Wheels of Fire (1985) User Reviews

The real stars here are Lynda wiesmeier's breasts......

[wildpeace10 · 5/10 · 6 November 2007]

They are shown not just once but often in a 30 minutes period so if that's not your cup of tea,avoid this film!

This of course is a total MAD MAX/ROAD WARRIOR rip off featuring a little bit of underground action with monster rejects from THE TIME MACHINE!

The other girls in the film are Laura Banks (stinger)a relatively flat chested action woman and Linda Grovenor(Spike), a girl who can read minds. Laura has a very brief topless scene,Linda doesn't.

Gary Watkins(trace) is the mad max of this film. He does cruel things like burning people with a flame thrower but we're so caught up in this comic book adventure (even though it's not very good!) that we just don't want to analyze the cruelty of the act of burning people alive! That would slow the pleasure of the action and it would leave the film without a hero!

Some might say that this is a cheap effort but you still must praise the works of the stunt people and effects people.

There are many explosions and that flame thrower comes very close to the stuntmen who catch on fire.

There is a sense of danger and you're asking yourself,how did they do it?(in a manner of keeping everybody safe.)

So in conclusion,it's mostly the girls that makes this film watchable and we can only thank the filmmakers that it lasts under 90 minutes!

Another stinker from Santiago.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 6 April 2019]

Wheels of Fire is another low-budget rip-off of The Road Warrior from Filipino director Cirio H. Santiago, packed with poorly executed action scenes, diabolical acting, and cruddy costumes and props (one motorbike is customised with what looks like plastic halloween pitchforks), all of which only serves to further illustrate just how brilliant George Miller's iconic movie actually is.

Gary Watkins plays Trace, a fearless warrior who takes on the evil Scourge (Joe Mari Avellana) and his ruthless gang after they kidnap and gang rape his sister Arlie (played by big-breasted blonde Playboy playmate Lynda Wiesmeier). On his mission, Trace teams up with tough female fighter Stinger (Laura Banks), telepath Spike (Linda Grovenor), and a dwarf who speaks a bizarre language (this character probably has a silly name as well, but I don't recall what it was).

With a race of subterranean albino cannibals and a cult of struggling survivors who are building a rocket to the planet Paradise, this one gets pretty silly at times, but Santiago's uninspired direction, the dreadful dialogue, and dismal performances ensure that boredom is never far away. Wiesmeir is game for being strapped topless to the hood of a speeding car, and Trace flame-throwing countless bikers is fun for a while, but the bulk of the film is pure post-apocalyptic poop.

3.5 out of 10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

A decent Mad Max rip-off.

[MonsterVision99 · 5/10 · 24 January 2017]

"Wheels of Fire" it's a 1985 post-apocalyptic film directed by Cirio H. Santiago an actionsploitation filmmaker, he does a decent job at directing the film, the film it's filled with action scenes, there's an action sequence almost every 5 minutes, this may be one of the better Mad Max rip-offs out there, but its still severely flawed.

The best elements in the film are the action scenes, there are lots of shootouts and explosions, it's quite fun to watch, for the first half at least, there are a few interesting characters in the film, even if some of the acting its quite bad at times.

The action becomes dull, fatiguing, and uninteresting by the second half of the film, and since the characters are not developed, you end up with a bunch of bland and boring action sequences.

I would recommend the film for those who like this kind of film, a raunchy and sleazy exploitation film with lots of action, but be warned, it may get stale after a while.

Great one!

[dmdb · 12 April 2016]

I only write reviews of movies with low rating, which actually are not that bad. Give them a chance!

At first I thought that this is ''yet another Mad Max wannabe'', but this is THE BEST Mad Max wannabe! The main character looks the same as Max, they all drive similar vehicles, live in dessert... almost everything is the same, but still, it was great to me! I love post- apocalyptic movies, and if you like them too, make sure to watch this one! Don't expect something spectacular, this still is a rip-off, but the best one of all, at least for me.

