User reviews

The always excellent value for money David Warbeck headlines in this action yarn as an ex special forces leader in Nam who is now making a living flying in arms for a rebel cause somewhere in south east Asia. On one such run however, our hero finds himself getting directly hands on involved as it were when his plane is brought down by the enemy forces. A fair number of fairly well staged action sequences inevitably follow as Warbeck subsequently tries to make his way back to safety aided by the rebels he was supplying and in addition, with a little help from some buddies who stage an unsuccessful mission to retrieve him.

This was director Antonio Margheriti's second film in a war trilogy (the first being the excellent The Last Hunter and the sequel to this effort was Tornado a.k.a. Tornado Strike Force)

Whilst the film reviewed here certainly has it's moments, it sadly pales in comparison to the first in the series. Nonetheless, the enjoyable performances of the leads in this (who also headlined in the earlier film) raise the standard immeasurably, especially as displayed in some of their highly amusing verbal exchanges amongst themselves. The ever so sadly missed Warbeck especially is on great form here. In fact it has to be said that with his incredibly charismatic personality, Warbeck could always be relied upon to raise any film in which he found himself.

It's such a great pity that he never made it big outside of the Italian movie industry. How tempting it is to imagine how Warbeck would have been in the role of James Bond for instance.

Antonio Margheriti's second entry in his Vietnam Trilogy is surprisingly the weakest of the three films (the first being "The Last Hunter" and the third being "Tornado"). However, despite some lackluster and uninspired direction, several quick action sequences and great cast chemistry hold this flick together over the course of 90 minutes.

Sometime during the mid-1970s, three Vietnam vets, Tiger Joe (David Warbeck, "A Fistful of Dynamite"), Midnight (Tony King, "The Last Hunter") and Lenny (Luciano Pigozzi, "Tornado") run weapons to Cambodian refugees who are fighting against the Khmer Rouge forces. When Joe is shot down behind enemy lines, he meets a beautiful guerrilla fighter (Annie Belle) and the two basically run around blowing up enemy bases while Lenny and Midnight search for their missing buddy.

That's about all there is to this quickie actioner. It's obvious that this was shot right on the heels of the classic "The Last Hunter", in order to make use of leftover money and sets, and fill out the contracts of several of the actors – the cast and crew of both films are virtually identical. The production values are awfully low, and it shows. The film is almost completely void of Margheriti's signature slow-motion photography, and there are only a few big explosions. Margheriti and crew obviously produced this film in haste, and it shows. There's no variety of camera angles: no cool zoom-ins, no low angle photography, nothing to manipulate light and dark sets. Even the miniature work is below par: we do get to see one bridge and a toy train comes crashing down, but that's about it.

Most of the story revolves around a ragtag bunch of guerrillas and Cambodian peasants wandering the Cambodian jungle (actually the Philippines) and constantly running into enemy patrols, which they dispatch with machine-guns and knives rather quickly and without much effort. This is yet another film where a handful of un-trained civilians with AK-47s can suddenly mow down tons of trained enemy soldiers, who don't seem to understand how to take cover or aim their weapons. A good deal of the action footage – particularly that of helicopters and the burned-out village – is lifted directly from "The Last Hunter".

This only thing holding this plot less, mindless piece together is the great chemistry of the leads. Everyone involved in this film seems to be having a good time, even if they're not delivering incredibly thoughtful dialogue with gusto. David Warbeck, another British actor who failed to make it in Hollywood like Sean Connery and Roger Moore did for the James Bond series, went to Italy where he made a ton of decent action pictures (often for Margheriti). Here, he's enjoying himself as a witty Brit who simply gets to take an M-16 and grenades and kill half of the Khmer Rouge without effort. Tony King over-states every one of his scenes as Midnight (well, when he does he not overact?) but is great fun. Pigozzi seems right at home as Lenny, the type of part he was born to play, and despite his age and build, gets to be involved in some very physically demanding sequences. His final scenes are a bit corny and forced, but great fun for that exact reason.

This is a very entertaining and attention-holding film, but Margheriti doesn't offer us anything new to think about and doesn't seem to be experimenting with either the script or technical side of the production. If not for the presence of a great cast, this flick would have been a total waste of time. As it exists now, you'll probably watch it once, enjoy it but forget it almost immediately. Check out Margheriti's "The Last Hunter" instead; the series should have been left where it was.

