Jaguar Lives! (1979)

A great supporting cast, but a weak movie, 29 February 2008

To sum up the plot of Jaguar Lives! in a couple of sentences – Jaguar is a secret agent with a mission that takes him around the world to locate and bust-up up a large-scale heroin ring. If along the way he's able to find out who killed his former partner, so much the better. Joe Lewis (1979 World Karate Champion) is Jaguar. While his acting may be a bit stiff, his moves certainly aren't. The man knows how to throw a kick. He's joined by one of the most amazing casts for a nothing movie like this that I've ever seen – Christopher Lee, Donald Pleasence, Barbara Bach, Woody Strode, Joseph Wiserman, John Huston, and Capucine all lend their varied talents to the film. None has very much to do or much screen time, but Pleasence makes the most of his role as a South American dictator. Unfortunately, none of these actors is able to save Jaguar Lives! from mediocrity. The plot is pretty much a muddled mess, relying on set-pieces featuring fights to move the plot along. The big reveal of the head bad guy at the end of the movie shouldn't surprise anyone who's been paying the slightest bit of attention. And Lewis just doesn't have what it takes to hold the movie together.

So, while I'm impressed with the supporting cast and the money spent shooting in exotic locations around the world, Jaguar Lives! just isn't all that good. With all that being said, I'm a bit shocked to see that Joe Lewis didn't many more movies. Sure, his acting may have been lacking, but people with similar acting ability but with only half of Lewis' martial arts ability were churning out movies in the 80s.

4/10