''Wheels of Fire'' (Also known as ''Vindicator'' and ''Desert Warrior'' ) is a 1985 American-Philippines film directed by Cirio H. Santiago. It was partly financed by

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

and was one of the first movies distributed by Corman's new company, Concorde Pictures.

Plot

In a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

future, the only semblance of order is an organized militia called "The Ownership" which seeks to peacefully convert scattered settlements to stable governments loyal to them, Trace is a wanderer who once worked for The Ownership, who is joined by his sister Arlie and her boyfriend, Bo; having saved them from a confrontation with a local gang. Trace, Arlie and Bo soon encounter a band led by a man called "Scourge" and split up, Trace defeats the bandits following him, but Bo and Arlie are captured by Scourge's men. Bo is allowed to join the bandits, Arlie is taken by Scourge to be his sex slave. Back on the road, Trace saves a Mercenary called 'Stinger' from Scourge's men and the two join forces and continue on. Stinger and Trace find a group of 'Sand People' and rescue a psychic captive called 'Spike' who also joins them. Stinger, Spike, and Trace leave together and find an Ownership fuel convoy that was attacked. They return the sole survivor to his community of 'True believers', Trace leave Stinger and Spike with the True Believers and continues on to find his sister. Scourge's men attack and destroy the True Believer camp, and when Trace returns he finds Stinger and the Ownership forces plotting a retaliatory strike. Trace notices his sisters locket around the neck of one of Scourge's dead men, In a rage, Trace ignores Stinger's requests for him to wait for the Ownership forces and a joint strike and goes alone. Trace goes to Scourge's fortress and finds Arlie, while escaping Trace realizes that the Ownership is advancing into a trap set by Scourge. Arlie dies while disarming the trap before it destroys the Ownership forces. Outnumbered, Scourge runs away but Trace catches up with him and kills him with Arlie's car. Stinger leads the Ownership troops in claiming the fortress and is killed by Scourge's second in command.

Cast

*Gary Watkins as Trace *Laura Banks as Stinger *Lynda Wiesmeier as Arlie *Linda Grovenor as Spike *Joe Anderson as Scourage *Joseph Zucchero *Jack S. Daniels *Steve Parvin as Bo *Nigel Hogge *Dennis Cole *Don Gordon Bell

Production

''Wheels of Fire'' was filmed in part in the island of

Corregidor Corregidor (, , ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of Cavite City and thus the province of Cavite. It is located west of Manila, the nation's capi ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

invested money in the film. He had previously invested in a similar movie from Santiago, '' Styker'' (1983) which was distributed by Corman's former company,

New World Pictures New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment, New World Communications Group, Inc., and New World International) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia com ...

. However that company refused to distribute ''Wheels of Fire'', contributing to Corman suing New World and setting up his own distribution arm again, Concorde Pictures. That company distributed ''Wheels of Fire''. Footage from the movie was reused in another post apocalpytic story shot in the Philippines directed by Santiago, '' Raiders of the Sun''.

Critical reception

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called Wheels of Fire a 'Bargain-Basement rip-off of ''

The Road Warrior ''Mad Max 2'' (released as ''The Road Warrior'' in the United States) is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film directed by George Miller, who co-wrote it with Terry Hayes and Brian Hannant. It is the second installment in ...

'' series' The ''Los Angeles Times'' said "the script is not just bad it's unspeakably bad, soaked through with grungy, low life sadism." One critic called it "this limp entry into the mid-’80s post-apocalyptic adventure genre" which "may have the undesirable triple honor of being the suckiest, sleaziest and dullest of the many ''Road Warrior'' rip-offs."

References

External links

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''Wheels of Fire''
at Letterbox DVD {{Cirio H. Santiago 1985 films 1985 independent films 1980s American films 1980s English-language films 1980s road movies 1980s science fiction action films 1980s science fiction adventure films American action adventure films American chase films American post-apocalyptic films American road movies Films about automobiles Films directed by Cirio H. Santiago Films set in deserts Philippine science fiction films 1985 science fiction films English-language science fiction adventure films English-language science fiction action films English-language independent films English-language action adventure films