A Breed Apart (1984)

Just what I expected

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Director Philippe Mora (Howling 2, Pteridophyte Woman from Beverly Hills) helms this curious little film that has Vietnam vet Jim (Rutger Hauer) living on a secluded island up against egg poachers and the mountain climber that Whitier (Donald Pleasence) hires to steal bald-eagle eggs. Kathleen Turner also stars as Stella their love interest. And no 80's movie would be complete without Brion James as a bad guy.A missing film reel was lost to time, but rather than trash the whole movie, the editors choose to cut around it. This explains why the film seems so scatter-shot, characters motivations are not always clear, the plot is muddled. However what remained is still watchable enough,Eye Candy: Jayne Bentzen gets fully nude; Kathleen Turners shows T&A

Although the film lacks a strong story line, the actors do well in their roles. Most of the reading of the story comes from "between the lines" and the actors abilities to present the story to us. I think the editor did a good job of putting together a reasonable film even though he was missing a reel that got lost in transit. Admittedly if he had had all four reels, the final cut would have been improved. Still I enjoyed watching this film even though I had to fill in some blank spots with my own thoughts as to how some things tied together. A little popcorn, some spare time, and lets watch 'A Breed Apart'. The scenery is fine.

I was excited to see a movie with, Powers Booth, Rutger Hauer...AND Kathleen turner??? What I saw was a disgusting pile of trash with hurried synthetic music score, delivered by Maurice Gibb (of the bee gees clan), and the most horrid directing possible.The film shows, real inhumane treatment of animals. In opening sequences they show piles of real dead birds, obviously freshly hunted.In another scene, they show a boa constrictor going after, either a parrot, or some type of South American bird. Anyone how knows anything about this part of the world knows that they are more than likely, Mortal enemies.Trash film, that was hurried out.

I was expecting much more than this movie delivered, the actors involved have all given some great performances, but none of them seemed remotely connected to this story line. Hauer, who'd just made the classic 'Osterman Weekend' plays a former soldier, dedicated to looking after his own private island, and its bird population. Donald Pleasence is an avid collector of rare birds eggs and hires Powers Boothe to recover some extremely rare eggs from Hauers island.Hauer gets himself in a local dispute with some hunters killing birds on his land, and so ensues a messy, clumsy war between him and the hunters. Add to this Powers Boothe arrival and the film starts to fall flat on its face. The acting is very average, and the films ultimate aim at pointing out the importance of nature is lost amongst the movies detracting subplots.The direction and production isn't up to scratch, only adding the the films failure. Although an avid fan of hauers work, id recommend you don't waste your time on 'A Breed Apart'.