Released: April 15, 1983

Directed By: Steve Carver

Screenplay By:   J. Nelson

Stars: Chuck Norris, David Carradine, Barbara Carrera, Leon Isaac Kennedy, L. Q. Jones, Robert Beltran and a bunch of other actors.

Plot:  After helping the local police with some horse thieves, a Texas Ranger aims at a drug lord with arms trade as well. They’re interested in the same woman and they’re both into martial arts.

Taglines:
Whether it comes to fighting…or loving…or killing…There’s NO ONE like J.J. McQuade.
The ‘Mad Dog’ Criminal…The ‘Lone Wolf’ Lawman…The Ultimate Showdown.

How did this movie do?
Budget: $5 Million
Box Office: $12 Million

• Body count: 70 (71 if you count the dog)
  
  
• Top One-Liners
  • Dakota: How would you like to bite that in the butt, develop lockjaw, and be dragged to death?
  • J.J. McQuade: My kind of trouble doesn’t take vacations.

1. A “Muy Macho” Hero with quotable one-liners played by a recognizable star – Chuck Norris
   
   
2. Over the Top Villain – Rawley Wilkes
   
   
3. A Montage Sequence – Nope
   
   
4. Over the Top Chase Scenes – Sort of
   
   
5. Epic Fight Scenes – Yes
   
   
6. A Villain Speech/Monologue – Not Really. They speak with their fists & feet.
   
   
7. A Final Showdown – Yes
   
   
8. An “Oh Crap” Death for our Bad Guy – An offscreen grenade Death for our bad guy
   
   
9. Franchise Potential – It inspired Walker, Texas Ranger
   
   
10. Around a 90 minute runtime – 108 minutes
    
    
11. A High Body Count – 70 Total Deaths (71 if you count the dog)…this is debatable.
    
    
12. A Cool Ride: 1983 Dodge Ramcharger.

• Chuck Norris and David Carradine refused to use stunt doubles for their climactic fight scene, despite strong reservations from the producers
  
  
• Norris credits this film as a leading inspiration for his hit television series, Walker, Texas Ranger, which premiered a decade later.
  
  
• It was written into actor David Carradine’s contract that he could not be defeated in “hand to hand” combat. Hence why he was killed at the end by means of a grenade.
  
  
• When asked to comment on David Carradine’s actual martial arts skills, Chuck Norris opined, “David Carradine is every bit as good a martial artist as I am an actor.”
  
  
• In a panoramic shot of El Paso at around 11 mins 54 sec, there is a small traffic accident as a blue car runs into the back of a white truck.
  
  
• It was long rumored that, while filming their final fight, Chuck Norris and David Carradine broke out in a real fight. After Norris felt that Carradine was kicking him too hard, he warned him not to do it again. When he did it anyway, Norris struck him in return. Carradine later debunked the rumor in his autobiography, saying that he and Norris never touched each other during the filming of that scene.
  
  
• The film was originally given an “R” rating in the US, but somehow managed to obtain a “PG” rating after an appeal. However, the film still uses the word “fuck” in two instances and there are several deaths by gunshot. While the “PG” rating of 1983 is equivalent of the “PG-13” rating of today, multiple uses of the word “fuck” and excessive gun violence, bloody or not, would still give a film an “R”.
  
  
• Chuck Norris subsequently starred in Walker, Texas Ranger (1993) and the producers of this movie sued CBS for copyright infringement. CBS was later on issued a retro-active license by Orion.
  
  
• One of the most popular “movie-based” drinking games is to take a drink each time the participants hear the word, “Ranger.”
  
  
• The picture is a homage and a tribute to Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns and has often been compared and likened to those movies.
  
  
• John Milius worked on the screenplay uncredited.
  
  
• The picture was filmed entirely on location in and around the environs of El Paso in Texas, USA.
  
  
• Chuck Norris’s character in The Expendables 2 (2012) is referred to as being a “Lone Wolf”.
  
  
• During filming in El Paso, Texas, the entire explosive supply was blown to bits during July 4th Celebrations.
  
  
• According to the March-April 1983 edition of ‘Coming Attractions’ (USA) magazine, a rattle-snake slithered up the bedsheets during the filming of a bedroom love scene between Chuck Norris and Barbara Carrera. The reptile was quickly apprehended by one of the crew. Carrera reportedly said: “That was one thing I wasn’t really prepared for. It was hard to concentrate on that scene”.
  
  
• Second of two movies that action star Chuck Norris made with director Steve Carver. The first film was An Eye for an Eye (1981) which had been made and released about two years earlier in 1981.
  
  
• One of two 1983 movies starring actress Barbara Carrera. The other picture was the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983).
  
  
• In the final fight, David Carradine accidentally hit Chuck in the ribs. Despite the pain, Chuck managed to pull off the highest reported filmed kick jumping from a crouching position.
  
  
• The name of the medical facility was “Eastwood Hospital” is not a reference to Clint Eastwood who starred in three 1960s spaghetti westerns. Eastwood Hospital like most buildings and not to mention the high school and middle school are named Eastwood but not for the actor.
  
  
• The truck that J.J. McQuade drives is a 1983 Dodge Ramcharger.
  
  
• The movie’s pre-release title in the USA was simply “Lone Wolf” whereupon it got extended for its distribution to the longer Lone Wolf McQuade (1983).
  
  
• The license plate on Rawley Wilkes (David Carradine)’s car read “CARATE”.
  
  
• According to Eleanor Mannikka at Allmovie, this movie is a “Spaghetti-western-like martial arts actioner”.
  
  
• Second of four consecutive movies where Chuck Norris had a first name starting with the letter “J”. Norris was Josh Randall in Forced Vengeance (1982), J.J. McQuade in this movie, and Colonel James Braddock in both Missing in Action (1984) and Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985).
  
  
• One of two 1983 movies starring actor David Carradine. The other picture was the film Americana (1981).
  
  
• This is the 1st movie that Chuck Norris sports his beard and his hair dyed in ginger. In all of his subsequents movies, except Firewalker (1986) which he only sports mustache, he keeps his actual look.