Missionary Man (film)

Missionary Man
Directed by	Dolph Lundgren
Produced by	Andrew Stevens
Written by	Dolph Lundgren Frank Valdez
Starring	Dolph Lundgren
Music by	Elia Cmiral
Cinematography	Bing Rao
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Release date(s)	2008
Running time	93 minutes.
Country	United States
Language	English

Missionary Man is a 2007 American action film co-written, directed by and starring Dolph Lundgren.

Plot

A lone stranger named Ryder (Dolph Lundgren) comes into a small Texas town on his 1970s Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He's there for the funeral of his good friend J.J., a local Native American carpenter. Ryder spends his time in town reading the Bible while drinking straight tequila sans salt and lime.

Ryder talks to J.J.'s sister Nancy (Kateri Walker). Nancy says that it's believed that J.J. drowned in a river, but J.J.'s teenage son Junior (John D. Montoya) doesn't believe that.

Local businessman John Reno (Matthew Tompkins) introduces himself to Ryder, and Ryder gets a room at a local hotel. Reno tells Murphy (Charles Solomon Jr.), one of his employees, to keep an eye on Ryder. At the hotel, Sheriff Acoma (James Chalke), who seems to be alcoholic, tells Ryder that now that J.J.'s funeral is over, Ryder shouldn't still be in town.

Ryder enters the local situation by beating up a group of Reno's thugs who are beating a local drug user named Billy (Jonny Cruz) for not paying back money he owes to them.

At Nancy's house, White Deer (August Schellenberg), the father of Nancy and J.J., talks to Nancy's 15-year-old daughter Kiowa (Chelsea Ricketts), who is Junior's older sister. Kiowa believes that J.J., who was a member of the tribal council, was killed because he knew something about Reno. It looks like Reno is a tyrant who has the town under his stranglehold.

Kiowa thinks that some of the tribal council members might be on Reno's side. White Deer, Nancy, Kiowa, and Junior go to a tribal council meeting, where two proposals will be decided on, and Reno is there.

Chief Dan (Richard Ray Whitman) announces that Assistant Chief Lance (Titos Menchaca) has suggested that the council still discuss the Gaming 3 proposal—a proposal for the building of a state-of-the-art casino on tribal property by Assistant Chief Lance's construction group.

That proposal would bring many new jobs and much revenue for the tribe's people. but the council is concerned with the many negative aspects of the proposal. For now, there's a very innovative on-line gaming alternative that was proposed by J.J. and his family.

It's a proposal that offers more highly-skilled jobs and training for the tribe's people, and takes advantage of gaming profits without the negative aspects. That is the proposal that Dan will recommended to the council. Assistant Chief Lance gets angry and leaves. Reno tells Lance that he'll take care of things.

Later, while Ryder is out walking, he's met by Billy. Billy tells Ryder that Reno runs the town, and that everyone's afraid of him. And then Billy tells Ryder that Reno had J.J. murdered.

Nancy talks to Sheriff Acoma in his office, saying that something has to be done about Reno. Sheriff Acoma says that the last time he tried to investigate Reno, a judge quickly called the investigation off. A frustrated Nancy leaves Sheriff Acoma's office.

Kiowa and Junior go to the Save More Grocery Store, and Kiowa goes inside and asks the clerk a question. The clerk said that J.J. came in and got a case of beer on the day of his death. But Kiowa knows that J.J. was not a drinker, and Reno is a drinker.

Kiowa goes outside and sees some of Reno's thugs roughing Junior up. They tell Kiowa to tell Nancy to drop J.J.'s proposal that the tribal council is considering. They start roughing up Kiowa, and then Ryder shows up and beats them up.

Ryder takes Kiowa and Junior to their home, and they invite him in for dinner. He accepts. During dinner, Junior says that as soon as he turns 18, he's going to leave the town and not end up like J.J. did.

Outside, Kiowa talks to Ryder, and admits that she never knew her father, and that J.J. took care of her like he was the father she never had. That's why she misses him so much.

That night, Billy witnesses a drug deal going down between Reno and some Mexican men down by the river that J.J. was found in. Reno has his men kill the Mexican men, and then Reno tells Murphy to find Billy and kill him.

