Indio

My review was written in June 1990 after watching the film on Media Home Entertainment video cassette.

This better-than-average Italian actioner has a social message: save the rainforests. A personable debut as leading actor by boxing champ Marvin Hagler helps pull this video release ahead of the pack.

Though Hagler understandably gets top billing, Anthony Quinn's son Francesco actually is the lead player, cast as a half-breed U. S. Marine who visits his home village on the Amazon to witness a massacre. Brian Denney is supervising a construction project there and takes drastic measures when the natives protest.

Unable to get the authorities to take action, Quinn goes native and starts a one-man war against the Yankee despoilers. Dennehy cleverly calls in Hagler, who was Quinn's original instructor, to kill Quinn. Nice plot twist has Hagfler recovering his scruples and siding with the youngster against the evil powers.

Buttressed by excellent explosions and action footage, "Indio" manages to integrate an important ecological message by film's end. Location filming in the Philippines, Borneo, Argentina and Brazil is convincing.

Quinn carries the picture, with Hagler a good foil. Dennehy is cast undoubtedly because of his similar adversarial status in "First Blood" and is competent without trying.

Here's a movie that really has something to say, and it hits it's points hard. I like movies which have intentions, and messages, and this good actioner, with an appealing lead, does that. Dennehy, here as the baddie makes a meal of his role, in top form as a officer tyrant, a greedy developer, intent on bulldozing and tearing down the rain forests, irrespectful who (the villages) may'be living within there. They just didn't count on this returning party, handsome Indio, with warfare in his blood who takes on Dennehy and goons. There's a lot of action, explosions, and a bit of romance, and blow bullet through hollow cane, shooting, a nifty action of attack. It's ending touched me, and I really liked the moment between hero and his once training black captain. An actioner, a notch above the others of this norm. We also hear an unforgettable voice, Director Dawson uses, in a lot of his exploitation dubbed pics.

Former green beret is at first hunted down by Brian Dennehy in a forest, then fights back. I know I've seen this movie before...

This film's nothing but a cheap, Italian, Rambo rip-off from the get-go. The entire budget went into explosives and Dennehy's pockets. The green beret is named Daniel Morel after David Morrell, author of First Blood. This is supposed to be an homage, but when you're stealing so much, you ain't fooling nobody.

The sequel is a tad better and stars Charles Napier as the villain, who incidentally (not) played the villain in the Rambo sequel as well. Another "homage", right?

For me the most entertaining things about this movie were counting the number of times Brian D. and his cronies said "Goddamit!" and "Sonofabitch!"

A laudable concept for a movie, but in execution nearly everything goes wrong. Most of the acting is woeful (Dennehey is decent, but he isn't given much to work with), and the lack of build-up forces the main character to go ballistic far too early.

It wasn't thoroughly wretched: the cinematography was ok. All the same I could only give this one 3/10.

Fun action B-film in the Grand 1980's one man army tradition. It's great to see Marvin Hagler as an "actor". The story itself is pretty typical. A lone-warrior "Shane" type deal, but it's in a fun setting, and the action is hot. See this movie and reminisce about what B-action movies used to be like.