Afganistan - The last war bus (L'ultimo bus di guerra)

My review was written in December 1989 after watching the movie on Trylon video cassette.

"War Bus Commando" is a standard-issue Italian action pic that arrives in U. S. home video stores too late to cash in on interest in the Afghanistan conflict.

Mark Gregory, stalwart young hero in Italian pics since debuting in the Vic Morrow-starrer "1990: The Bronx Warriors", plays soldier Johnny Hondo, sent to Afghanistan on a suicide mission by John Vernon. Purpose of the exercise is to find a "war bus" outfitted by Hondo's dad with important military documents dating back to the Shah's reign, when daddy was in charge of U. S. military bases in Iran. Hondo is also to rescue several prisoners.

Pic boasts several effective battle scenes and scenic (but unidentified) locations. Drawback is its uninteresting story line, not helped by weak dubbing of the entire cast, including Canadian thesp Vernon. Italian leading lady Savina Grsak is wasted in a nothing role.

I watch a lot of bad movies to make fun of them. Blame Mystery Science Theater 3000, and its biggest fan, my friend Ethan. Though this had still been a pastime of mine before I ever met Ethan.

So yeah, I've seen my share of bad movies. They can be a lot of fun to watch. A lot of bad movies are so bad (I'd never call them "so bad they're good"), they're enjoyable, especially with the right crowd. War Bus Commando, however, is not one of them.

This movie was bad. And it was slow. They need to use a rundown old bus, modified to make it a "WAR BUS!", to escape hostile territory. Fixing a bus will never be exciting film. It was just agony to sit through this horrid movie. It wasn't even funny in its badness. It was just wrong. The funniest part of all of this was to learn that this was actually War Bus 2. Someone had made a movie about a War Bus before and thought it a worthy concept for a sequel. Thank God an alternate title was Afghanistan- The LAST War Bus.

Bad. Avoid. Oh, I suppose I should be more specific. This isn't really a direct sequel to War Bus. The first one took place in Vietnam, this one takes place in Afghanistan. And if you've seen the first one, you know that this can't really be the same bus anyway. The two films share none of the same characters. First, I should explain that I love bad, silly, cheesy movies that make me laugh. That is why I sought this out. C'mon, it's got Mark Gregory! Thunder from Thunder Warrior I-III! Trash from 1990:Bronx Warriors & Escape from the Bronx! My hopes were set high, and I was completely disappointed. The first War Bus was a solid, albiet unrealistic, war flick. This one is boring. There's not a whole lot to laugh at and there are but a few fleeting glimpses of competence. So if you're looking for a good war film, rent the first War Bus instead. If you're looking for a good Mark Gregory film, THIS IS NOT IT. But hey, if you're reading this, you'll probably ignore me and just watch it anyway. I understand, I'd do the same thing.

As 80's Italian films go this is pretty standard stuff, Mark Gregory in his final film role before literally falling off planet earth to live as a recluse in the small Italian town of Castel Madama, Gregory sadly took his own life in 2013 and being a lover of these sort of films visited his resting place in April 2023, RIP Marco.

Onto reviewing this film now,well there's not a right lot to review to be honest apart from our hero along with a few others get trapped behind enemy lines and the only escape is by a specially designed bus, some notable appearances by Canadian veteran actor John Vernon Annimal House ((1978)and Bobby Rhodes from Demons (1985) and The last Hunter (1980), all in all its worth seeing as its Gregory's last film and isn't available anywhere apart from ebay in Blu-ray format converted and enhanced from a dvd-r but is superb quality and well packaged.

Really cool movie that is not actually about World War II for a change. Apparently this is Mark Gregory's last role of the Bronx Warrior movies and it also stars awesome John Vernon. Mark Gregory's role is he's a one-man Army badass guy who basically starts off in Afghanistan on a mission to save a American Soldier. And on his way home in Montana He is informed his father is dying and he has to go back to Afghanistan on a mission to retrieve gold from the Shah of Iran how did it get to Afghanistan I don't know LOL. It has a really good score I think it's Mark Gregory best role he actually is really good in this movie so it's not super cheesy.course still cheesy and a great Supporting Cast of other familiar actors of these genre films . In this movie his father dies and he is on a mission to retrieve the gold and go back to Afghanistan he must fight the Afghans and the Russians. I definitely recommend it it's a over the top pretty cool Italian war movie that definitely needs to be on home video the movie is pretty solid for the kind of movie it is and I think it deserves more viewing. On my first viewing I was surprised how good it was it's definitely solid try to check it out if you can I have it on DVD on an Italian war movie Set called in glorious bastards 2 that's the only way you can get this movie right now in the year 2023!