The No Mercy Man

Troubled Vietnam vet movies were a dime a dozen in the mid-'70s, which is about what most of them were worth. This movie's plot is similar to many of those others, but with one crucial difference--this time the vet isn't a murderous, unbalanced mental case raping and killing his way across the country. Steve Sandor plays a returning vet who just wants to take up his life before the army and forget everything that he saw in Vietnam, but when his small desert town is overtaken by a murderous gang of biker thugs, he is forced to call some of his ex-army buddies and take action. Sandor--a large, powerfully built actor previously known mostly for supporting roles in biker flicks--plays the troubled young man, and does a very good job. He gives the character some dimension, and doesn't play the man as a bully waiting for his chance to kick some butt--which, given Sandor's size and intimidating presence, he could well have done. Instead, Sandor plays him more like a gentle giant who wants to take up his life back with his family, and it really works.

The action scenes are very well handled, which isn't usually the case in low-budget films of this nature. Director Daniel Vance (or his stunt coordinator) does an excellent job in the various fights and brawls leading up to the final battle at the film's end, and it's a good one. Slow-motion action scenes, a la "The Wild Bunch," were still the rage back in the mid-'70s, and Vance falls victim to this style, but it's used sparingly enough so as not to be distracting or frustrating, as it can be when it goes on for too long. The film appears to have been shot in the Southwest, possibly Arizona or the California desert, and good use is made of the desert locations. There's a larger cast than usual for this kind of picture--apparently the filmmakers had a lot of friends they used as extras, as the small desert town this film was shot in doesn't appear to be able to support as many people as appear in it.

Altogether, a neat little action picture, quite well done (I know of no other film director Vance has made, which is a shame considering how good this one turned out), good acting, a different twist to a familiar story. A good way to spend an hour or so. Recommended.

Classic b-movie set in a mid-70's rural American hick town. Sandor is the special forces Vietnam Vet who comes back to live with the folks after an (honorable) discharge. He's a hero that his dad is proud of, but -- as were all the Vietnam Vets portrayed during this time period, he's a troubled one. The town is undergoing problems due to some "carny" type-ruffians (led by the great character actor, Sid Haig) camped out nearby. Reluctantly Sandor calls some of his Green Beret buddies to help out and the town becomes another battle site with the psychos vs. the vets. Variations of this sort of film were made throughout the '70's but usually with black actors ("The Black Six", etc.) in the lead roles. Not a bad way to waste an hour and a half if you're into this sort of film...

UPDATE: I just saw this film at the New Bev theater in Los Angeles (thank you Eric Caiden) for a one-night showing with another disturbed vet flick -- "Rolling Thunder." Man, seeing this film uncut makes me appreciate it all the more. The TV version totally cut out all the subtleties of the evil gang. Not that they are that sympathetic but the writer threw in a bit about how the two blacks in the gang were frustrated with carny life and how the carnival owner was trying to give them the shaft because one of them (Rockne Tarkington) was shacking up with a white chick! Not bad at all...now if only the projectionist would have previewed the reels and not shown them out of order...

ADDITIONAL UPDATE -- It's now out on DVD! Buy it while it's still in print. This is not a Jack Hill-type of classic so I doubt it will be around forever...

Daniel Vance's delightfully dingy B-actioner, 'The No Mercy Man' (1973) is a righteously retrograde trip into sleazoid revenge, and for the life of me I can't understand why this heroically unvarnished heft of spleen-spirited, morally unchained, deliciously dunderheaded, Drive-in shunt-kickery isn't boisterously name-checked more often than it is!!! Where were these so-called arbiters of B-Movie bad taste to initially fast-track me to this double-barrelled hootenanny of grindhouse fun? But, as they say, if you want something done you do it yourself, which is precisely what brawny, bellicose badass, Steve Sandor does most effectively in 'The No Mercy Man'. Big lug Ollie Hand (Steve Sandor) returns to his family ranch from the killing fields of 'Nam armed with a nasty, B-movie case of the battle crazies, and his fragile, hair-trigger psyche is about to take another calamitous cluster-funk; as a group of opportunistic carny reprobates, led by the towering Prophet (Rockne Tarkington) began an ill considered sortie on the Sandor homestead, only to find themselves riotously repelled by Sandor's dog-faced, gun-happy pappy! And it is this most meagre umbilicus from whence this gloriously trashy movie's gleefully vengeful, 'Kill 'Em All' narrative draws its most bloody nutriment! Right on!

Sandor is Oli Hand, a returned Vietnam veteran whose traumatic experiences as one of the elite special forces assassins has affected his ability to re-adjust to his life as the son of the former serviceman (Slattery) living on the family farm. When visiting carnival folk (Tarkington, Lane, Scott, Booth and Thompson) begin causing trouble in town, they discover that Oli is a killing machine capable of taking on the entire gang to protect his family.

Tarkington as the brawny gang leader delivers a scene-stealing performance of calculated authority, a standard that elevates the entire picture from its C-grade roots. Sandor is so-so as the unhinged ex-GI, Slattery as his father who doesn't understand the psychological damage done to his son causes conflict between the two and this serves as the film's dramatic tone. Other roles are generally well-played, with lanky Mike Lane as a violent thug, and cult-favourite Sid Haig dishing out a beating or two in typical form.

The dialogue and acting is better than usual for this type of fodder, though there are some exceptions - Sandor's war-buddies behave more like dumb & dumber than special forces experts (note the scene where they high-five one another before the job is done). Notwithstanding the budget constraints and plot weaknesses, "No Mercy Man" (aka "Trained to Kill USA") isn't a bad yarn that doesn't over-reach in its melodrama and instead delivers plenty of explosions, and slow-motion shoot-outs in its crazed climax.

Handsome, troubled Vietnam stud Steve Sandor (as Olie Hand) returns home, just as dad Richard X. Slattery (as Mark Hand) is having some problems with transient "carnie" Rockne Tarkington (who is "sensitive, intelligent, and black" as Prophet) and a gaggle of lawbreaker types. They include Ron Thompson (as Dunn), David Booth (as Beetle), and Sid Haig (as Pill Box). You don't mess with vets, boy. Of course, flashbacks ensue! Fists fly! Heads get knocked! and, Hand's town erupts in WAR! It's predictable, exploitive, and sometimes offensive. "The No Mercy Man" shows no mercy to a fairly good cast and crew. The "Trained to Kill, U.S.A." re-title is appropriate, anyway.

** The No Mercy Man (1973) Daniel Vance ~ Steve Sandor, Rockne Tarkington, Richard X. Slattery