“Journeyman” should not be seen as a slight. Ted Kotcheff worked in film and TV for four decades, and in that time, he made Uncommon Valor (1983), a nostalgic, emotional favorite; First Blood (1982), a film that has grown in my estimation with each passing decade as a great example of not only whip-smart action but post-Vietnam cinema; and what I would argue is the man’s masterpiece - yet only his fourth directorial effort - 1971’s Wake in Fright.
