Tweekums
When Michael Smith, a CIA agent, is captured by government forces in Angola his father, retired US Marine Colonel Bill Smith sets out to rescue him. He flies into South West Africa and learns that his son is being interrogated by an East German officer in an Angolan fort. He hires a group of mercenaries and heads through the Skeleton Coast desert towards the border. Things go wrong when they cross paths with Captain Simpson; a cruel man who is employed by the diamond mines to hunt down smugglers. This leaves them a man down and more importantly their vehicles are destroyed. He leaves Smith and his people to die in the desert but they find a new way to Angola. Once there they run into the rebel leader Smith's son had been working with then head to the fort to attempt a rescue.This is a distinctly average film; the plot is fairly basic and much of the action is fairly laughable. That said it isn't terrible; it just could have been much better. Ernest Borgnine is solid enough as Col. Smith and Oliver Reid was suitably menacing as Captain Simpson; it was a pity that his character didn't play a larger role. Robert Vaughn was okay as East German intelligence officer Maj. Schneider; he played the role fairly straight when some over-the-top hamminess might have suited the film more! The direction isn't the greatest; if it wasn't for the fact that it was a bit violent in places one could be forgiven for thinking it was made for television. Overall I'd say that this isn't worth going out of your way to find
it was just about worth the 50p I paid for it.
Bezenby
It's yet another late eighties adventure/action film featuring such greats as Ernest Borgnine, Herbert Lom, Oliver Reed, Robert Vaughn and
Daniel Greene (from Atomic Cyborg and many, many Italian action films – maybe he got lost on his way to some Fabrizia De Angelis production?). This one has a kind of Dirty Dozen type deal going on which I'll explain
.now: Over in some African country I never bothered remembering the name of, Borgnine's son gets kidnapped by the government (or the rebels, something like that), and Ernest goes to Africa to get him back, employing the help of Herbet Lom, then gathering together a rag tag group of mercenaries (Daniel Greene, token chick, token martial artist, old man, religious nut etc) and heads off into the desert with loads of guns to get him back. You know, the usual crap.It's fun watching Borgnine and his crew blowing the crap out of stuff, and facing off first against Oliver Reed's security forces (you've got to love the way the film makes you think that Reed will come back for another battle, but vanishes from the film instead) then Robert Vaughan's nazi-style forces. Things blow up, people fire machines guns at each other, and is it just me or did Borgnine and his crew just flat out murder those smugglers in order to get that plane? Why are action films from this era so appealing? I'm not sure. There's no barrage of over-stylised shots, no self-parody, no Tarantinoisms, and no modern film would end with such a cheesy freeze frame like this one does. That all helps. Plus, who doesn't like Ernest Borgnine? He was Mermaid Man!
crawfrordboon
I own this movie on DVD having somehow missed it when it first came out, and i have to say i was impressed. What started out looking like it was going to be a waste of 90 minutes viewing time and a good number of brain cells turned out to be a fun, amusing, and enjoyable feast of cheesy dialogue, great action, and good music.The credits list Oliver Reed and Herbert Lom as main characters but this patently isn't the case. They would have been paid hansomely to appear in their cameo roles, in which they do quite well, giving hammy but very amusing performances. This paradox is one of many questions hanging over this film, which feels at times like a cliche but is actually quite entertaining.In the lead is Ernest Borgine, a realiable campaigner who doesn't seem to out of place in the film despite the fact that he was 70 when starring in it plays Colonel Smith. He is ably assisted by Daniel Greene as Rick Weston, whilst former UNCLE star Robert Vaughn as the East German baddie.What i expected to be a real stinker full of old hams and a rather tragic affair turned out to be a nimble little East African romp with some great-looking loactions, which should have been used to greater effect, some nonsensical but intriquing plot development, and some title music that is a real gem if you ever coem across it.
Wizard-8
One has to wonder why all these Hollywood actors signed up in 1987 to do a movie that was a co-production with South Africa. Even when you put that fact aside, what you still have here is a very strange production. For one thing, can anyone figure out why Oliver Reed's character is in this movie? He makes a couple of appearances, then bam! he's gone and never is seen again. Herbert Lom's character could also easily be written out as well.
Anyway, the movie overall is kind of talky and a little dull. Though there are some nice African locations, some decent action sequences, and Ernest Borgnine once again gives an entertaining performance. You get a little more out of him in this role because it gives you a rare chance to hear him swear (something Borgnine doesn't like to do in a movie), and you get to see him really ham it up when he disguises himself as a Cuban colonel (!) A movie to watch while you're reading a book.
AD