6.5/10

The story of Max Rockatansky's brain damaged cousin

[leagueofstruggle · 3/10 · 17 February 2004]

Max had the V-8, Trace (Wheels of Fires last and only hero) has a jet engine on the back of his car allowing him to make unintentionally humorous faces as he rockets around the halfway desolate wasteland. Be amazed as Mad Max 2 (aka The Road Warrior) is dissected and spliced back together as a new movie albeit filmed in a lackluster manner with bad actors and lousy stunt work.

Why is WoF set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Simple, The Road Warrior was! Actually any questions can be answered by: it was that way in the Road Warrior! Except for the out of work mutant actors from the original 60's The Time Machine film that make a cameo appearance for sake of giving the audience some non-vehicular action to chew on for a few minutes.

In typical 80's fashion, all cars driven by bad guys that are bumped or slightly jostled explode in a huge billowing explosion. Inevitably all car chases will happen near convenient cliff sides and cars will unavoidably fall off of them. Along with this 80's cinematic wild ride is the general rampant misogyny in this style of cheapie film. Generally I waited for Trace's rocket powered car to accelerate and shoot flames so there would be another shot of him scrunching up his face like he is supposed to be tough, which comes off more as him looking constipated. Badly choreographed action coupled with bad acting makes this film a true sinker. The unintentional humor value even manages to wear thin.

Rats: Nights of Terror by Bruno Mattei is superior. And that in and of itself is saying a lot! By this count 2020 Texas Gladiators is a cinematic masterpiece compared to Wheels of Fire. A poor Road Warrior knock off that doesn't have near enough cheese factor to make the film watchable.

Degrading film, but Playboy Playmate makes it watchable

[esperanto1138 · 4/10 · 19 July 2010]

Lynda Wiesmeier, July 1982 Playmate and cover girl has gone from girl next door knockout to an embarrassing, sadistic sleaze with this bomb of a film. Lynda has made what is considered the most humiliating, misogynistic film any Playmate has ever been in, which is the probably the very reason for its current popularity. This Road Warrior knockoff, that would be totally forgotten if not for our Playmate's role in this slime-fest of a film, has Leather-clad Lynda being captured by a gang of the dirtiest, creepiest bikers you've ever set your eyes on. They take her back to their leader, a tough looking Mexican who's equally dirty and creepy as his cohorts. Not surprisingly, he rapes her in front of his men. After he's done banging her, he ties her - topless of course! - to the hood of his hotrod and drives his new trophy gal around in the desert so everyone can see how lucky he is, and to emphasize what a great hood ornament a Playboy Playmate can make for any car!

His scummy biker friends have a good laugh. They are a mixed bunch of jail house creeps; most with tattoos, dirty beards and beer-guts and soon they know they'll be having their way with Lynda as well. And they do. Their master eventually unties Lynda and the guy's gang rape her, each fella getting to screw her as she's reluctantly held down.

The film was shot out of the country with Lynda's scene's being rewritten as she arrived for filming. The film shoot itself is best remembered for its notorious after parties involving an almost all male cast and crew and a certain July 1982 Playmate….

Not a good film to watch with a girlfriend, but one the guy's will enjoy.

Bad editing.

[13Funbags · 5/10 · 15 September 2019]

The only bad thing about this movie is the editing. There a few times when they cut out stuff that you really needed to see. This is definitely worth watching.

There are much better end of the world films

[BandSAboutMovies · 2/10 · 23 September 2018]

Cirio H. Santiago sure has some interesting movies in his oeuvre: TNT Jackson, Vampire Hookers, Stryker, Hell Hole, Caged Fury, The Sisterhood, Demon of Paradise and many, many more. Today, we're here to talk about his take on post-apocalyptic movies.

"If you thought Max was mad - meet Trace!"