I'm a serious Antonio Margheriti fan and really enjoy his films from this era in particular. Let me be clear, if you're not a fan of Italian exploitation/genre films, then the low budget and SFX might turn you off. That said, Margheriti was a superior director and consistently produced entertaining films on minuscule budgets. His work with miniatures was often remarkable although I fear younger people now might ridicule it. Personally, I remain greatly impressed by the craftsmanship that went into those low-budget effects.

But I digress...as to this particular film, it is unfortunately not quite as entertaining as most of his others from this era. The film stars Margheriti regulars David Warbeck, Luciano Pigozzi , and Rene Abadeza. All three are great (as usual). And like many other Margheriti films of this era it was filmed in the Philippines, which provides a suitable exotic, jungle location. Unfortunately this film lacks some essential elements--the most glaring of which is the lack of an antagonist/villain. Instead, Warbeck & Co. are reduced to traipsing through the jungle merely dodging nameless soldiers. There's no Lee Van Cleef or Klaus Kinski running some scheme with drug lords. There's no Ernest Borgnine pulling the strings from the Capitol. It is literally just Warbeck and his buddies trying to avoid soldiers. This is unique in Margheriti's films and is impossible to excuse as the plot is literally the thinnest of any of his movies. Also dragging the production down is the fact that nearly 100% of the movie is filmed in the jungle. Without an antagonist, there are no scenes back in the city with the bad guys plotting, no scenes at drug manufacturing silos, and nothing visually interesting (for the most part). They literally traipse through the jungle and stop mostly in empty buildings. Although there are a couple of decent explosions, they are kept at a bare minimum and Margheriti fans will be disappointed in the conspicuous lack of flame-thrower action.

All that said, I cannot rate a Margheriti film lower than 5 out of 10 because despite this film having virtually no budget, he and the actors make the most it. It does have some (outlandish) casual racism that still perplexes me. If you are a fan of Margheriti in particular or Italian exploitation in general then check out this movie...if not, stay away.

David Warbeck is awesome to watch, no matter what. In this droning adventure, which has the actual audacity, to throw in a couple of Last Hunter clips, he's a saving grace here. Again, playing a vet, well ex vet, now flying illegal armor across Asia, and we are afforded familiar lush Last Hunter locations, he makes one trip too many, for good or bad. The other characters, King and company are great, especially the comedy duo who run the illegal enterprise, and boy, does one of them love to eat, as evidenced in one scene. The film does have heart, but for me, the film strains in much uninteresting plot development, direction, and we wonder what the story really is, in it's function. Is it trying to be more than it is. Despite the heavy action and occasional bloodletting, this just becomes average or by the numbers watch. I would even say tedious.

This is about as typical as you can get for an Antonio Margheriti movie from the early 80's. It's an action movie which takes place somewhere in Indo-China (I'm assuming Vietnam) with David Warbeck, Tony King, and Luciano Pigozzi marching around the jungle mowing down waves of black pajama-wearing enemy soldiers. Lots of miniatures exploding in slow motion, really loud gunshot and punch sound effects, footage recycled from earlier Margheriti films, Rene Abadeza, and lack of any real plot establish this among Margheriti's other films from the period such as THE LAST HUNTER, JUNGLE RAIDERS, and CODE NAME: WILDGEESE.

Besides all the typicality, this film actually is pretty good when it tries to be, especially the nearer it gets to the end. There's some bang-up action sequences, such as a huge toy train explosion (a la BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI) and a great scene where Warbeck and King use gunboat to mow down an entire army on a beach. However, at times this film really, really drags as it's never exactly entirely clear just what's going on.

Margheriti and co. were unfortunately struck by tragedy while making this film when a plane carrying several crew members crashed in the Philippines, which resulted in the death of Riccardo Pallotini, one of Italy's greatest cinematographers of the time. Hence, it's probably understandable why the film doesn't have the "heart" that a lot of Margheriti's previous films had, but it's hard to enjoy a film with so much "baggage". Anyway, if you loved TORNADO and THE LAST HUNTER, then definitely give this a try, as it's more of the same. Expect nothing less and nothing more.