RELENTLESS (1989)

Taglines- “When Buck Taylor comes to call, your number is up.”

“Killers aren't born. They're made. Judd Nelson is Buck Taylor. And Buck Taylor is...Relentless”

A taut action suspense film about a renegade cop reject (turned down from the Los Angeles Police Department on psychological grounds) who goes out to vent his vengeance by killing random members of the public. The killer is Arthur “Buck” Taylor (played in an incredibly creepy performance by Judd Nelson) who selects his prospective victims from a phone directory, the criteria being that any person with either “Arthur” or “Taylor” in their names makes it to his hit-list.

The killer leaves cryptic messages on his victims’ phones which all end with-“I have to kill you”. The voice and demeanour of the character “Buck” is so calm and unflustered that it belies the simmering frustration and anger that he feels, both at being turned down from LAPD and also importantly in disappointing his father in the high aspirations that he had held. Through flashbacks, we learn that Buck’s rejection is all the more shattering because his father, himself a LAPD detective killed on duty, had taught his son rigorous exercises/practices (including revolver rounds) in order to toughen and prepare him as a police officer. Buck regards his rejection as a slight to himself and the aspirations of his high achieving brutal father, who would have accepted nothing less than seeing his son as a competent policeman.

Arthur murders his victims in disturbing ways- by forcing them to participate in their own deaths, whether it is by making them run the knife on themselves or garroting themselves with piano wires. Then he leaves taunting notes for the baffled cops in which he challenges them to catch him.

Sam Dietz (Leo Rossi who later reprised his role as the spunky cop from New York in three direct-to-video sequels) is the newly transferred cop who immediately figures that the so called “random” murders are in fact connected and he drags his world-weary and cynical boss Malloy (acted by veteran Robert Loggia) on apprehending the sadistic serial killer.

However, the chase to find the killer becomes personal for Dietz when Malloy is murdered by Arthur (in retaliation for Malloy having publicly stated that the killer had a ‘sick twisted mind’) and later when Buck holds hostage his son and wife at their home.

Dietz discovers the hideout of the killer and realises that his family is in danger when he sees that the page of the phone-book containing his address is torn out and missing. He rushes home and manages to kill Buck, thus not only saving his family and avenging Malloy’s death, but also saving the public from his relentless killer pursuit.

It was nice for me to note that the script by Phil Alden Robinson actually gives shape to the background and motivations of the various characters, be it the dead-eyed Buck or Dietz with his outspoken and eccentric mannerisms. This is important because in most action flicks, the plot is given a go-by and there is no light thrown on the motives of the characters nor is any attempt made to endow them with human appeal; in fact these films tend to be a bunch of fight/action sequences without background or character driven stories. Also in this film, the music score and persistent sense of unease are unsettling enough to make the viewer sit up till the very end.

Overall, Relentless is a superbly done slick suspense thriller from the late 1980’s which has unfortunately not received as much attention or focus as some of the bigger budgeted offerings from the same period, such as the Terminator 1 and 2, Total Recall, Maniac Cop (directed by the same director William Lustig), First Blood etc. The movie is available on DVD as both single disc release and also in combination with its sequel which was released directly on video. It is also available by Warner Brothers DVD release as a four-film set which also comprises of Where Sleeping Dogs Lie, Scenes of the Crime and No Mercy.