Later, Assistant Chief Lance tells Reno that there can be no more killing. Assistant Chief Lance says that Reno's ways of doing things attract too much attention.

Assistant Chief Lance had told Reno that if he got J.J. out of the way, then Assistant Chief Lance would get approval to build the casino. Reno plans to kill Nancy and her family in order to make sure no one is in the way.

On the next day, Ryder is teachig some of the bible to some kids that White Deer regularly teaches, and Junior yells for Nancy to come down to the old camp ground near their home. Junior has found Billy, who was shot in the arm.

They take Billy to the house, and some of Reno's men arrive. Ryder beats them up, and shoots up their vehicles. And then he makes them leave. Ryder has White Deer take Kiowa and Junior to a safe place, and White Deer says that he knows of a place that Reno doesn't know the location of.

Ryder and Nancy find Sheriff Acoma, and tell him that Reno's men shot Billy because Billy witnessed the drug deal. Reno shows up and talks about filing assault charges against Ryder for beating his men up.

Ryder accompanies Reno to a bar owned by Reno. Reno offers to let Ryder work for him, but Ryder refuses. One of Reno's men tries to beat Ryder up, but Ryder beats the man up, and shoots up Reno's bar. Ryder walks outside, and Reno follows him with a gun. Sheriff Acoma arrives and tells Reno to put the gun down. Reno and his men go back inside.

That night, Reno calls a gang of bikers into town, and the gang is led by a man named Jarfe (John Enos III). They are the bikers that Reno is trying to get the casino built for, and Jarfe had also shot Ryder once before.

Jarfe and his gang are also the biker gang that killed Nancy's husband, the father of Kiowa and Junior. By now, Billy is out in the town, and Jarfe finds him and fatally shoots him.

Jarfe heads into the hotel that Ryder is staying in, and Jarfe and his men attack the hotel's owner. After that, Jarfe and his men kill a pair of arriving deputies. On the next day, Ryder heads out on his motorcycle. When Ryder gets into town, Jarfe sees him, and sends his men after him.

Ryder starts killing Jarfe's men as they find him. Ryder gets some help from Hoss (Brad Imes), a man who used to work for Reno. Sheriff Acoma finds Reno with his two main henchmen, Murphy and Gomez (Lawrence Varnado). Sheriff Acoma kills Murphy and Gomez, and knocks Reno to the floor.

Ryder finds Jarfe and shoots him, using the gun that Jarfe shot Ryder with. And then he uses it to fatally shoot Jarfe in the head. Later, Sheriff Acoma locks Reno up, and Ryder leaves town.

Production

Missionary Man was premiered in Dallas, played for an exclusive one-week theatrical engagement in San Diego and was screened at the 2008 AFI Dallas Film Festival. .^[1] Lundgren economically filmed the movie on Super 16. Due to a down-conversion gone wrong from HD to DVD, the picture quality and colors don't match the HD master that was approved by director Lundgren. Lundgren did not use a stunt double and made the film in 24 first unit days and 3 second unit days.^[2]

Deleted scenes

The DVD features an alternative opening. Another deleted scene features Ryder's Indian friends laughing at the thugs Ryder has defeated and humiliated by making them pull their trousers down and walk away. An unusually happy Ryder enthusiastically shouts "Let's throw their guns into the river!"

Cast

• Dolph Lundgren as Ryder
• Kateri Walker as Nancy
• Chelsea Ricketts as Kiowa
• Matthew Tompkins as John Reno
• John D. Montoya as Junior (as John Montoya)
• James Chalke as Sheriff Acoma
• John Enos III as Jarfe
• Lawrence Varnado as Gomez
• Charles Solomon Jr. as Murphy
• Jonny Cruz as Billy
• August Schellenberg as White Deer
• Brad Imes as Hoss
• Morgana Shaw as Tiger
• Julian Guevara as Mexican Smuggler
• Andrew Stevens as Smuggler
• Bryan Massey as State Police Deputy

The slogan on the DVD cover of Missionary Man also features a reference to Dolph Lundgren's earlier movie, The Punisher.

References

1. ^ http://www.dolph-ultimate.com/films/missionary_man.html
2. ^ Lundgren interview with Mike Massie for Missionary Man DVD

External links

• Missionary Man at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Dolph Lundgren about "Missionary Man"