'Steel Dawn' (1987) – Lance Hool.

While made during the giddy height of Swayze's popularity, the sinewy, charismatic star's dust-strewn Post Apocalyptic actioner 'Steel Dawn' doesn't seem to have captured cult movie fan's interest with quite the same rigour that 'Roadhouse' has, and yet this engaging, distinctly arid-looking, desert-set dystopian drama has much to recommend it to avid Road warrior-inclined B-Movie fans aside from simply enjoying another credibly steely-eyed, Gung ho, 100% committed performance from the inimitable Swayze, as the creditable cast also includes noted character actor Antony Zerbe as the despotic rebel leader Damnil, big-haired rump-kicker Christopher Neame is delightfully bellicose as Swayze's nemesis and erstwhile assassin Sho, and if that wasn't enough B-Movie meat, 'Steel Dawn' features another bravura barnstorming turn from beloved 'Blade Runner' icon Brion James as the boisterous Little John-esque Tark.

With its ominously bleak, desolated vistas, subterranean marauders, and a Stoic, white-knighted road warrior assisting his damsel-in-distress Kasha (Lisa Niemi), the razor-edged 'Steel Dawn' remains a delightfully plucky video-rage, Post Apocalyptic action-fest that frequently punches above its weight, and more often than not hits the mark square on the sun-chapped nose! And there is little doubt that the iconic Swayze put his not inconsiderable energies to good use in the remarkably forceful fight scenes, the bloody duel with the savage, pugalistically savvy Sho demonstratively being one of Steel Dawn's more exhilarating highlights, as the film's combative edge has certainly not dulled with time, the intense, blood n' thunder finale no less thrilling today than when I first saw it on tape so many years ago, and Patrick Swayze's masterful swordsman 'Nomad' is a modern-day Ronin of the Video-Era wastelands that remains, perhaps, one of the more unsung post-Mad Max heroes.