Robert Conrad looks just as fit as he ever did in "The Wild, Wild West" in director Eddie Romero's "Sudden Death." Basically, murder and revenge lay at the heart of this contemporary melodrama about a man whose family is massacred on an island paradise. Miraculously, the father of the family, John Shaw (John Ashley of "Young Dillinger") convinces a former U.S. government agent who participated in the incursion in Cuba to step in to help him. Initially, Duke (Robert Conrad of "Wrong Is Right") is reluctant, because he lives like a beach bum with his daughter and his girlfriend. Nevertheless, Duke's best friend on the island, Buffalo (contacts one of Duke's closest friends stateside, Wyatt Spain (Felton Perry of "Magnum Force"), to come to the island and back him up. A cabal of conspirators is responsible for the death of the family at the outset of the action. Like one other commentator has observed, the opening scene where a peaceful family, husband, wife, and sons are gunned down, is reminiscent of Sergio Leone's "Once Upon A Time in the West." After Duke decides that he wants to step in and change the fortune of the villains, the villains hire a Mafia executioner, Dominic Digaldo (Don Stroud of "Joe Kidd"), to terminate Duke with extreme prejudice. The violence is frank and brutal, and the ending is a complete surprise. Thayer David plays a lusty homosexual who sleeps with young boys. Essentially, "Sudden Death" would be just another bloody revenge thriller if it weren't for its unconventional action. You've never heard Robert Conrad curse until you see "Sudden Death." The fight between Duke and Dominic is short and sweet. Director Eddie Romero doesn't let anything bog down this nuts and bolts actioneer, and Robert Conrad is fascinating to watch as the hero. He doesn't pull his shots when he is facing another man. "Sudden Death" deserved the R-rating that it received for all its blood and violence.
Review of Sudden Death
