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Let's be realistic.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Director Philippe Mora (Howling 2, Pteridophyte Woman from Beverly Hills) helms this curious little film that has Vietnam vet Jim (Rutger Hauer) living on a secluded island up against egg poachers and the mountain climber that Whitier (Donald Pleasence) hires to steal bald-eagle eggs. Kathleen Turner also stars as Stella their love interest. And no 80's movie would be complete without Brion James as a bad guy.A missing film reel was lost to time, but rather than trash the whole movie, the editors choose to cut around it. This explains why the film seems so scatter-shot, characters motivations are not always clear, the plot is muddled. However what remained is still watchable enough,Eye Candy: Jayne Bentzen gets fully nude; Kathleen Turners shows T&A

Although the film lacks a strong story line, the actors do well in their roles. Most of the reading of the story comes from "between the lines" and the actors abilities to present the story to us. I think the editor did a good job of putting together a reasonable film even though he was missing a reel that got lost in transit. Admittedly if he had had all four reels, the final cut would have been improved. Still I enjoyed watching this film even though I had to fill in some blank spots with my own thoughts as to how some things tied together. A little popcorn, some spare time, and lets watch 'A Breed Apart'. The scenery is fine.

I watched this film when it was recently shown on British television, largely because of my interest in bird watching and nature conservation (although the looks of the young Kathleen Turner might also have been a factor). The story revolves around the doings of egg collectors (or "oologists" as they sometimes call themselves), a breed of men which I, in common with most ornithologists, struggle to understand; if, as they claim, they are motivated by a love of nature, why do they persist in endangering through their activities the very creatures they profess to love? J.P. Whittier, an obsessive and very wealthy egg collector, is trying to obtain specimens of the eggs of a newly discovered (and fictitious) subspecies of the bald eagle. In reality there are two existing subspecies of this bird, the northern and the southern, although the supposed new variety is said to be larger than either. At the time the film was made in 1984 the bald eagle was on the brink of extinction in the continental United States, although its numbers have since recovered and it was removed from the list of endangered species in 2007.Whittier is well aware that stealing its eggs will be likely to push the new subspecies closer to extinction, but is nevertheless determined to proceed with his scheme. Because the only known nest is on top of a lofty crag, he hires rock climber Mike Walker to steal the eggs for him. Although Walker can no more comprehend Whittier's motivation than I can, he is tempted by the huge sum of money he is offered. There is, however, a problem. The nest is on land owned by Jim Malden, a reclusive and eccentric conservationist who fiercely guards both his privacy and the wildlife on his land, going so far as to attack hunters with a crossbow when he catches them poaching. To allay Malden's suspicions, Walker poses as a photographer. Turner plays Stella Clayton, a local storekeeper in whom both men are romantically interested. Stella is presumably a widow or divorcée, as she has a young son, Adam. Turner may have taken the part in order to try and play down the "femme fatale" image she had acquired after "Body Heat"."Variety" magazine accused the film of lacking dramatic tension or emotional involvement, and there is justice in the accusation. The main villain of the piece is Whittier, and he always keeps well away from the action. Walker, even at the beginning of the film, never seems very villainous, and by the end he is not a villain at all, having been converted to the conservationist cause by Jim and Stella. Malden is not always entirely sympathetic, seeming at times too fanatical and obsessive; putting a crossbow bolt through someone's leg is not generally regarded as the act of a Christian gentleman, even if done in an ostensibly good cause.The plot does not always flow very smoothly and there is, apparently, a reason for this. After filming had been completed, one of four reels of film went missing and the director Philippe Mora had, somehow, to put a coherent story together from the remaining three. Despite some attractive shots of the North Carolina scenery, "A Breed Apart" is a routine action thriller which is not always very thrilling, but given its strange history the finished product could have been much worse. 5/10

I was expecting much more than this movie delivered, the actors involved have all given some great performances, but none of them seemed remotely connected to this story line. Hauer, who'd just made the classic 'Osterman Weekend' plays a former soldier, dedicated to looking after his own private island, and its bird population. Donald Pleasence is an avid collector of rare birds eggs and hires Powers Boothe to recover some extremely rare eggs from Hauers island.Hauer gets himself in a local dispute with some hunters killing birds on his land, and so ensues a messy, clumsy war between him and the hunters. Add to this Powers Boothe arrival and the film starts to fall flat on its face. The acting is very average, and the films ultimate aim at pointing out the importance of nature is lost amongst the movies detracting subplots.The direction and production isn't up to scratch, only adding the the films failure. Although an avid fan of hauers work, id recommend you don't waste your time on 'A Breed Apart'.