Ouro Inimigo

My Sidaris movie streak continues with the 1993 movie "Enemy Gold". Granted, this particular movie sees Andy Sidaris step back and has Christian Drew Sidaris take over the director's chair. But hey, potato potato, right?

"Enemy Gold" is a step back from the original formula, and this particular movie from writers Wess Shannon Rahn and Christian Drew Sidaris just didn't really live up to the expectations set by the numerous many previous movies from writer and director Andy Sidaris. Yet, I managed to sit through the movie in its 92 minutes runtime, but the best thing about this 1993 movie was actually the cover.

The storyline in "Enemy Gold" started out okay, but it quickly escalated into a chaotic mess of a storyline where the red thread went right out the window and the movie felt like director Christian Drew Sidaris was just putting together randomly filmed segments to make a movie.

The movie also has changes to the character gallery, so it lost that particular continuity that the previous movies had going on for it. I have to say that it was nice to see Julie Strain make it to the roster, but given the limitations of the script, then it was not much she had to work with. Sure, there were some familiar faces from previous movies, such as Bruce Penhall and Rodrigo Obregón, but nothing noteworthy.

"Enemy Gold" is not up to par with the previous movies and it is actually a less than mediocre attempt at the genre from director Christian Drew Sidaris.

My rating of "Enemy Gold" lands on a four out of ten stars.

"Enemy Gold" marks a turning point in Andy Sidaris' filmography: his son Christian is sitting in the director's chair, and Dona Speir, Roberta Vasquez and Cynthia Brimhall are gone. The female lead this time is Suzi Simpson, and she is quite a find (I wonder why Sidaris didn't use her again): she has a great body (no matter what angle you look at it from), combined with a sweet, innocent face and a cute smile; she is appealing in the same way that Hope Marie Carlton was, plus she fights a bit more than other Sidaris heroines. Tai Collins, as a higher-in-command agent, is another total knockout, and Julie Strain, as an assassin-for-hire, is like a mythological Amazon come to life. Looking at this woman is much better than listening to her - her delivery turns her character into camp. The pacing of the movie lags in the second half, and when it's all over you have the feeling (as with other Sidaris movies) that it could have been much better. But what is there on the screen is still enjoyable - some of the lines are funny and all of the women are sexy. (**1/2)

'Enemy Gold' is the first sequel Andy Sidaris's son took over directing duties, but it follows formula. Low level action, simple plot and requisite female nudity. Established faces Bruce Penhall, Mark Barriere, Rodrigo Obregon & Julie Strain return as existing or new characters. While Suzi Simpson - a former Playmate - makes her debut & only appearance.

Agents Cannon (Penhall), Austin (Barriere) & Becky Midnite (Simpson) bust a drug op angering Bolivian dealer Santiago (Obregon). Suspended by an annoying superior, their boss Ava Noble (Tai Collins) tries to sort things out. In their downtime, they search for some fabled lost Civil War gold while Santiago brings in hired killer Jewel Panther (Strain) to take them out and a betrayal is revealed.

I understand the series charm, but I don't consider myself a fan. This entry is a perfect example as to why. 'The Dallas Connection' was one of the first T&A movies I saw and although it gave me an appreciation for both Julie Strain and Julie K. Smith, I didn't think much of the action or story. What's on display here feels ten times lower. The best thing is Obregon chewing up the scenery, spouting bad guy b-movie dialog.

Supplying the parts anyone really cares about - Suzi hops in the shower twice (first within 10 mins) and supplies one sex scene (33 mins in). Tai reveals the goods in a sauna / shower combo (21 mins in) and has sex near the end. Two strippers & bad guy have a brief shower three-way. Leaving Julie to strut her stuff in a bikini & go topless near a campfire wielding a sword in the latter half.

'Enemy Gold' isn't the series high point, but still feels like a Sidaris flick. The action is nothing to write home about per usual. Lacking from this entry is some cheesy allure and more abundance of boobs. Could have used more humor too, but it's not like they were shooting for the moon here. Die hard fans will be satisfied though.

This is the 9th out of my 12 reviews for the works of Andy Sidaris, in chronological order. For the first time, he only produced the movie, but left the director's job to his son Drew, who had regularly been director's assistant before. Renting a video cassette of „Enemy Gold" was my start into the world of „bullets, bombs and babes" many years ago and it still is a pleasure to revisit!

The story is simple: Three agents discover a bunch of drug smugglers, kill a few and put the rest in jail. The big boss is not amused and sends a killer to eliminate the agents. The interesting twist is that the agents are treasure hunting on their „day off": they find a map that leads to lost gold from the civil war. The historical flashbacks make the movie a bit more interesting, because the rest is quite predictable. Fortunately, we have familiar faces with Mark Barriere and Bruce Penhall who play the good guys, plus Julie Strain as Jewel Panther (sic!), the killer. Debutante Suzi Simpson plays an agent by the equally unlikely name of Becky Midnite, and Suzi follows the footsteps of Dona Speir quite well for a first try. Remember, Dona appeared in no less than 7 of Sidaris' movies before and seemed impossible to replace! Alan Abelew deserves mentioning; he plays Dickson, a man you love to hate. If you ever worked for a boss like that, you know what I mean. „Enemy Gold" has a simple instrumental rock guitar soundtrack, a bit different from the style of most predecessors. Don't miss the documentary „Let's make a Sidaris movie" (bonus on the American DVD), because it explains how the members of the whole family worked together to make a movie - not an ordinary film team.

This film essentially begins during the American Civil War with a couple of Confederate soldiers stealing some gold that was being transported by the Union Army. One of them is wounded and dies trying to escape enemy patrols while the other is killed by Indians somewhere in East Texas. Before he dies, however, he manages to write about the stolen gold in his journal and subsequently buries it as well. The scene then shifts to the present day with two federal agents named "Chris Cannon" (Bruce Penhall) and "Mark Austin" (Mark Barriere) planning to conduct a raid on a Bolivian drug lord by the name of "Santiago" (Rodrigo Obregon). Just prior to that, they are joined by a female agent named "Becky Midnight" (Suzi Simpson) who has only recently graduated from training. In spite of that, she performs her duties quite well and the drug raid is a tremendous success. What none of them realize, however, is that Santiago has certain resources at his disposal and he is not somebody who can tolerate any interference in his illegal business enterprises. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film had a certain amount of potential but it was undermined to a great degree by a poor script and extremely weak acting. Admittedly, these weaknesses were mitigated somewhat by having three attractive actresses like Tanquil Lisa Collins (as "Ava Noble") along with the aforementioned Suzi Simpson and Julie Strain to enhance the scenery. But even then, it just wasn't quite enough and I have rated this movie accordingly. Slightly below average.