Where to watch Steel Frontier
3 Stars
Mad Max meets the Man With No Name in this futuristic story of a gunfighter (Joe Lara), who goes after a band of marauders who are terrorizing everyone and killing indiscriminately. As with the spaghetti westerns, the lone gunman enters into a town where the people have lost the will to fight back and proceeds to kill off the bad guys single-handedly. But once he is out-numbered totally and wounded, some do find the capability to fight back. Chief of those who try to aid him is a widow (Stacie Foster) with a young son. Brion James plays the general in charge of the marauders.
PM Entertainment was my go-to choice for VHS films on Friday nights during my teenage years. Growing up in the era of video stores, one had to be cautious of bait-and-switch tactics, where a VHS box with an eye-catching cover promised much more than the film delivered. However, the movies from PM Entertainment consistently met expectations and, in some cases—like with “Steel Frontier”—even exceeded what was suggested by the cover art and description. Italian and Filipino exploitation films have been exploring the post-apocalyptic genre since “Mad Max” debuted, but PM Entertainment offers a uniquely American take on the theme, skillfully combining elements of both Westerns and wasteland films into a solid genre-bending movie.
Joe Lara, with his long hair and tanned appearance, serves as the anti-hero of the story. His understated delivery of one-liners suggests that he would have excelled in spaghetti Westerns had he been born a few decades earlier. Brion James, a veteran of B-movies, adds depth to his role as a maniacal warlord when he presents a compelling case for a new world order to Bo Stevenson, his second-in-command. Although “Steel Frontier” drags on a bit due to its thin script, I appreciated its production values, cast, and several notable camera shots.
Directed by: Joe Hart, Paul G. Volk
Written by: Joe Hart
Starring: Joe Lara, Bo Svenson, Stacie Foster, Brion James