Trace is looking for his sister, Arlie (Lynda Wiesmeier, Malibu Express) and finds her running with the Nomads and her boyfriend, Bo, who loses a fight for her car. Trace fights that guy and wins - he's Trace, of course he wins, bro - and we get a car chase. It will not be the last one in the film.

Soon, everyone is battling Scag and The Scourge, who ends up tying Arlie spread eagle on the hood of his car. Dude, you're going against Trace! What are you thinking?

Bo dies - of course, he's no Trace - and then we meet Stinger (Laura Banks, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), who is the film's badass girl (she's playing the Sandahl Bergman to Trace's Arnold). Meanwhile, his sister is getting raped by everyone (these scenes are left on the cutting room floor thankfully).

There's also a mutant and a little person who help them, which they'll need it as they battle the gang that done took Trace's kin.

Long into the movie, we learn that the True Believers and how they are building a rocket to go to Paradise, a planet safe for man. Oh yeah. Trace used to be part of The Ownership, a government group that keeps order. And so was The Scourge.

Did I mention that Stinger has a trained falcon, so that this movie can rip off The Beastmaster too? Well she does.

Anyways, Trace goes to rescue his sister, who ends up sacrificing herself to save him. And Skag dies when Stinger sacrifices herself. Man - post-apocalypse female life is cheap.

If this all seems like a jumbled mess to you and you may say, has this reviewer forgotten how to coherently relay a plot, you obviously have never seen this movie before.

Interestingly enough, The Scourge was going to be played by Fear lead singer Lee Ving. But he left before shooting began.

You could do worse for a movie. I'm not sure how. But I'm certain you could.

Total Road Warrior Rip Off is better than any Italian Rip Off

[mhorg2018 · 5/10 · 7 July 2019]

Yes, this is a Road Warrior Rip off. The Vehicles, the bad guys, the good guy (who is pretty damn indestructible and, once again proves, never leave an enemy behind alive, as the bad guys do). The stunts are horrifically bad, the acting ranges from OK (Linda Weismeier's breasts, but she isn't a bad actress at all, by the standards of this pretty so bad it's good movie). The story is really non-existent, and the constant use of a flamethrower by the hero on bad guys didn't bother me at all (After all they were murderous rapists), but it did make me think of George Carlin's comment that Flamethrowers prove that someone really wanted to set a bunch of people on fire, but just couldn't reach them! My big question about this is, if it's the future, how come only muscle cars and automatic weapons seem to have survived? And how the hell did German MP-40 machine pistols survive into the future? Either way, this was way more enjoyable that Exterminators of the Year 3000, Rats: Night of Terror, The New Barbarians, After the Fall of New York and the totally atrocious, Warriors of the Wasteland. Worth a view.

Solid Mad Max 2 rip-off from Cirio H. Santiago

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 4 December 2016]

Exploitation legend Cirio H. Santiago strikes again with yet another Filipino-made post-apocalypse actioner after the previous year's STRYKER. This is a straightforward action packed B-movie, nothing more nothing less, that is happy to rip-off MAD MAX 2 and about half a dozen other such movies. And you know what? This is really fun stuff! The reason being that there's no plot as such, just one action scene after another. We've got shoot-outs, burning stuntmen, car chases, lots of crashes, explosions, and to top it all off a large scale battle between two armies which employs a surprising amount of extras and proves to be a worthwhile finale. The action is straight-forward stuff, mildly convincing but lacking in any impressive stunts or camera-work. Don't expect any style; Santiago is no George Miller or Enzo G. Castellari, he shoots his film workmanlike and just gets on with it, making up in quantity if not in quality for the action bits.

