Section d'assaut

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.

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.

Directed by Vincent Dawn (ie Bruno Mattei) this is quite the shoddiest and worst acted war film in living memory. The plot "Ha!" is a direct steal from Rambo First Blood Part II with loser actor Reb Brown as a poor man's Stallone seeking revenge on a Colonel who deserted him and his buddies in Vietnam.

Brown continually shouts "Rah!" and "Die!" about a million times and good job too as when he is required to act, his lines are delivered in an atrociously wooden manner. I do feel (and hope) that director Vincent Dawn (Zombie Creeping Flesh) was taking the pi** slightly - if not then he is surely the worst film-maker in the entire world.

There are many hilarious moments such as when Brown awakes from a nightmare screaming and for no reason everybody else in the room stars screaming - including a small monkey. He then stumbles and falls backwards out of a raised hut!

I reckon this movie could have been made by a twelve year old. How on earth do such useless directors as Dawn get producers to waste their money on this crap? Can you imagine the premiere of this movie (well there probably wasn't one!) and to see the looks on the investors faces when they were shown what their money had been spent on.

No wonder Bruno Mattei has all these pseudonyms; Vincent Dawn, Norman Dawn(II), Bob Hunter(IV) etc - it's so he can pretend that he didn't actually make this hopeless mess of a movie. I also can't believe Dawn made a sequel to this - jesus, has the man no shame?

YES!!!!! THE ultimate Commando film!!!! Forget Stallone and Arnie, Reb Brown is the King, "there's no one who can touch him, not in your whole damn army!" This has all the necessary ingredients for a top notch piece of one man and a lot of weapons against an entire country of soldiers and mercenaries action!! Betrayed and left for dead by his superiors, our Reb sets out to escape from the POW camp and is taken in by some friendly locals who proceed to be brutally murdered by Russian monster Chacuuda!! After and excellent finding the bodies of massacred friends and screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to the sky scene, our hero sets off on the trail of Chacuuda and manages to kill an entire army before defeating the evil villain in hand to hand combat! This rules!!!! Watch it!!!

Reb Brown stars in an incredibly bad, yet still very entertaining popcorn action flick set in the jungles of Vietnam.

Brown plays Michael Ransom, a Green Beret sent on a risky mission which goes awry. He manages to get back to his own lines, only to wind up on another botched mission. While interred in an enemy POW camp, he discovers that his CO is actually working for the KGB, and escapes to seek revenge.

While the plot is rather contrived, the movie manages to deliver loads of cheesy entertainment - much more than you'll get from WHERE EAGLES DARE or any Hollywood action movie. The combat scenes basically consist of Brown firing his M-16, AK-47 or some other high-powered weapon in the general direction of the enemy, who all fall down. The VC are completely inept; none of them seem to know how to aim or fire a weapon or even turn around when fired upon. Brown manages to get away with just about anything - including sending radio messages to his own troops - while the VC just watch and appear helpless.

The acting is just as bad, especially from Brown. He manages to look strong and fearless, even after being beaten, burned and electrocuted by the enemy. He goes through every one of his scenes shouting at the top of his lungs - no matter what the scenario. Every time he fires a weapon he hollers "Whuaa" at the top of his lungs till your TV speakers will explode. In support, Alex Vitale is a scary-looking but never really frightening Russian bad guy, who's storming around the jungle helping the VC try to kick American butt. Luciano Pigozzi (TIGER JOE) is on hand in the first act as a witty French peasant. The supporting cast is pretty lame; one Vietnamese villager comes up to Ransom and says in fear: "We're, like, sitting ducks". Hmm, sounds a little on the side of American slang, doesn't it?

Add to the list of goof-ups and stupid stuff… one long, pointless scene involving Vitale and a snake; a real actor replaced in mid-scene with a child-sized dummy in a different position; some really bad-looking explosions; a man obviously clad in asbestos cloth as he's "burned" by a flamethrower; really, really badly edited Vietnam-era stock shots of helicopters flying around Vietnam … the list goes on and on.

On the plus side, the Luigi Ceccarelli score is crummy synthesizer material, but is pretty catchy and fast-moving. The jungle appears steamy and looks pretty lush and is very convincing (yet, none of the actors seem to be affected by the heat, bugs and such?). Mike Monty does a nice, appreciated turn as Ransom's commanding officer.

I saw STRIKE COMMANDO on a Brazilian videotape. The image was a little over-tinted, grainy and had occasional damage. The stock footage looks really worn out, too. The explosions are really, really bright - too bright - but this could be a fault of the film crew, not the video distributor. The cassette has slightly distracting Portuguese subtitles.

What the heck. It's a really bad movie - technically bad, badly written and badly acted - but it's an entertaining 2 hour trip into the world where the good guys always win despite insurmountable odds.

RATING: 5/10