Razza violenta

The scripts of 80s action movies with beefcake mercenaries going on jungle missions aren't exactly rocket science. Also, I never really considered myself to be very dumb person. And yet, "The Violent Breed" was too intelligent for me. At least, I can only come to that conclusion since I didn't understand anything about the relations and intrigues between the three lead characters. First, in Vietnam, they are buddies and save each other's lives. Then, two of them go hunt down the third in Thailand. But then at the end they are buddies again.

Ah well, it doesn't matter all that much. Italian-made "Rambo" rip-offs are already enjoyable and successful if they contain extreme violent massacres and numerous explosions. There's plenty of that, rest assured! Harrison Muller, Woody Strode, and their henchmen, shoot holes in each other's bodies the size of watermelons and two complete mid-jungle villages blow up in the air. Charismatic Henry Silva is sadly underused, but Harrison Muller is a more than adequate Rambo clone with a good taste in woman.

Writer director Fernando Di Leo made some of the very best euro-crime thrillers of the 70s, including "Milano Caliber .9" and "Shoot First, Die Later", and that's probably what I'll remember him for the most. "The Violent Breed" is okay, but could and should have been a lot better.

My review was written in December 1985 after watching the movie on MGM/UA video cassette.

Italian filmmaker Fernando Di Leo seems to have made the actioner "The Violent Breed" without a finished script. Story and characters' behavior makes no sense at all and the action is perfunctory. Domestic distributor Cannon Films elected to send this 1983-lensed junker direct to home video without theatrical exposure.

Henry Silva toplines (in a very small role) alongside the ubiquitous Harrison Muller and vet Woody Strode as three commandos whose mission to rescue kids in Southeast Asia leads to an unexplained falling out when Strode turns against his buddies.

Without transition, next scene is back in the States, with Silva now a CIA honcho sending Muller back to the Cambodia/Thailand/Laos border area in search of Strode. It seems that Strode, in league with the KGB and the Mafia, is running drugs and arms and generally acting like a nogoodnik. Muller teams up with a beautiful, underage prostitute there to find Strode's camp and ludicrously offer him a deal whereby the U. S. government would best the Russians and the Mafia's price for drugs. This leads to pointless shootouts.

Finale, making no sense from what has gone before, has Silva, Muller and Strode suddenly teamed up for another mission, the slate magically wiped clean.

If you can believe this nonsense, you'll probably believe in Strode, dubbed with another person's voice, as a character named Paolo.

A reasonably entertaining jungle action turkey. The plot has something to do with with the far east drugs war, CIA, young prostitutes and mercenaries. Fluffy indeed.

Lots of pyrotechnics and gunplay make this one watchable, but bad acting and tremendously bad script work in the other direction.

Released on video in Finland in the early eighties.

Harrison Muller and Woody Strode are reunited after their triumphant 1982 classic "The Final Executioner" for this completely idiotic Italo action non-epic from certified hack Fernando di Leo.

The film begins in Vietnam, with Muller, Strode (who must be the oldest grunt in cinema history), and platoon leader Henry Silva rescuing some children. Silva is shot and Strode digs the bullet out of his chest with a knife in a scene that must be seen to be disbelieved. Then, out of nowhere, Strode (playing a character named "Polo") sends Muller and Silva on their way, while he stays behind.

Turns out Polo is running some kind of drug and prostitution ring based in Thailand that has ties to the Mafia, the KGB, and the CIA. Silva, now a CIA agent, sends top man and chronic Wrangler-wearer Muller to Thailand to stop Polo's reign of nonsensical terror.

Nothing makes sense: Silva recites his lines like he's talking to a 3-year-old, Muller is glib at all the wrong times (he's strung up and about to be killed by Strode, and he keeps asking for a beer), weeks seem to go by, yet Silva (who, despite his top billing, has hardly any screen time after the opening sequence) and the people at the CIA always seem to be wearing the same wardrobe, and Muller & Silva even kiss at one point.

The most jawdropping aspect of the film has to be the extended climactic siege, where Muller and a prostitute take refuge in a brothel while Strode's army attacks. This portion of the film is more drawn out than the live version of "Stairway to Heaven." The action takes place in a small, enclosed camp, with Muller and the girl running from building to building, yet Strode and the most poorly-trained, inefficient platoon this side of "Gomer Pyle USMC" can't seem to see them, and even when they do, they all run after them one at a time, enabling Muller to easily dispose of them.

Add to that a "surprise" ending without a semblance of coherence or sensibility and you've got something that even bad movie purists won't be able to handle.

I really can't understand why everyone is panning this film. I don't usually like "action films" but this one, (along with the non-stop action) held my interest because unlike most of this genre, the characters were unusual and developed enough to be interesting. Harrison Muller, the lead actor, has a great screen presence and does well with this very active role and he gives it a very cool character, so you just have to like him. The situations in the plot were not that obvious to me, so it held my interest throughout when unexpected turns in events occurred. It's true that after the opening sequence Henry Silva was wasted....but the female characters more than made up for it. They added a lot to the story with their widely different personalities. My only negative impression was the startling and preposterous ending. I couldn't quite accept it. Harrison Muller, Jr.'s engaging, energetic performance is indicative of his talent which deserved better showcases than the films he appeared in. They are worth watching only to see him, and he steals every one of them even when acting with bigger named co-stars. It's incredible that he didn't become a bigger star himself.