Section d'assaut

My review was written in November 1987 after watching the movie on International Video Entertainment video cassette.

"Strike Commando" is a run-of-the-mill Italian war picture imitating "Rambo". Made last year, pic was recently given a token release in Kansas City, ahead of its current home video availability.

Reb Brown fits the bill as brawny Michael Ransom, sole survivor of a deadly mission in Vietnam by the crack Strike Commando force. Befriended by local villages, he spots Russianofficers in action and is sent back in by his commander (Christopher Connelly) to get photographic evidence of he Russkies.

With dumb dialog (beefy Russian played by Alex Vitale insists on calling the hero "Americanski"), pic slavishly imitates the second "Rambo" film leading to a touch of "Rocky IV" (bare-knuckled fight between the two musclemen) as well. At least a reel or two overlong, film has an idiotic, padded coda set about 15 years later in Manila.

Some okay minor action scenes do not disguise the fact that the film lacks the large-scale set pieces that have become de rigueur for Vietnam war pics. Worst scene has Brown unsuccessfully (in an obvious stretch) simulating tears and pathos as he holds a dying little Vietnamese boy in his arms -cut to him with machine gun in hand bellowing a war cry, fully motivated.

Yes, the movie is bad. Tragically so. But I can't deny that I am overcome by a natural charm that movies this bad exude. Imagine a movie that cheerfully includes the hackneyed scene where the hero looks over the carnage wreaked by the bad guy and dramatically shouts his name out really long.

Special note should be made of our lead man's character-building scene where he tearfully brags about the food and candy at Disneyland to a dying Vietnamese boy. Simply priceless. For this kind of badness there should be a medal. If you see it, go ahead and try it for a lot more laughs than you'd get from a genuinely good comedy. Look for Reb Brown's "performance".

When you rent a cheap Italian action movie from the mid-eighties, you more or less (should) know what to expect. So, aside from the cut-rate cinematography, it's hard to complain about anything else in "Strike Commando", because it delivers what it promises: non-stop action and mayhem, and a high body count. If you're in the mood for mindless commando-type violence, this movie is better than many similar American flicks. (**)

While boasting production values somewhat higher than usual for Italian war movies shot in the Philippines (the modelwork is kept to a minimum, and there are plenty of big explosions), and there are plenty of genre it takes somewhat of an effort to get through the first half. It's slow, dumb, and pretty devoid of action for the most part.

However, things do brighten in the second half of the movie... though probably not in the way the filmmakers intended. Starting at the halfway mark, the movie suddenly starts being funny - *unintentionally* funny! Whether is incredibly inept enemy soldiers being easily gunned down... the hero's screaming and flapping his gun around... or how the movie incredibly and blatantly rips off scene after scene of "Rambo: First Blood Part 2", the movie keeps finding ways to make us laugh. It seems the filmmakers did realize how utterly stupid the movie was becoming, since the last few minutes are made to be *intentionally* funny.

Had the first half of the movie been as funny as the second, I would have recommended "Strike Commando" without hesitation. As it is now, it's up to you if you are willing to bear with that first half.

Strike Commando (1987)

* (out of 4)

Reb Brown plays a Green Beret in Vietnam who is on a secret mission but gets screwed over by his team. Pretty soon he finds himself in a POW camp but he breaks free and then heads out to destroy a campy villain and an entire Army.

STRIKE COMMANDO was directed by the one and only Bruno Mattei and that should tell you all you need to know. If you're familiar with Mattei then you know he was basically a director-for-hire who would patch up movies or rip them off and form his own movies. Very few of them were any good but hte majority of them did fit into the "so bad they're good" category and that's pretty much where this movie is.

There's no question that the performances are horrid, the dubbing awful and the direction is laughable at times. The editing is even worse and it's really hard to understand what exactly is going on. The action scenes are poorly stages and at times you have to wonder who is shooting at who. The budget was obviously very low and this is apparently by the way people just drop dead without being shot. Yes, there are no bullet holes, blood or anything else.

This film was obviously an attempt to rip-off RAMBO. In pure Italian cinema terms, this is an awful film on so many levels but at the same time there's a certain charm to the badness. If you're a fan of these Italian war pictures then this here is pretty darn awful from start to finish but is that what fans want?