''Choke Canyon'' (titled ''On Dangerous Ground'' outside the United States) is a 1986 American film. It stars

Stephen Collins Stephen Weaver Collins (born October 1, 1947) is an American former actor. He is known for playing Eric Camden on the WB/ CW television series '' 7th Heaven'' from 1996 to 2007. Afterwards, Collins played the roles of Dayton King on the ABC ...

as a "

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

" trying to develop an

alternative energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

source. It was filmed mostly in the vicinity of

Moab, Utah Moab () is the largest city in and the county seat of Grand County in eastern Utah in the western United States, known for its dramatic scenery. The population was 5,366 at the 2020 census. Moab attracts many tourists annually, mostly visitor ...

Plot

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

educated Dr. David Lowell's (Collins) research is carried out in the canyon country of southern

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

and must be conducted at the same time

Halley's Comet Halley's Comet is the only known List of periodic comets, short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, appearing every 72–80 years, though with the majority of recorded apparitions (25 of 30) occurring after ...

is passing over the earth. Lowell is trying to find a safe, cheap energy source using the sound waves the comet generates. Lowell leased the land from the Pilgrim Corporation. However, the Pilgrim Corporation decides the same canyon would be better used as a remote place to illegally dump

nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...

. Pilgrim's CEO arranges for Lowell to be thrown off his land and destroys his laboratory. Lowell spends the rest of the film committing sabotage against the company and trying to recover his land, assisted by the daughter of Pilgrim's CEO as well as unlikely help from a hit-man sympathetic to Lowell's cause. Brook Alistair hired by the Pilgrim Corporation attempts to stop Lowell.

Cast

... Dr. David Lowell * Janet Julian ... Vanessa Pilgrim * Bo Svenson ... Capt. Oliver Parkside *

Lance Henriksen Lance Henriksen (born May 5, 1940) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in various science fiction, action and horror genre productions, including Bishop in the ''Alien'' film franchise and Frank Black in the Fox television series ...

... Brook Alastair *

Nicholas Pryor Nicholas David Pryor (born Probst; January 28, 1935 – October 7, 2024) was an American character actor. He appeared in various television series, films, and stage productions. Early life and career Pryor was born Nicholas David Probst in Balt ...

... John Pilgrim * Victoria Racimo ... Rachel

Production

Parts of the film were shot at Onion Creek, Professor Valley, the Moab Sand Flats, Dead Horse Point, Byrd's Ranch, Squaw Park, and Moab in

. Collins had to learn to ride a horse and get into great shape for the movie. He found it fun to play a "two fisted tough guy".

Soundtrack

The

Mike + The Mechanics Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

song "

Silent Running ''Silent Running'' is a 1972 American ecological-themed science fiction film. It is the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull, and stars Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, and Jesse Vint. Plot In the future, all forests on Earth have b ...

" was chosen to appear in ''Choke Canyon'' because its atmosphere suited the film's tone.Neer, Dan (1985). ''Mike on Mike'' nterview LP Atlantic Recording Corporation. For promotional reasons, the song's title was extended to "Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)" (the parenthetical title being the title of the film in the UK), even though the lyrics have no connection to the film. The promotional video for the song features a few clips from the film, but primarily follows the story of the lyrics, which are about an astronaut trying to send a message to the past in order to warn his family of an imminent societal breakdown.

Release

Release of the film was delayed so it would coincide with the passing of Halley's Comet over the earth in 1986.

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' found the film to be "mildly enjoyable", but found the story slight. Reviewer D.J.R. Bruckner did praise the film's chase sequences. ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' gave the movie two out of five stars, finding the film fun as it didn't take itself too seriously, but found the directing to be somewhat lacking. ''Creature Feature'' gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars, saying that it was a rousing adventure, although light on science fiction content. It also found the aerial scenes to be well done and liked the direction of the movie more than ''TV Guide'' did, but questioned the logic of the movie.Stanley, J. (2000) Creature Feature: 3rd Edition.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0090836, title=Choke Canyon 1986 films 1980s science fiction action films American science fiction action films Films scored by Sylvester Levay Films set in Utah Films shot in Utah Films about Halley's Comet 1980s English-language films Films directed by Charles Bail 1980s American films 1986 science fiction films English-language science fiction action films