The commander, instead, makes his own dramatic escape on his motorcycle after it deploys airfoils and a rocket motor and catches up with the cargo plane in midair. Although he has lost the battle, Guerera shows admiration for Hunter's cunning, and he gives his old friend a thumbs up. Cast Barry Bostwick as Ace Hunter Michael Beck as Dallas Persis Khambatta as Zara Edward Mulhare as Byrne-White George Furth as Professor Eggstrum Henry Silva as Guerera Mike Kulcsar as Ivan (credited as Michael Kulcsar) Ralph Wilcox as Zac Evan C. Kim as Suki (credited as Evan Kim) Anthony Pena as Sixkiller (credited as Anthony Penya) J. Víctor López as Lopez Michael Carven as Anton Production The film was part of a $50 million slate of film production from Golden Harvest studios aimed at breaking into the Western market. Other movies included High Road to China and The Protector. The director Hal Needham said: It's like no other movie ever made before. And the machines we've built are extraordinary. There's one other thing. Although there's a lot of action, you don't see anyone get killed. I think people are beginning to get sick of that kind of thing. What we've tried to do here is make an entertaining film with some believable heroes the public can cheer for. Barry Bostwick was cast in the lead after the producers saw him on stage in The Pirates of Penzance in Los Angeles. Producer Al Ruddy said he and the director had talked to one other actor earlier in the development stage, when the script was more serious. However, then Ruddy "decided I didn't want to do another Dogs of War type movie. I wanted this to be more camp, more of a spoof, but still believable. Once we'd seen Barry we knew right away he was just right for the part." It was the first time Bostwick had received top billing in a film. He signed a three-picture deal covering possible sequels. He kept the beard he wore for Penzance to "develop a particular look for this guy. That way if I want to do other pictures I can just shave it off to look different. Anyway it's dead right for this character." "We use high technology weapons of the most advanced design", said Bostwick. "They're still on the drawing board but they will be in use by the time the movie is