Ein weiterer Film, den ich kürzlich gesehen habe. Das war ein sehr guter Film, der mir wirklich gut gefallen hat. Die malerische Landschaft in der Nähe des Flusses (Rogue River) ist wirklich atemberaubend - lovely scenery.
Für mich passte diese Rolle perfekt zu Robert Urich. Hier ist eine Rezension, die ich kürzlich für diesen Film geschrieben habe.
Killing At Hell's Gate (1981) TV MOVIE
Let me start my reviews here with this 1981 TV classic(!)
'Killing At Hell's Gate' which is a cat and mouse chase movie all filmed in Oregon. Pretty certain this has never been released on DVD and is only out there to date on VHS. I caught an upload of this to a certain video sharing site many moons ago. Before I start I want to give this film full points for scenery, Hell's Gate (a real place) and in particular the Rogue River in Oregon are a fantastic backdrop for this film, whether you like it or not. The chase setting - gunmen at the top of cliffs shooting at water rafts heading downstream. Great stuff.
The plot:
Charles Duke (Urich) is asked to accompany a congressman to his old home town of Hell's Gate in order to increase his number of votes. Charles Duke is a local hero there and although he wants to keep out of politics agrees to tag along. While in Oregon, the congressman decides to take part in a publicity stunt, which involves him white water rafting down an Oregon river. Meanwhile, the congressman's policy to preserving woodland and closing timber factories is not popular in the area.
This film does make you think a little about a dilemma: protecting areas of natural beauty or protecting people's livelihoods.
While on the trip, three recently sacked local woodmen (who have just lost their jobs when the local timber factory has closed down) decide to take pot shots at the congressman's dinghy. When their practical joke goes wrong they decide the only way out of long jail term is to cover their tracks and kill the entire party, including their old friend Duke, who knows its them. Let's remember, this was in the days of no mobile phones and this is remote hillbilly terrain. With three rifles at the top of a canyon, shooting at canoes floating downstream isn't that hard. However, what they didn't bargain for is Robert Urich, the local bearded John Rambo with a bit of local knowledge. To be fair, this is not in the same universe as Rambo's violence.
George DiCenzo is always good value for money and plays the lead nutcase with a rifle (pictured right). I am surprised this only has a 5.8 rating on IMDB as for me it is easily better than that.
What's nice about this one, is although it is made in 1981, it has a real 70s TV movie vibe to it with plenty of tense music. The only naff part is the sub-plot of Duke's love life - of course as he returns to the village his old sweetheart is there to rekindle lost love but fortunately that is kept to a minimum. It's nice to see Robert Urich in plenty of action scenes in this, floating downstream with only a lifejacket on - you have to give the guy a lot of credit for that. Add this to a nice bit of shooting and murder, plus fantastic scenery and locations along the way and you have yourself a half decent TV movie I think. I'd love to see a DECENT print of this released one day.
IMDB link:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082613/
Robert Urich Biographie - An Extraordinary Life - ab 30.08.2019