Other elements of interest include the opening stick-fight with metal bars (coming from the man who made THE PACIFIC CONNECTION, this is not a surprise); a few slow-motion car stunts as they roll over the edges of cliffs; hero Trace burning lots of bad guys with his flame-thrower, which is pretty cool in itself; a topless woman tied to the bonnet of a car (!); a tribe of troglodyte albino cannibals known only as the "Sandmen", whose inspiration stems from the Morlocks in THE TIME MACHINE, it seems; and the aforementioned large scale destruction/battle of the climax, fittingly topped by a mildly entertaining death for the chief villain. The arid locations in the Philippines make for an authentic backdrop for the production and the costumes, weaponry, and armoured vehicles fit the bill, even if they're not particularly outstanding or memorable.

Hero Gary Watkins is definitely a Mel Gibson-wannabe and actually looks a lot like Gibson, so much that you'd think the two were brothers. Thankfully in his imitative performance some of Gibson's world-weary character comes through making Watkins an adequate lead. The three female supporting characters - one a female warrioress in the Sandahl Bergman mould, the other a psychic like Laura Gemser in ENDGAME, the other the sister of the lead character - are rather indistinguishable from each other and their characters don't hold the interest (good thing that there's lots of action to take your mind off the people involved then). Lynda Wiesmeier turns out to be a Playboy Playmate and unsurprisingly spends about 90% of her screen time topless. The only other characters that stand out are an annoying comic relief dwarf and the sneering villain, as played by the Filipino-born Joseph Anderson with some relish. The rest of the cast are mostly just undistinguished Filipino actors and don't make much of an impact. In the end, WHEELS OF FIRE is pretty much a forgettable flick that entertains you throughout with the wealth of action that it offers, rather like a Dolph Lundgren movie or a Stallone/Norris Vietnam movie. Enjoyable once but not one you'll go back to, this is B-movie making at its most solid.

Wheels of Schlock

[Tweetienator · 4/10 · 30 August 2022]

Wheels of Fire is just another one of those many post-apocalyptic flicks made after the success of Mad Max Rockatansky's tour de force. Of course, this one can't provide the same production value, acting skills, nor is the plot or directing equal to George Miller's visionary movies, but, if you enjoy the power of cheese and schlock, Wheels of Fire will do. What you get is a good shot of bad taste, packed solid for that kind of movies, and entertaining and fun for the right spirited audience. Nothing more, but nothing less, and in our modern times, it's almost a lot. Anyway, nothing essential but good enough.

Come on, its a classic!

[john_phelan911 · 10/10 · 26 June 2007]

First off I have to say that this film is awful. Seriously, its so bad that when I put the video next to Citizen Kane that movie started to suck as well.

So why have I given it 10 stars? Because you'll never see a movie as deranged as this. Its the cinematic equivalent of a tramp, high on amphetamines, trying to beat a fairground ride to death with a birthday cake.

Its a Mad Max rip off with dreadful actors, no real plot and no budget. Thrown into the mix a bizarre underground cameo from the Umpa Lumpas from Willy Wonka, the craziest sex scene ever which looks like it was taken from a daytime soap and full on battle sequence at the end and you have pure straight to video gold.

Watch it with your critical faculties intact and you'll hate it. Watch it with some spicy food, Chivas Regal and a bag of Moroccan black and you're in for a hell of a ride.

Pure trash, but some post-nuke fans will love it.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 19 March 2017]

Yet another in the assembly line of low budget "Mad Max" / "Road Warrior" ripoffs actually isn't bad at all, even if it IS derivative. Give credit to the extremely prolific producer & director Cirio H. Santiago: he takes the script by Frederick Bailey and just hits the ground running. He offers very little in the way of let-up, and plenty of action. Our hero could have used a touch more charisma, but he's passable, and the bad guys are such loathsome scum that it's satisfying to watch them come to their ends.

Gary Watkins ("The Long Riders", "Johnny Dangerously") stars as "Trace", a lone wolf in a post- apocalypse future. His kid sister Arlie (Playboy Playmate Lynda Wiesmeier) ends up abducted by the villainous Highway Warriors led by a power crazed goon appropriately named "Scourge" (Joe Mari Avellana, a familiar name to you if you've watched enough Filipino exploitation). With the help of a killer named "Stinger" (Laura Banks) and a young clairvoyant girl named "Spike" (Linda Grovenor), he takes on the scores of minions that come his way.

