Hands of Steel (1986)
A cyborg assassin returns home while being hunted by the company that created him.
Genre
Characters/Groups
Peter Howell - Claudio Cassinelli
Inspector Bakey - Frank Walden
Anatola Blanco - Darwyn Swalve
Rev. Arthur Moseley - Franco Fantasia
Moseley Security Detail 1 - Alex Vitale
Moseley Security Detail 2 - Bruno Bilotta
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
Detailed Synopsis
Inspector P Bakey is arguing with Thomas, the assistant to Rev. Arthur Moseley in a hotel room. Bakey is upset that Moseley has chosen the hotel as his headquarters versus a more secure location, while Thomas doesn’t like the presence of Bakey and his men. Paco Queruak arrives at the hotel in a sports car and after being searched walks towards his own room in the hotel. He takes a nap and wakes up to a flashback of three men ordering him to neutralize Moseley. Paco walks into Moseley’s office and stuns Thomas with his hands and then enters Moseley's room. Moseley, after mistaking Paco for Thomas, realizes Paco was sent to kill him. Paco strikes Moseley and then escapes to an electrical conduit tunnel. The hotel manager hears the noise from Moseley’s room and starts the alarm, alerting Bakey and his men. Moseley is brought out into a stretcher and Bakey is told he has a ruptured spleen.
Paco is able to reach a vehicle he had waiting for him and he drives away. Cooper and Hunt have a meeting with Francis Turner who is upset that the mission didn’t go as planned. Turner is worried the FBI will find Paco and trace him back to the foundation Turner is in charge of. Cooper tells Turner he will talk to Prof. Ulster to figure out what went wrong. Bakey questions Thomas who suggests Francis Turner probably had something to do with the assassination attempt on Moseley as Turner hates Moseley more than anyone. Paco drives to a junkyard and trades his vehicle for a different one. Paco’s car stalls and he ends up walking to a place called Champions Oasis and Vermillion Cliffs Lodge. He enters the lodge and is greeted by the owner Linda., who offers him a room in exchange for help around the place. She also tells him arm wrestling competitions are really popular in the area. Cooper and Hunt arrive at Ulster’s lab. Ulster refuses to help Cooper and tells him Turner lied to him about the purpose of the project. Turner originally told Ulster the program would be used for the good of the earth. Cooper starts to destroy Ulster’s lab and Ulster tells him some fleeting portions of Paco’s youth may still exist and Paco may be trying to capture his past. Cooper then shoots and kills Ulster. Cooper gets into his car and is then shot dead by Hunt. Turner tells Hunt he is going to hire an assassin to kill Paco. Dr. Peckinpah and Bakey ask Moseley what he remembers about the weapon used against him. Moseley can’t give many details but mentions it seemed solid and hard.
A group of truckers including Raul Morales arrive at the Champions Oasis. Raul easily wins an arm wrestling challenge from a trucker named Ronny and harasses Linda. Paco angered by Raul’s harassment of Linda purposely shoulder checks Raul who quickly challenges Paco to an arm wrestling challenge. Linda tries to keep Paco out of trouble but after being called a chicken shit, he accepts Raul’s challenge. Dr. Peckinpah uses a computer program to figure out the weapon used against Moseley was a hand. Linda bets 1000 dollars on Paco beating Raul. Paco easily beats Raul and then proceeds to beat up Raul and the other truckers who attack him after his win. Hunt and Peter Howell, Turner’s hired assassin arrive at the junkyard Paco traded his vehicle. After gathering some information and setting Paco’s old vehicle on fire, Peter murders the junkyard owner, but the murder is witnessed by a kid. Raul returns to the Champions Oasis with Anatola Blanco the tri-state arm wrestling champion. Blanco and Paco agree to arm wrestle 7 that night with the added threat of rattlesnakes placed on the table so the loser is automatically bit. Linda receives a call that some Native Americans drove off the road and need help. Paco goes to help, however it is a trap set by Raul, and Paco is dragged behind a tow truck and beaten. To the surprise of Raul, Paco arrives in time for the match. He easily beats Blanco and right before the rattlesnake is about to bite Blanco, Paco uses his own hand to cut it in half.
Later that night Paco reveals the truth to Linda that he is a cyborg. Dr. peckinpah tells Bakey she thinks it was a cyborg that attacked Moseley and she wants to talk to Dr. Ulster who was an expert in the field. Bakey reveals to Peckinpah that a report came in that Ulster had been murdered. Peckinpah thinks Turner hired Ulster to make a cyborg killer. Hunt and Peter Howell are tipped off Raul may know where to find Paco and Raul shows them the location of the Champions Oasis. The local sheriff tells Linda about a car they found and he thinks it could be the same guy that tried to kill Moseley. Peckinpah has some tapes from Ulster’s lab decoded identifying Paco while Bakey receives an all points bulletin stating Moseley’s assailant’s old vehicle was found in a canyon in Arizona. When the sheriff leaves, Paco tells Linda he has to leave and she offers to drive him to the Mexican border. Two assassin hired by Turner named Eddie and Susie arrive at the Champions Oasis. A fight breaks out in which it turns out Susie is a cyborg like Paco. Paco shoots and kills Eddie, while Linda shoots Susie before Paco rips off Susie’s head. Howell and Hunt attack Paco and Linda and Hunt is shot and killed by Paco.
A helicopter chases Paco and Linda. Paco kills Raul by crushing his skull with his bare hands after Raul rams Paco’s car with his semi. Howell is shot and killed by one of Turner’s men for failing to kill Paco. Blanco witnesses Paco and Linda being attacked and offers to help. Linda leaves with Blanco to go to a hospital however Turner fires a rocket at Blanco’s semi causing it to explode. As Linda is being taken away by ambulance to the hospital she asks the sheriff to help Paco. Turner and his men follow Paco to an industrial park where Paco proceeds to kill Turner’s men one by one. Turner is killed by Paco when Paco rips out Turner’s heart. Bakey, Peckinpah, the FBI and local cops arrive and Bakey tells Paco if he comes out no harm will come to him on his honor, however Paco shoots at the cops and the cops fire back. Linda arrives with the sheriff. Linda is given a loudspeaker and she speaks to Paco who still thinks she is dead. Linda walks into the ruins and she tells Paco he can become normal again. Paco shows Linda a large wound on his head and evidence of his cybernetic brain. Paco then wonders if the human Paco Queruak ever existed. With that it was a day in our near future the era of the cyborg had begun.