Dog Tags

My review was written in February 1990 after a Greenwich Village screening.

"Dog Tags" is a standard issue patrol film, set during the Vietnam War. Pretentious direction and laudable technical skill fail to lift this film from action pic status to art house entry.

Filmmaker Romano Scavolini, known Stateside for his 1981 feature pic "Nightmare" after numerous Italian film credits as director and cameraman, proves himself her a talented helmer of individual setpieces but unable to put them together into a coherent whole.

British thesp Clive Wood (also in "Buster") ably portrays a commando code-named Cecil who saves some GIs from imprisonment in Tiger Cages. Instead of heading for rescue pickup, Wood and his ragtag band of soldiers are ordered by the captain (Mike Monty, a regular in Philippines-lensed pics) on a secret mission across the border into Cambodia.

Instead of finding secret information in a downed helicopter, Wood discovers four boxes of gold and the men predictably turn greedy en route to a cynical finish.

Film's strong points include John McCallum's sharp widescreen lensing, a vigorous musical score byJohn Scott and sustained tension within several harrowing sequences.

Pic is sabotaged by extremely crude editing (which makes the appearance of a pretty Vietnamese girl and her family tagging along with the heroes needlessly cryptic) and an unnecessary device of dividing the story into separate "acts, plus prolog and epilogue. Tale is unconvincingly told in flashback by author Chris Hilton.

Tech credits, particularly vivid Dolby sound recording and some spectacular explosions, are on a par with big-budget films in this genre.

Dog Tags is a cheap Italian production made to cash in on the success of Platoon..Dog Tags is little in common with Platoon, but is cool for what it is. The film was shot on location in the Philippines and my Vinegar Syndrome Blu Ray looks absolutely fantastic. When a group of soldiers is waiting for pick up they are ordered to retrieve a box left behind by a crashed helicopter. The tone of the film is quite grim and the characters in this film live and die in a horrific fashion. The jungle is humid, and dangerous with booby traps, difficult terrain and enemies at every turn.. Meeting your demise at any second is a reality that has our characters on constant edge and mortal danger. The violence is quite graphic and gory. Dog Tags truly embodies the brutality of war and is great for its realism and gritty, claustrophobic feel.

A U.S. chopper crew waiting to be air-lifted back to safety from the Viet Cong territory are ordered by their commander to recover secret papers from a drowned ARVN helicopter.The papers turn out to be gold ingot hidden in boxes.The group decides to keep 'their' gold for themselves."Dog Tags" was based on the experiences of its director,Romano Scavolini who was a freelance photographer during the Vietnam War.The film is well-acted and directed and it offers some really grim scenes.The leg amputation scene is quite gory and disgusting.The photography by John McCallum is excellent,but the editing is pretty uneven.It's nice to see Baird Stafford as one of the soldiers-he was really memorable in Scavolini's gory shocker "Nightmare"(1981)as a schizophrenic killer George Tatum."Dog Tags" is pretty obscure and hard to find,but if you get a chance watch it.7 out of 10.