"Wheels of Fire" is going to be too nasty and hard-edged for some tastes. It will never be mistaken for a feminist statement. But those of you who love a bit of sleaze to go with your brainless futuristic thrills should be more than satisfied. Wiesmeier is made to go topless a great deal of the time, and at one point is tied spread eagle across the hood of a car. There's no excessive gore to concern more squeamish viewers, but that DOESN'T mean that this isn't still plenty violent. For example, Trace has a flamethrower mounted on his vehicle and he just LOVES to set guys on fire.

Performances are all perfectly suited to the material. They won't win Oscars, but who cares? Watkins is okay, and the ladies look just fine. Fortunately, both Banks and Grovenor get to be fairly heroic themselves and handle themselves capably in fight scenes. Avellana is a decent villain, Joseph Zucchero is amusing as a dude named "Whiz", and Jack S. Daniels is a hoot as a wretched piece of excrement named "Scag".

Acceptable genre entertainment gets its biggest boost from the rousing, full orchestral score by the talented Christopher Young ("Hellraiser").

Seven out of 10.

Undoubtedly beloved by feminists & romance novelists alike!

[Idiot-Deluxe · 7/10 · 8 May 2016]

First off, if feminists have a -Top 10 Most Hated Movies- list, I'd be willing to bet that this filthy, fast-paced, hyper-misogynistic 80's schlock-fest would rank in the top 5.

Wheels of Fire! One of my favorite low-budget films ever, this gritty fast-paced actioner packs a considerable punch, with loads of action scenes, explosions galore, car chases, and some very solid stunt work. I consider this to be the best of all the Mad Max rip-off's that where prevalent throughout the 80's and as it stands it's easily Cirio H. Santiago's best effort in the genre. For such a small time production this is really great stuff, if only more low-budget flicks were this entertaining. The world of Wheels of Fire is a very violent and primitive one, profoundly misogynistic too, showing-off quite a good bit of T & A.

The plot revolves around tough-guy Trace (the "Max" of the movie) and his super hot busty blonde sister Arlie (who was in fact a former Playmate), some tallish chick named Stinger who sports a glorified mullet and a falcon and then theres Spike a cute modestly dressed brunette who has telepathic powers, they all team up and "battle the forces of evil" namely Scourge and Scag. Scourge is played by an acne-scarred Filipino actor who, funnily enough, sports a "painted-on" widows peak to further enhance villainous visage (it's real obvious looking in hi-res) and I really dig this guys costume - the baddies ALWAYS have the coolest costumes. Scag, what a character, a mountain of a man and second in command, always wearing a large pair of dated looking shades and gnashing on cigars; the shades and full beard combo gives him the air of that of a manager of hard a drinkin' and hard partyin' 80's rock band, maybe the Marshall Tucker Band perhaps (his real name "Jack S. Daniels" just screams party 24/7!) - in any case Scag is a force to be reckoned with. These two BMF's lead a gang of about a hundred scroungy, hairy-faced road warriors, decked out in your standard bad-guy apparel of black leather and bullet belts.

The bad guys kidnap Trace's sister "not a bad piece" and he vows to rescue her and along the way there are several colorful encounters and tons vehicular carnage and gun-play ensue. Some good vehicular stunts here and there, particularly in the middle of the film, NOT Mad Max caliber, but still pretty good. Wheels of Fire has some hilariously cheesy, profanity-laced dialogue and a lot of it, the movie is peppered with poorly written juvenile sounding lingo and often their delivery is just as bad as the dialogue itself, especially Arlie's lines (or in other words the busty blonde). Throughout the film the actors are often poorly miked up, making their words hard to make out at times, also dialogue is often crudely over-dubbed making for some humorous moments - that red-headed biker with the cracky voice, oh my, that's one of the funniest voices.

