Siete en la mira (1984) Poster

(1984)

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3/10
MAD Almada!
insomniac_rod30 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
A Mexican cynical rip-off of "Mad Max" follows the story of the town's Sheriff beating one by one a gang of dangerous bikers. Of course, the hero of the movie is none other than Mario Almada, the Mexican action cinema badass.

After the bikers grow terror in the town, they terrorize an elementary school just to hunt Almada and his fellow helpers.

But Almada is a fierce dog that won't give up that easily so he goes after the gang and kills them one by one, until he faces the leader played by Jorge Reynoso.

The movie is really bad. You can't help it. The action/fight scenes are really cheesy! Whenever Mr. Almada points with a gun, you can't help but laugh. Reynoso's performance is very cheesy that it's actually laughable.

I won't criticize in every detail "Siete en la Mira" because it wouldn't be unfair. I mean, this movie tried to copy "Mad Max" but it ends up being a huge disaster.

Avoid it like the plague.
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4/10
Bikers go insane
BandSAboutMovies19 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Seven In Sight was directed by Pedro Galindo III, who also made some other great movies you should track down right now like Vacaciones de Terror 2, La Muerte del Chacal and Trampa Infernal. It was written by Carlos Valdemar, who has 200 scripting IMDB credits like Zindy the Swamp Boy and Cyclone, and Gilberto de Anda who has a hundred and was the man who write Mi Fantasma y Yo and Tijuana Jones.

It's pretty much a western but instead of a ruthless gang that has just come into town on horseback, they all have facepaint and mohawks and ride motorcycles and I'm in love with this. The sheriff (Mario Almada, who made a million or more movies where he appears on the cover brandishing a gun) tries to treat Vikingo and his Zulu gang like human beings and tells them to just keep moving. They don't - one of them assaults and accidentally kills a woman - so one of the deputies steals a gun from a mechanic, kills the suspect and doesn't let on that he just led an innocent man to jail. The bikers demand justice and take a bar and a school - I mean, what else is important in a Texas border town? - and threaten to kill everyone unless they get their hands on the mechanic. And then the townspeople go nuts and demand the death of the bikers. It falls to the sheriff and his brother Marcos (played by Mario's brother Fernando) to beat, shoot and bullwhip this gang seemingly from a post-apocalyptic future into the ground.

Intrepidos Punks and its sequel La Venganza de los Punks are obviously better versions of this same story, but just like how seven different Mexican regions offer different twists on food that all just called Mexican food north of the border, this has notes and flavors worth experiencing and savoring, like a scene where a hostage is introduced to steel fan blades face first.

The next movie gets even wilder, but there's lots to like here.
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10/10
Tex-Mex Chainsaw Massacre!
joseph_lv_ca30 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
24-years after watching this film in a cinema - this film still hasn't lost its touch. Who imagines a Sheriff beating criminals down with a whip? This film features fanned blood-spatters without showing the graphic details accompanied with elaborate special-effects make-up budgets.

This movie was released during a time when American culture was pushing the glam of punk rock rebellion. Watching this cult classic is like watching the rock bands Poison and Motley Crue fight side-by-side on crotch-rockets and swinging bats and chains through the air.

Inspiration for this film appears to have derived from combinations of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Indiana Jones", "Scarface", "Friday the 13th", "300" and "Walker, Texas Ranger". You don't even have to know Spanish to watch this film and understand what's happening. Chances are likely that you'll walk away from this film - feeling like "cracking a whip" on someone.
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4/10
The Mexican version of the punk movies of the 70s
TheMexFilm22 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
I think one of the problems of national cinema was that they always exaggerated the use of punk themes in gangs and the fact that they were painted poorly did not help them. Target Seven could have been better if it had been taken from the western and brought to the city. I think they tried to maintain the character of Mario Almada as an avenger and a vigilante at all costs, which is why in this movie we see how everything takes an unexpected turn practically at the end. It does not offer anything different or new than many films of those years and above all the photography leaves a lot to be desired, exaggerated performances by all the actors and above all scenes worthy of the unrealism of American cinema. What makes the film less digestible is the fact that everything was recorded in the same city and does not offer more shots of different places. I wouldn't call it a waste of time, but I would say that the quality of this movie could have been better.
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3/10
The Story Would Have Worked Better As A Traditional Western
jrd_733 August 2019
In Siete en la Mira, a biker gang, all wearing too much make-up, ride into a small Texas town. The sheriff (Mario Almada) tries to take a light handed approach, suggesting that the gang move on. However, when a biker rapes and accidentally kills a local woman, a deputy steals an illegal gun from a local mechanic and executes the assailant. The gun leads back to the innocent mechanic who is promptly arrested. The arrest does not satisfy the rest of the bikers. They take over a bar and a school, threatening to kill those inside the establishments if the mechanic is not turned over to them. The sheriff has to deal with the bikers, the hostages, and restless townspeople.

The basic plot elements could have been made as a traditional western, with horses and outlaws. This approach would have worked better. In the 1980's, the sheriff should have picked up the phone and called for help from the state police and maybe federal agents. The town would not have been as isolated in 1984 as it would have in 1884. The film does play with the western genre. The sheriff uses a bullwhip to kill one of the bikers. The film also has a final showdown where one character has to outdraw another.

I am not well versed in Mexican popular cinema. I have seen a couple masked wrestling films and a few of the 60's horror films released on DVD from Casa Negra. I do know that Siete en la Mira is slow going for the first half and the action in the second half is not very well staged. Also, some of the plot elements are just confusing. Why does the deputy need to get someone else's gun to kill a biker who had raped and murdered the townswoman? For that matter, why does he go after this gun instead of trying to stop the biker from raping the woman (he can see the couple through a window)? Why are the police so impotent to stop less than a dozen bikers?

Siete en la Mira seems to have a small cult following, but I don't see why. It is certainly not in the same league as second tier biker exploitation films like Northville Cemetery Massacre or Mad Foxes, let alone a classic like Mad Max.
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