Killer Commando - Per un pugno di diamanti

The only thing more pathetic than Peter Fonda's fake beard is that director Val Guest had almost no career after making some of Hammer Films' best work, from horror to science-fiction to (like this) crime thrillers...

And while KILLER FORCE is no Hammer there's Dracula himself, Christopher Lee, within a group of DIAMOND MERCENARIES in a South African desert where the beautiful-vastness of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA meets the jeep-leaping potential of THE RAT PATROL, and, either indoors or out, Lee's the most cold-blooded villain (killing perfectly good hooker Marina Christelis for no apparent reason) in a movie all about villains...

Meanwhile, buried lead Peter Fonda works for Telly Savalas, an uncompromising, office-set security chief (whose scenes were probably shot in a few days between KOJAK episodes) for an impenetrable diamond-mine outpost...

And soon the morally ambiguous Fonda's hired to go undercover into Christopher Lee's gang actually led by square-jawed Hugh O'Brian alongside Lee's 007 moll Maud Adams (as Fonda's girl) and O. J. Simpson, turning in his most natural non-performance since some genuine athletic abilities are used during the busy second and third acts...

That's when the rudimentary semi-complicated heist premise becomes more popcorn mainstream and thus, outright entertaining, and even suspenseful... the latter most likely thanks to director Val Guest...

The underrated British auteur (from QUATERMASS to HELL IS A CITY) does a nifty job with a standard script and meager budget that could have been forgettable without the professional veteran behind everyone, and everything.

Hasn't turned up too often on television but was good. Nice casting, with Peter Fonda the lead but not actually leading the robbery. That was left to Hugh O'Brien, Christopher Lee and O.J.Simpson. Maud Adams always good to look at on the screen and Telly Savalas as a security officer who had a dark side to him. Nice soundtrak, might still be available if you look hard enough.

Watching Killer Force makes me think that the folks who security at South African diamond mines ought to be the ones running our Homeland Security. As typified by Telly Savalas they are a ruthless but shrewd lot. It wouldn't say much for our civil liberties though, but would we ever be secure from terrorists.

Peter Fonda plays one of the security men at a diamond mine in the Kalahari desert who's given an assignment to go undercover and find some folks who are rumored to be planning a big heist. To do so he has to be caught stealing himself which he is. But when the guy giving the assignment is killed and his ever so lovely handler Marina Christelis is killed Fonda is out on a limb. Time to reassess the situation.

Once the situation is reassessed the heist is on and the last 40 minutes or so is non-stop action. Other members of the heist team are Hugh O'Brian, Christopher Lee, and O.J. Simpson. Most don't make it, but they go oh so spectacularly.

Killer Force is not bad entertainment, but everyone in the cast has done better.

I would have expected something much better from Val Guest , to put it other way I would have never expected such a senseless film from someone who during the 50's managed to direct "Hell is a city" ( with the great Stanley Baker ) or excellent sci Fri flick "the day the Earth caught fire " .

To be honest this films fails on almost every aspect imaginable. Plot is somewhere between ridiculous and absurd. Seems that the 70's didn't make him any good to his career.

A band of mercenaries (which included O.J Simpson and Christopher Lee ) plans to heist a diamond depot placed somewhere in the African desert . There are many aspects that are horrible in this film , which go from the acting (meaning Peter Fonda, Teddy Savallas and C.Lee are all capable of delivering good acting but here they are so bonded by a ridiculous script that everything they say sounds laughable ) , plot dialogues and action scenes are simply lame , as they would have been taken from the A team outtakes .

Acting didn't escape from the burn , sad to see Christopher Lee playing the role of a ruthless mercenary , I would have never expected to see him in such a lame role he's the Prince of Darkness for god sake Don't drag him into o this embarrassing situations .

Only positive comment would be that the end is as ridiculous as the rest of the film, so at least you can find a trace of coherence here ..sadly it the sole you'll find

The plot outline sounded much better than the execution of it, but this largely forgotten on-the-cheap drive-in 70s adventure heist joint is worthwhile just for the cast alone and that it was directed by Val Guest. The setting is unique, a South African diamond mine located deep in the desert is targeted for a daring hit (Hugh O'Brian, Christopher Lee and a smirking O.J Simpson) and Telly Savalas in menacingly oozing form plays the company's security chief trying to prevent it. A cynically scruffy Peter Fonda is a field security officer who gets caught up in it all, when he agrees to go undercover; stealing a diamond and escaping capture to get the attention of an insider who they believe is smuggling diamonds/and who is also helping prepare a heist. However no-one else knows about this job, including his girlfriend (the radiant Maud Adams) and the security chief.

The knotty, if absurd plot offers a neat array of dangerous twists and unrelenting turns, which keeps the rhythmic story moving and constantly interesting. It really does pick up things in the back-end, as the plans are set in motion and the rough nature breaks out. The character interactions remain dynamic, especially the scenes when Fonda's character meets the heist group. Mechanically directed, but it consists of fun biting dialogues, all-out no-bull violence, well-shot locations and many big egos trying to mug every shot they're in. Backing this up is a titillatingly groovy soundtrack which simply makes you want to boogie. It does.