Heroes Stand Alone

My review was written in November 1989 after a screening at Criterion theater on Times Square.

"Heroes Stand Alone" is a subpar war film notable only for its attractive Peruvian locations.

Chad Everett, who toplooined in a more thoughtful WW II war pic for WB back in 1966 ("First to Fight"), stars as CIA mercenary Zack Duncan, serving in Central America in the guerrilla war of fictional country San Pedro. Film's shooting title was "Duncan's Dodgers", but it's a far cryh from such action forebears as "Merrill's Marauders" and "Dayton's Devils".

Ridiculous screenplay concerns an abortiive U. S.-backed flyover mission that violates a San Pedro ceasefire. When the plane is shot down, Everett and his men are sent to recover survivors and the incriminating flight recorder black box before Cuban and Russian troops find them and create an international incident.

Bradford Dilllman is the bad guy, an ex-CIA operative who's now a dirty, doublecrossing arms dealer. As a sign of the times, pic makes the Russian adviser a good guy ane even humanizes the set of stereotyped Cubans; "the company" (CIA) and is alumni are naturally the easy targets for scorn. A pretty Indian girl (Elsa Olivero) is artificially put on he Cuban team as a tracke, mainly to set up a topless bath at a Peruvian waterfall.

Mark Griffiths directs limply, with poorly staged battle scenes. Hokey finale of Everett and the Russkie thowing away their weapons (more a case of detente than glasnost) is laughably bad.

Within the first five minutes, I was laughing so hard that my eyes were filling with tears. Of course, the problem is that "Heroes Stand Alone" isn't meant to be a comedy.

An American spy plane crashes in the jungles of San Pedro, a fictional Central American country. The US government sends in a team to retrieve the black box. Meanwhile, some Russian and Cuban guerillas are attempting to reach the crash site first. Can't you just feel the tension?!!

The sole special effect which the makers of this film could afford was pyrotechnics. That would be fine if there were such things as a plot or actual actors. Alas, those are nowhere to be found so the attempt is made to distract you with the occasional fireball. A plane crash? We see a series of fire spouts shooting up from the ground. A shoulder-launched missile? We're entertained with a few sparks and a puff of smoke which doesn't even cause minor injury to anyone within five feet of it. A dead body? Yup...they set it on fire!

Anything executive produced by Roger Corman usually has perilously low standards. This is no different. Anyone who couldn't make the cut to even be in the background of a McDonald's commercial has been signed up to have speaking roles in this little flick. They all spend too much time talking about nothing and a person can only take so much shooting blanks or blowing things up. The only thing heroic about this movie is you if you can sit through it all. 1/10