Zona de infierno

I found this movie in my local videostore for only 10 Danish kroner (approximately 1.50 US $), under the name "Guerilla Strike Force", and of course I bought it, since the cover was very promising (a muscular guy in front toting a machine-gun, a beautiful woman in the background, and some old guy wearing a captain's hat on the top, all heads surrounded by explosions and army vehicles in action).

Now to the movie and the "plot": It begins with a scene reminiscent of the start-sequence in "Saving Private Ryan", just without the same pace, good acting, nice effects, or a general point. It's basically just some Japanese guys invading a bunch of American guys trenched up at some beach (which we later find out is supposedly Manila Bay), shooting at random with lots of unexplained explosions and a little redundant dialogue.

Then the Americans have been captivated, and one of them escapes very cleverly (when another prisoner tries to escape and gets shot, everybody looks the other way, and our hero just rolls to the side under a house). This smooth fellow is Bob Reynolds (or actually Goodwin, depending on if you believe the movie or the cover), who later joins up with a bunch of rebel Phillipinos, and rescues a girl from being raped. The girl, Isabella, immediately falls in love with Bob, but since the country is at war, they have to fight off the evil Japanese in almost every scene.

Most scenes consists of the rebels ambushing stupid Japanese soldiers and mercilessly killing them all, or the evil Japanese commander either torturing hostages or executing innocent civilians. These two scenarios continue right up until the abrupt ending where we discover that everything that has happened in the movie didn't matter one bit, as the entire plot actually was about Bob and Isabella loving each other without knowing it for real. Duh! Among the great things to look for in this movie are: Archive Submarine Footage, A bunch of Filipinos singing a touching native anthem in English (without moving their lips of course), and Isabella's perfect make-up with red lipstick and all, even though she's a guerrilla warrior just like everybody else, yielding heavy machine-guns and everything.

So all in all, as jungle-war-movies go, this is by far one of the most dull and stupid movies I have ever seen. Usually I love these cheesy movies, but this one was just repeating itself, and the ending was actually so down-played that it became a highlight. By the way, if you're a fan of Broderick Crawford, then beware, he's only in the movie for one scene as a general, who decides the fate or several hostages. Quite a good part, but very short.

4/10, because upon second viewing it was actually a quite decent movie, that could've benefited from a bigger budget and better script.

'Maharlika' was filmed in the Phillippine Islands in 1969, and starred a beautiful American actress named Dovie Beams. 'Maharlika' was supposed to be based on the alleged, heroic World War Two adventures of Ferdinand Marcos who fought against the Japanese occupation of the Phillippines.

In 1969 Marcos was now the democratically elected President of the Phillippine Republic, and would be re-elected in that same year. Dovie Beams had become the mistress of the President, whose cronies had funded the production of 'Maharlika'. The making of 'Maharlika' is the subject of an excellent book "Marcos' Lovey Dovie" (published 1984) by Manila journalist Hermie Rotea.

Rotea does detail how veteran Hollywood actors Paul Burke ('Naked City') and Farley Granger were brought to Manila for the filming of 'Maharlika', but there is absolutely no mention of Broderick Crawford in his book. Crawford was an Academy Award winning film star, whose fame far surpassed that of actors Granger and Burke. If Broderick Crawford had gone to the Phillippines to shoot 'Maharlika', author Hermie Rotea would certainly have highlighted it in his outstanding book. (INCORRECT, PLEASE READ FURTHER BELOW)

Rotea chronicles how the finished film was discovered by the Phillippine First Lady, Imelda Marcos, who ordered that Dovie Beams' star billing be removed, and that her part be cut down to a whisper. 'Maharlika' was never released in either the Phillippine Islands or the United States when the facts surfaced about the relationship between President Marcos and the would-be starlet Ms. Beams. What is interesting is that Dovie Beams predicted that Marcos, who was barred constitutionally from running for a third term, would somehow find a way to remain in power. In 1972, Marcos declared martial law tearing up the Phillippine Constitution, and remaining in power until 1986.

The review above was written by myself in May 2006. I challenged anyone to prove that Broderick Crawford actually appeared in the film. The other person who posted a comment under the name 'KNATLOUIE' for 'Maharlika' has proved me wrong 100%. 'KNATLOUIE' has seen the film under it's alternative title, 'Guerilla Strike Force' and has contacted me with concrete photographic evidence proving once and for all that Broderick Crawford does in fact star in 'Maharlika'!

I have no idea why author Herman Rotea failed to mention Crawford's presence in 'Maharlika' in his otherwise great book of the affair, especially when he highlighted the minor American film stars of the production.

IMDb.COM should restore 'Maharlika' to Broderick Crawford's film credits, and credit him with the role of the Colonel. IMDb.com should also revise the film's release year from 1985 to 1970 when it was finally released after it's 1969 filming. IMDb.com should display it's overseas release title of 'Guerilla Strike Force'.

Thank-You 'KNATLOUIE' from wonderful Copenhagen, Denmark for proving me wrong and discovering a lost film of Broderick Crawford!