Bullet Points: Ruckus (1980)

I will always remember 2024 as the year that I experienced some 80’s action gems for the first time.

Watching 1980’s Defiance and 1985’s Naked Vengeance for the first time earlier this year really made me question what I have been doing with my life. Not to be outdone by those two outstanding action entries, was 1980’s Ruckus… a movie I enjoyed so much I’ve already watched it twice since the fine folks at Crud Buddies uploaded it to their YouTube channel!

• Welcome to Madoc County: Dirk Benedict plays Kyle Hanson, a Vietnam veteran who was recently discharged from the psychiatric ward of the VA Hospital in Mobile. Hanson was a prisoner of war on two occasions, while serving in Vietnam. He escaped twice, with the second time being days before the United States pulled its troops out. Hanson hitched a ride and finds himself passing through Madoc County, Alabama. Based on the reaction of the townsfolk to Hanson as he strolls through town looking for something to eat, either Madoc County doesn’t get a lot of visitors or everyone is taken aback by Hanson’s unkempt appearance… or possibly both. Hanson finds a hamburger stand… orders one raw hamburger, he then proceeds to sit on the curb and eat it. Some of the locals can’t help but make comments about the stranger in town… then Sam Bellows (Ben Johnson, Breakheart Pass) rolls up with his daughter-in-law, Jenny (Linda Blair, Savage Streets). Sam can’t help but notice the Special Forces jacket that Hanson is wearing, but when Sam asks him if he was in the military, Hanson acts like he didn’t hear the question, before wandering off down the road.

• A Bridge Over Troubled Water: The locals can’t believe someone snubbed Mr. Bellows. Sam owns most of the town and a large percentage of the population are under Sam’s employ. So when Sam asks a couple of his men to go after Hanson to see if Hanson knew Sam’s son Jack, who was declared missing in action four years ago and also served in the Special Forces in Vietnam, they jump right to it. When they catch up with Hanson, they confront him four on one on a bridge. When Hanson is no more cooperative with them, than he was Mr. Bellows, they decided to start talking tough. One guy even threatens to throw Hanson over the bridge to the river down below as a way to clean him up. That’s about the time Hanson snaps and someone goes into the drink, but it ain’t Hanson! The little weasel of the bunch, Cece (Matt Clark, Tuff Turf) runs off to go get the sheriff!

• Man Hunt: Sheriff Jethro Pugh (Richard Farnsworth) and Deputy Dave spot Hanson heading into the woods. It becomes clear very quickly, even trained law enforcement officers, are no match for Hanson and his Special Forces training. Deputy Dave ends up down and out, his shot gun is incapacitated and while the Sheriff is tending to his deputy, Hanson made it back out to the road and drives off in the sheriff’s police car! …Hanson ends up parking the police car on Mr. Bellows’ farm land, which Bellows notices on his drive into work… Hanson then makes his way to the Bellows home, where he meets Jenny Bellows and tells her that he did not know her husband. Jenny fixes him some breakfast… Meanwhile, Sam Bellows is getting the 411 from his men about the stolen police car and all the ruckus that Hanson has caused since Bellows last saw him at the hamburger stand. A posse is soon assembled and the first place they are going to look is the Bellows’ Farm… Sam calls the house and tells Jenny they are coming and to be on the lookout for Hanson… Jenny tips Hanson off that there’s some hunters that are coming for him, the first signs that she may be a little sweet on ol’ dirty Kyle Hanson. Hanson tells her he can deal with being hunted, but not with being locked up.. When the local yokels arrive, they check the barn for Hanson… when they open the door, Hanson comes tearing out of the barn on a dirt bike! Cue the chase music!

• Life’s Not Fair: After the posse is humiliated by Kyle Hanson once again, and it becomes apparent that Kyle shares a lot of the same qualities that her MIA hubby, Jack Bellows, had, Sheriff Pugh decides there’s no use getting involved Bellows family business and that this Kyle Hanson situation will settle itself. Sheriff Pugh tells Deputy Dave to stay out of it too… but Dave has had designs on Jenny Bellows himself. Who wouldn’t want to marry into the richest family in town?!?! So Deputy Dave rallies the troops once again and once again they are outclassed and outsmarted by Kyle Hanson… who makes absolute fools out of them and even blows up some of their cars! But things really blow up when the official word comes in that Jack Bellows died in Vietnam… next thing you know Jenny is cleaning up Kyle Hanson and introducing him to her young son, Bobby. The three of them even go to the county fair together. And it’s in that moment of letting his guard down, that Deputy Dave and company manage to get the upper hand on Hanson for the first time… but instead of taking him for a drive out of Madoc County, they do the dumbest thing possible and lock him up!

A lot of elements from Ruckus would appear on the big screen just a few years later in First Blood. But unlike First Blood, Ruckus had a sense of fun to it and was nowhere near as heavy… which is probably why I was ready to rewatch it so soon after watching it for the first time. Or maybe I really liked all the chase music!?

Dirk Benedict is delightful in the role of Kyle Hanson and it was a joy watching him get the better of his harassers time and time again…. Linda Blair’s Jenny Bellows is the difference maker in the movie, without her, Hanson could have ended up much like John Rambo would a few years later… The scene stealer in the movie was easily Matt Clark, who was absolutely unlikeable as Cece the weasel.

If you were like me and let Ruckus slip by you all these years, do yourself a favor and check it out ASAP, but first you may want to check out these Bonus Bullet Points…

• AKA: Ruckus is also known as Ruckus in Madoc County, Eat My Smoke, The Loner, The Intruder of Madoc County and Big Ruckus in a Small Town.
• Double Duty: Ruckus was written and directed by Max Kleven. Kleven’s previous experience in the stunt world is to thank for the level of action that Ruckus delivers.
• Montage Alert: There is a great dirt bike montage that not only ups the action in the movie, it also further strengthens the bond between Kyle Hanson and Jenny Bellows.