I think Wheels of Fire portrays a pretty accurate image of what a post-apocalyptic world would be like, rampant lawlessness with roving hordes of bandits raping, murdering and pillaging. Heavy doses of blatant misogynistic behavior and rape are seen throughout the film, everybody wants a piece of Arlie's sweet tail (again, a Playboy Bunny turned actress).

I must say Gary Watkins, the actor who plays the lead role of Trace, is very convincing with his handling of the weaponry he uses through out the movie, he's good in hand-to-hand combat also. A solid rough n' tough 6'3 specimen, he should've been in more actioners like Wheels of Fire. I can't accuse him of being a great actor, but he really fit the bill for the physicality the role required.

Filmed in the Philippines the landscapes are very arid and rocky, not unlike what you'd see in the Mad Max films, only that's in Australia. At the end of the film a filipino army regiment comes in and fills out the ranks for the good guys and Scourge and Scag are defeated at last.

For such a low-budget affair, Wheels of Fire is enhanced greatly by an surprisingly good orchestral score, composed by a very young and at the time largely unknown Christopher Young. At the request of the producers, Young made the music sound as "Goldsmithian" as possible, with terrific sounding results. This seems to be the only one of his PAW films that Cirio H. Santiago splurged on in the music department, because ALL the rest are limply driven along by primitive drum-machines and ultra-lame Casio keyboards.

So if you ever find yourself hankering for some good old violent, grimy, low-brow fun from the 80's (every second of this movie looks and sounds PROFOUNDLY 80's) well then Wheels of Fire is very highly recommended. I myself own 3 or 4 copies of it, proud to say I own it on limited edition Blu-ray, as part of "Roger Corman's Post-Nuke Collection".

Note: By no-means is this a "Date Movie", your lady-friend WILL BE DISGUSTED by your taste in movies, I suggest you watch it in your man cave with a cold six-pack as your company. Just sit back and ogle at Lynda Wiesmeier's spectacular rack, because her "twins" are the movies biggest stars......or is it Trace's cool Mustang? You be the judge.

Get ready for a full throttle ride of action & cheese.

[clauzy82 · 9/10 · 6 September 2020]

Five seconds in and this film is already the most Mad Max rip-off of all the Mad Max rip-offs. But don't hold that against it, it has cool cars, over-the-top amazing action, cheesy characters, dodgy plot (I'm not even sure there is one) and bare breasts. It has everything with no expenses saved on explosions and weaponry (they must of hired the full Philipino armies arsenal). Only for Commando being released on the same year, this film would of been the most actioniest and cheesiest of 1985. In all honesty this is what should of been filmed instead of the lost kids sequences in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Max Rockatansky... I mean Trace (Gary Watkins) the wanderer in Mad Max's V8 and leather pants must save his sister Arlie (Lynda Wiesmeier) from Scourge (Joe Mari Avellana) and his gang of bandits. Trace finds help from Stinger (Laura Banks) and her Bird of Prey. Scourge himself is laying plunder to the wasteland, will the True Believers save their tin foil rocket ship and can The Ownership win the war.

Acting is not bad, great cheesey action, dubbing is poor in spots, plot is awful (I assume it's what's going on somewhere else in the Mad Max Universe). Brilliant chase scenes involving great cars, dune buggies and motor bikes, at least one of those bikers took a bad hopper in one of those crazy chase sequences (the ones not travelling at 5 mph). All out action with guns, mortars and plain old beat 'em ups. A full on battle with a terrible booby-trap, sex slaves, underground cannibals, scavengers, gasoline or lack of, mind readers and a final death scene out of the top drawer. This is a must watch.

Cheese melt scenes to look out for. Approx 21:50 in a 40ft cliff jump. Approx 48:30 in the love scene worthy of an Oscar.

