Commando Leopard

Kommando Leopard is chapter 2 in the Dawson-Collins jungle war trilogy, and whilst baring no real relation to the others, is essentially the same film with a few plot variations. This instalment finds the intrepid mercenaries being pursued by contract killer Klaus Kinski whilst holed up in a Church hospital run by mysterious priest Manfred Lehmann.

Quality scale miniature sets are used in abundance but generally to good effect, whilst the personnel is also much the same as the predecessor with Lehmann, Kinski and Collins re- joining Thomas Danneberg and veteran Alan Collins (aka Luciano Pigozzi) whilst American ex-pat Mike Monty and British ex-pat John Steiner join the franchise for their first appearances. Kinski does arrogant bad-ar$e better than anyone and this is a masterclass of his less-is-more approach though it's debatable whether his bored exterior is acting or genuine contempt.

As with the others there's a fair amount of pathos on display, mourning those lost and lamenting the sacrifices and collateral damage made in the name of cheque-book war - all of which is unnecessary and pure guff. But if you like it when stuff explodes, catches fire or just enjoy massive machine gun recoil and spent cartridges flying in all directions whilst the hero nonchalantly mows down his incompetent opponents, then Kommando Leopard will be very adequate - though brainless- escapism.

Italian B movies don't get better than this. Great cast, fantastic action sequences, great score and top notch direction from old hand Antonio Margheriti. If there was a trio of movies that should be released on DVD it is CODENAME WILDGEESE, this and THE COMMANDER. Maybe Anchor Bay will do the right thing and get it out on disc.

If you're looking for an movie that guarantees non-stop action, violence and cheesy special effects, than you can't go wrong with something - anything - that Antonio Margheriti directed during the period 1975 – 1985. This man was the most underrated director of the Italian horror/cult industry and I haven't yet seen a single film of his that I didn't enjoy. Margheriti was an extremely talented and visionary filmmaker, but during the aforementioned period he simply answered to the audiences' demands and made numerous of straightforward and adrenalin-rushing exploitation movies for the American pulp video market. Some of them were imitations of popular American box-office hits and others were merely just cheap excuses to show a whole lot of explosions, shootouts and car chases. "Commando Leopard", along with its predecessor "Code Name: Wild Geese", definitely belongs in the in the second category: the plot line is very thin and the whole background to the Guerilla warfare remains rather vague, but there is miniature set blasting and collateral damage aplenty! In a not specifically mentioned Latin American (of course) country, the rebellious guerrilla leader Carrasco, along with friends and a couple of hired mercenaries, are courageously battling against the corrupt dictator Homoza. Their sabotage operations cause a lot of death and destruction amongst the innocent populace, much against the conviction of the noble Father Julio who helps hiding Carrasco's troops, but the resistance is devoted to continue their battle. The rebels come to discover, however, that the problem isn't so much President Homoza, but his cruel and sadistic military adviser; Colonel Silveira. As stated above, "Commando Leopard" is primarily a showcasing parade of nifty and well-crafter miniature set explosions. Margheriti consecutively blows up a dam, a convoy bridge, an airplane, a freight train and an entire oil refinery. All these action naturally cause a lot of damage and casualties. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but don't guerrilla rebels usually battle for the lives and prosperity of the people? Here, the resistance kills them and bring the nation in an even weaker economic position. The dictatorship of President Homoza isn't even properly enlightened or illustrated, but we're ought to assume that Carrasco is a genuine Ché Guevara. Script logic and depth aren't the film's biggest trumps, obviously, but this is all about spectacle and thrills! And acting performances, too. The legendary Klaus Kinski is once again tremendous as the cruel, sadist and downright evil Colonel Silveira. He's the type of guy who blows up an aircraft with 180 children on board just to make a statement!

This is the second part of a war actioner trilogy which seems to enjoy some kind of cult status – the others being CODENAME: WILD GEESE (1984) and THE COMMANDER (1988) – and featuring the same star (Lewis Collins), producer (Jess Franco regular Erwin C. Dietrich) and director (Margheriti, who dabbled in every "Euro-Cult" subgenre there is, though he was at his best perhaps handling atmospheric Gothic chillers). Actually, it provides little more than standard heroics – albeit done on a fairly elaborate scale, with a couple of notably spectacular action sequences (including the blowing up of a dam, a stationary airplane and a moving train); allegedly, it was the most expensive Swiss-budgeted production up to that time.

Collins plays Carasco, a quasi-mythical leader of a band of revolutionary mercenaries – which include feisty Cristina Donadio, cynical John Steiner and world-weary Luciano Pigozzi (who is curiously uncredited) – up against the dictatorial regime of an unidentified Latin American state and, more specifically, Klaus Kinski's bloodthirsty militia. Another major character is that of the heroic priest (Manfred Lehmann) of a war-torn village who stands up to Kinski and, consequently, earns the respect and help of the mercenaries; the religious/political elements of the plot may be intended to give the whole a more serious tone than the typically mindless Euro-Cult fare – but we've still seen this "saintly martyr vs, cruel oppressors" scenario countless times in earlier and better Hollywood movies, so that this segment is actually more predictable than anything else.

The German 2-Disc set of the film which I happened upon at a local DVD rental outlet also contains a 50-minute "Making Of" Documentary but, unfortunately, I didn't have time to watch more than a few samples from it...

Antonio Margheriti was a director who knocked out many films from different genres depending what was popular at the time in the Italian B-movie industry. He made films in various sub-categories - science fiction, Gothic horror, peplums, spaghetti westerns, gialli, pollsters, a creature feature, a cannibal movie, various action flicks – you name it! Commando Leopard is one of the latter, an 80's action-fest set in Latin America about an evil dictator and his sadistic adviser in their war against heroic resistance fighters.

Its story is very routine stuff really, that only serves as a platform for much explosions and shooting. But I would have to say that this is an above average example of this kind of thing. It has a decent enough cast, with Lewis Collins and John Steiner doing well enough as the chief resistance fighters and, better still, Klaus Kinski on hand for yet another turn as a bad tattie; in this case the psychotic military adviser who blows up a plane of children as part of his day job! What really elevates this one though are some very well crafted destruction scenes where we have a dam, a bridge and a train blown up in impressive ways but best of all is the aforementioned destruction of a passenger aircraft just before landing. This sequence really is very well executed indeed and illustrates that this is an 80's action film which has been made with a bit of effort.