle for the onward journey, with which they drive through the jungle.

During the night Leo suddenly disappears without a trace. After a long search, Max and Patricia finally make their way deeper into the jungle. After losing their car in a river, they continue on foot and find the temple. There they are looking for the treasure and in a cave they come across Leo, who is hanging tied by his arms over boiling water. El Coyote sets the life of Leo against the surrender of the Aztec dagger. After a long negotiation, Patricia can go and Max hands over the dagger. However, they are duped by the shaman who wants to sacrifice Patricia in a ritual. While Leo and Max are able to escape from the cave, Patricia is said to be sacrificed in a ritual to transfer the power of his grandfather's fire roller to El Coyote . At the last moment, Max can shoot the shaman. However, the three of them have not forgotten the search for the Aztec gold and through inspiration Patricia comes up with the idea of ​​sticking the Aztec dagger in the offering table. This opens up access to the lower level. There they will find all the expected gold.

After getting rich with the gold, they try to leave the temple. There they meet El Coyote again , for whom the shot was not fatal. A fight breaks out, which Patricia decides with the dagger in the shaman's back. Then she spreads the contents of the bag that Tall Eagle had given over the shaman and leaves the temple with her friends. The shaman's body goes up in flames.

The film ends in a restaurant by the sea. Just as they had dreamed, they sat together with a good meal, wine and in a paradise. In the background you can see the Chinese general at the bar, who grinned and said "the world is very small".

background

The cost of producing the film was approximately $ 9 million. The shooting took place entirely in Mexico .

The original cut was more than 120 minutes long, but was shortened to just over 100 minutes at the direction of producer Menahem Golan. At the US box office, the film grossed approximately $ 12 million.

Reviews

  • “(...) an unimaginative film with the cheapest jokes.” (Rating: FLOP) - Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in the lexicon “Films on TV” (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 227
  • The lexicon of international film not only criticizes the film as “slow-paced” and “poorly crafted”, but also the dubbing, which pushes the film down “completely on the level of clothes”.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tobias Hohmann: Norris, Hille 2013, p. 217.
  2. ^ Tobias Hohmann: Norris, p. 222.
  3. ↑ Fire roller. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 1, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 

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