Better than average low-budget Mad Max rip-off film

[a_chinn · 6/10 · 1 August 2019]

Released by Roger Corman's New Concorde studios, this is a darn good rip-off of "The Road Warrior" from prolific Filipino director Cirio H. Santiago. Producer/director Santiago was known for his exploitation films, starting out in the 70s with a series of Blaxploitation films and then in the 80s focusing on low-budget Vietnam War pictures. Here Santiago takes to the desert areas of the Philippines (I never knew there was such a thing or maybe they were rock quarries) for a Max Max ripoff that tells the story of a nasty post-apocalyptic biker gang names the Highway Warriors who kidnap the sister of our hero who vows to bring her back and take the nasty gang down! It's a super cartoony of science fiction and action film, but Santiago knows his way around an action sequence and his film features more car chases than most of the Max Max knockoff, which is a major asset to the film. It also helps that the costumes and cars more closely resemble those from "The Road Warrior" than most of the low-budget knock-offs. The film also features an early score by Christoper Young ("Entrapment" "Swordfish" "Drag Me to Hell") who at this point in his career was scoring low budget exploitation films this, "Def-Con 4," "Avenging Angel" and "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" before moving onto more prestigious of film work. Despite its no-name cast, this was a pretty enjoyable warriors of the wasteland tale and is recommended for fans of this low-budget subgenera.

Playboy Playmate humiliates herself; parents and Hef.

[Deckard5254 · 26 August 2011]

In Wheel of Fire, Lynda is in a Road Warrior knock-off in which she is captured and gang-raped by a group of scummy, bearded, tattooed bikers. When first captured, she can be seen on the ground screaming as her top is ripped off, revealing her awesome rack. The leader has his way with her, ties her to the hood of a beat up car and tears around the desert with a still topless Lynda screaming her head off. He then rewards his fat biker worshippers by letting them pin her down and take turns screwing her.

Apparently, the original cut has a much longer rape scene that goes on forever. She is beautiful, but this feature is borderline porn. Obviously working on this film was better than having to sit through it. Don't watch it with a date. it is quite misogynistic.

The film is apparently a bit of an embarrassment to Playboy.

Wheels Of Fire is pretty entertaining!

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 30 January 2020]

In, you guessed it, a post-apocalyptic future, a man named Max...er, sorry, I mean Trace (Watkins) drives around in a souped-up car that drives fast. His sister Arlie (Wiesmeier, not to be confused with noted Army man-turned-actor R. Lee Ermey) is in a relationship with Scott Baio lookalike Bo (Parvin), and there's not much to do for entertainment except watch tournament fights to the death and drive around aimlessly.

All that changes when Arlie is kidnapped by baddies Scourge (Avellana) and Scag (Daniels). Now with a renewed sense of purpose and a mission to carry out, Trace travels the badlands meeting and/or fighting both human and Morlock alike in his quest to rescue Arlie. Along the way he picks up some allies in the form of warrior woman Stinger (Banks) and more subdued woman Spike (Grovenor) but truly Trace's best weapons are his flamethrower and his stellar jumping abilities. Best notify your next of kin, as this WHEELS OF FIRE shall contain things that explode!



The fact that Mad Max came out in 1979 was fortuitous for low-budget movie producers. The burgeoning home video market was just about to really take over and become ubiquitous. That gave filmmakers a few years to produce countless knockoffs, rip-offs, clones, and carbon copies. Of course, they range in quality. Some are good, others are mediocre, and some are just bad, like any other kind of movie. Thankfully, Wheels of Fire (AKA Desert Warrior, AKA Vindicator, not to be confused with the Canadian Vindicator that came out the following year) is one of the better ones. It's still very hard to top the Italian ones, but our old buddy Cirio comes darn close.

Wheels of Fire is well-shot, with really good use made of the Philippine locations. Of course, it delivers everything else you expect of post-ap's, including shooting, blow-ups, car chases, fights, rampant nudity, amusing dialogue, and cars with crazy crap glued to them. The fact that Trace's main weapon is a flamethrower is also pretty cool and different. Sure, it's all fairly brainless, but what did you expect? At least it's from the 80's and it's all pretty redolent of that golden, magical time.





