Chase_Witherspoon

Blaxploitation western stars DoQui as a happy go lucky army recruit who finds love and tragedy as part of the respected 10th cavalry division during the Civil War.

Charming DoQui is well suited to his role of serial philanderer attempting to make good of his situation, whilst athlete turned actor Rafer Johnson, Isaac Fields and Lincoln Kilpatrick stand-out as his more disciplined fellow cavalrymen who treat the uniform and its obligations with pride (albeit with some personal conflict).

Interesting to see both Cesar Romero and Barbara Hale appearing in minor supporting roles playing the moderate Colonel and his concerned wife, whilst Robert Dix darkens up to play the local Indian chief who's forged a friendship with Johnson's character in particular whom he initially treats like a brother.

Attractive Janee Michelle gets an 'introducing' credit despite being active in television for many years, here playing the part of the local seamstress torn between two lovers, a subservient role that seems to offer little more than eye candy for the male characters to consume. Ironic that the character who makes the clothes is also the one seen disrobing forthwith, but then it's preferable to Isobel Sanford (soon to become a household name on 'The Jefferson's') whose pointless incidental part as Sergeant Kilpatrick's local ladyfriend is well below her talents. So whilst there's a decent female cast assembled, their characters haven't much substance.

The action scenes with the Indians and settlers are handled with skill, but otherwise Cardos' directorial debut is clumsily edited and generally quite bland. The 74-minute edit I saw looked like it had been severely hacked with continuity errors and characters who disappear without explanation yet despite the pruning, it's doubtful I missed much worth seeing. This isn't 'Take a Hard Ride' and even blaxploitation fans might struggle to be entertained despite DoQui's natural charisma.

Dissident posing as a minister (Kroeger) talks his way aboard a cargo ship bound for Bali, but upon arrival his character is questioned by the port authority and the ship on which he's sailing is shunned leaving its captain and crew in eternal limbo.

A psychological thriller of modest proportions, economical and entertaining in spite of its rather crude technical qualities. Grinning, cherub-faced Kroeger seizes a rare opportunity to take the lead, enjoying a succulent Chinese meal, lavishly prepared by the subservient ship's cook Wu (played by future 'Hawaii Five-0' villain Khigh Deigh), then spends the rest of the episode tormenting the rigid Captain (Johnston) whose regret for taking aboard the stateless pariah appears immutable.

Compact allegorical thriller creates sufficient tension culminating in a paradoxical conclusion and perfect poetic justice to cure the nuisance once and for all.

Extremely tedious counter-culture statement starring Director MacGregor as a flower cowboy political candidate who's elected by the local peace-loving farming community, only to be persecuted by the corrupt, conservative establishment. The main protagonist is drawn as a cult-like statesman, eschewing violence, advocating people power via peaceful protest which naturally upsets the status quo who view the rise of the commune as a threat to their power and influence.

Daughter of local sheriff (Gayle Hemingway, aka Gail Smale) becomes romantically involved with the charismatic can-do candidate, which causes additional tensions with the local law enforcement until a bloody showdown results in tragedy.

Padded with endless scene fillers and accompanying folk rock So-Cal soundtrack, MacGregor appears to be inspired by 'Billy Jack' but lacks the tension, action and technical polish of its commercially successful influencer.

The acting looks professional with functional dialogue, but the editing (or plot structure) is jumbled to the extent it's sometimes difficult to understand what's happening (although to be honest, I don't think you'd be missing much even it were more coherent).

A couple of quite bloody confrontations in an overall body count of five I counted (although the fatalities at the beginning lacked any context) but the only nightmare in 'Nightmare County' (the version I saw was approx 86 mins) for me at least was the monotony borne of its viewing. Despite the righteous virtues being extolled, there was little to excite nor entertain and going the distance was seriously hard work.