This was not "early 80's" like some have stated. It was late 80's. I remember watching this when it first came on HBO back around 1988. It has always been one of my favorite Swayze films. Some of the support cast is lacking in acting skills. But all in all not a bad film.
There are some seeming similarities to my favorite Star Wars film... desert, moisture farms, and tusken-"like" people in the beginning. Then you have the Mad Max stuff... lone hero in desert with no name (yes his name is max... but most characters never know his name), dog following the no-name hero buttkicker, thugs in desert trying to take what the peasants have, and a kid to suck up to the buttkicking good guy. But really, no-name buttkicking loner hero's are very popular in action movies. Steel Dawn, Mad Max, Waterworld, The Postman, Clint Eastwood westerns, and many others actually.
Even Arnold Vosloo, from The Mummy, is in it haha. This is one of the few films I remember watching where Brian James is actually a "good guy" lol. I seen somebody mention not seeing stunt doubles. They did use them. Maybe not throughout, but they were used. The only major noticeable one that I seen was when "Jux" jumps from the wind-racer... clearly not a young boy jumping.