This also completes our Jack S. Daniels collection. Upon the viewing of this movie, we've officially seen and reviewed all five of the films he's appeared in. He's a charismatic guy who is fun to watch on screen. He's one of our favorite character actors, and he should have been in more stuff, but we're happy with what he did do.

As for our main star, Gary Watkins, he should have done more as well; he had a lot of potential as an action star but the market was pretty flooded at that time. Even though the filmmakers - from his clothing to his hair - tried to make him look like Mel Gibson, he still managed to put his own stamp on things.

While Cirio went back to the post-apocalyptic well with Dune Warriors (1990), Raiders of the Sun (1992) - which starred Richard Norton but contains footage from Wheels of Fire (including Jack S. Daniels and Henry Strzalkowski footage, among other Philippines-set movie regulars that was ported over into the new, interpolated material) - and a supposed abomination called Water Wars (2014), Cirio's last credited work which Jim Wynorski took over and contains footage from all three of the above-mentioned post-ap's, best to stick with Cirio's first and best of the three, Wheels of Fire.



While there isn't a ton of substance on show here, on balance Wheels of Fire is not bad and is pretty entertaining. It retains that "VHS vibe" and manages to be a better and more worthwhile watch than a lot of its post-apocalyptic competitors.

Yet another prime piece of 80's sci-fi/action trash courtesy of Cirio H. Santiago

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 25 January 2017]

Once again the world has degenerated into a barbarous state in the wake of a nuclear holocaust. Rugged road warrior Trace (eassyed with mucho macho panache by Gary Watkins) must rescue his sister Arlie (buxom and shapely blonde Lynda Wiesmeier, who frequently bares her beautifully bountiful breasts) from the evil Scourge (a nicely slimy portrayal by Joe Mari Avellana) and his gang of scummy bandits. Tough gal Stringer (a pleasingly scrappy portrayal by Laura Banks) helps Trace out.

Filipino exploitation cinema maestro Cirio H. Santiago once again works his usual immensely enjoyable B-movie magic: The brisk pace never flags for a minute, a gritty take-no-prisoners tone pervades throughout, neat use of desolate desert locations, a generous serving of yummy gratuitous female nudity, hysterical profane dialogue, and even a vicious tribe of subterranean albino cannibals tossed in for extra campy measure. Naturally, Santiago certainly doesn't skimp on the thrilling low-rent action: We've got down'n'dirty fights, lively car chases, fierce shoot outs, and lots of stuff of stuff blows up real good. Moreover, there are solid supporting contributions from Linda Grovenor as sweet psychic Spike, Jack S. Daniels as skeevy lackey Scag, Joseph Zucchero as kooky inventor Whiz, Steve Parvin as sniveling wimp Bo, and Nigel Hogge as the opportunistic Ambassador. Christopher Young's robust full-bore score does the rousing trick. The fairly polished cinematography by Ricardo Remias boasts several snazzy stylistic flourishes. A spot-on schlocky blast.

Has to be a great movie

[Bobby-91 · 18 September 1999]

I was watching the great movie Barbarian Queen, when it was over we decided to FFWD to see if there was anything extra on the video. To our surprise we saw the best preview ever, the title.....Wheel of Fire. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen, one of the best parts was when they strapped the main character's sister to the hood of a car, topless. If you're ever bored out of your mind rent Barbarian Queen just the see the end preview

Ugh!

[Cervaise · 20 April 1999]

Hideous rip-off of the "Road Warrior" genre -- low-budget and low-brow, the worst of the worst. It might be sort of amusing in that MST3K way, with goofy scenes that recall "R is for Rocket" and the Morlocks, except that the whole thing is so disturbingly misogynistic. If you decide to rent this, don't tell anyone whose respect you want that you're doing it.