Hell Hunters (1987)

Hell Hunters (1987)- * * *

Directed by: Ernest Ritter Von Theumer

Starring: George Lazenby, Maud Adams, Russ McCubbin, William Berger, Eduardo Conde, Neila Cozza, Romulo Arantes, Candice Daly, and Stewart Granger

A woman named Amanda (Adams) is a Nazi hunter. She's hot on the trail of Martin Hoffmann (Granger), who, like a lot of his baddie brethren, absconded to Brazil. While in hiding on the outskirts of Rio, Hoffmann develops a serum (why are they always developing serums?) which would turn the world into faithful fascist followers. Amanda's daughter Ally (Daly) is attending USC nursing school and isn't at all familiar with her mom's Nazi-hunting ways. But, due to an unfortunate turn of events involving not just her mom but also her dad, Karl (Berger), Ally is forced to travel to Brazil to root out the Nazis herself.

Well, she does have help in the form of a hunk named Tonio (Arantes), a babe named Nelia (Cozza), and a Jack S. Daniels-style wild n' crazy guy named Nelson "Kong" Webster (McCubbin). This ragtag team of heroes will not only have to face off against Hoffmann, but also his goons, including lead goon Heinrich (Lazenby) and sub-goon El Pasado (Conde). The South American jungles can sure be hell...but will that stop the plucky HELL HUNTERS from completing their mission? Find out today...

Hell Hunters gets off to a bit of a slow start but gradually picks up speed. It slowly accelerates until its explosive conclusion, and, in the end, is a satisfying viewing experience. It's more or less an Exploding Hutter, but the Nazi hunting angle gives it a bit of a difference. The main thing that sets Hell Hunters apart from its jungle-dwelling cohorts of the day are the characters. Not only the prominent ones, but the little ones as well. There's always something wacky or at the very least mildly interesting going on. The supporting players help a lot, and the main cast puts it over the top. 

Stewart Granger is excellent as the main Nazi baddie. He puts in a charismatic, fun performance that only someone with a long career and a lot of experience could refine to that sort of point. Incidentally, Hoffmann has a framed picture of Hitler on his wall and a swastika flag in the dining room. Even his home decor screams "Man, I'm a devoted Nazi". He screens films of Nazi rallies in his den for himself and his buddies to watch as they smoke cigars, drink Cognac (presumably) and reminisce grandly about "the good old days". We haven't seen a Nazi this dedicated since John Savage had an evil glove drawer in Red Scorpion 2 (1994).

The assassin El Pasado is a real gem as well. He has one of the thickest unibrows we've ever seen, dresses in a white suit, and is heavily balding, except for a luxurious ponytail. Hey, it may look funny to you - and you'd be right - but you wouldn't want to see him coming for you in a dark alley at night. Thankfully, on the side of the good guys we have Kong. If anyone could possibly steal the movie from Granger, it's McCubbin. He's really a guy you'd want on your side. You can tell he likes to have a good time, and it's infectious.

The leading lady isn't Maud Adams as advertised, it's really Candice Daly from Cop Game (1988). Perhaps the people advertising the film were trying to play up the James Bond connection insofar as Adams and Lazenby are concerned. Hell Hunters isn't particularly Bond-esque but it does stand on its own two feet as an enjoyable jungle/Exploding Hutter. 

When the very first line of the movie is something along the lines of "no more mistakes!" - which typically we have to wait until about mid-movie to hear - and ends with a triumphant Exploding Helicopter, you know Hell Hunters is worth checking out.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Sgt. Clarin: Bullet For Your Head (1990)

Sgt. Clarin: Bullet For Your Head (1990)- * * *

Directed by: Willie Dado

Starring: Max Laurel 

"The rebel marine at large"

Danny Clarin (Laurel) is just your average toughguy who gets into your average barfight. After mopping the floor with his opponent, he's spotted by some Marine recruiters who happen to be in the bar that night and they ask him if he wants to become a Marine and he instantly says yes. Much like Lana Turner being spotted in Schwab's Drugstore. With notably more punching. After completing his grueling training, Clarin is awarded the opportunity to be a non-commissioned Marine. His first task is to take down the bandits - who call themselves rebels - who are terrorizing a local village.

His engagement with his beloved Mary is put on hold because of this new mission. But, because the bandits are backed by some powerful interests behind the scenes, this job is not going to be easy. Already tough as nails, Clarin gets really mad after the baddies kill his mother and brother. Now burning with revenge, he leads his band of men through a gauntlet of shooting, blowing-up, punching, and maybe some more shooting. While many, many people are trying, will Sgt. Clarin eventually end up with a bullet for his head?

Max Laurel finally gets a nice starring role after usually being the support guy here with Clarin. Laurel had a hell of a year in 1988, having appeared in The Last American Soldier, Last Platoon, Cop Game, and one of our favorites, Robowar, along with Clarin. He's great in the film, whether marrying his true love Mary, being subjected to the time-honored Prerequisite Torture, saving naked children from the firebombs of the baddies, or in his default position of shooting people, blowing up their huts, or punching them in the face. He comes off as likable and a solid hero. While lots of people can walk through a jungle and mow down baddies with a machine gun and/or a flamethrower, only Laurel can do it in cutoff jean shorts and still look like a badass.

By the time of Clarin's release in 1990, the exploding hut subgenre was changing somewhat after its 80's heyday. In this case, it's a mixed bag; on the one hand, the technical side of the blood effects had improved, leading to cool-looking machete slashes and even a decapitation or two.

On the other, director Willie Dado presumably had the ability to look at the films made by his predecessors and learn from their mistakes. He should have known not to make the film too long. At almost 100 minutes, the film is too long. That might seem like a reasonable running time for a "normal" movie, but in the case of something like this, with no real plot to speak of and many, many, many scenes of jungle-shooting, it seems overlong. Especially before the climax, it spins its wheels.

We get that Dado was trying to make his own version of Platoon (1986) - and, perhaps not coincidentally, got Laurel to star because he was in the aforementioned Last Platoon - but, try as he might, it's not Platoon. But we give him points for trying.

The whole thing has that "third world" vibe, and while it's sad to see how impoverished The Philippines is, it makes for fascinating and compelling viewing. It just overstays its welcome, that's all. The movie's not bad in any way, shape, or form. But it seems like the sort of thing that would especially appeal to rural Asian audiences. 

For better or worse, it seems like Americans and Europeans expect something a little bit different in their film viewing. Perhaps that's why Clarin has had almost no release history. Outside of its initial Philippines run and a belated 1994 Japanese VHS release, it seems very few people - and almost no Westerners - have been able to track down this quasi-lost film until the advent of YouTube. For that reason alone, it's certainly worth a watch.

We're lucky now to be able to see this piece of action film history. While overlong and plotless, exploding-hut aficionados will likely love it and Laurel's performance is a gem. The positives outweigh the negatives this time around, so we'll go aHEAD and recommend it.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Slash (1984)

Slash (1984)- * * *

Directed by: Jun Gallardo

Starring: Rom Kristoff, Gwendolyn Hung, Nick Nicolson, and Mike Monty




“KONG SEN!!!!!!” – Slash








Starting during the Vietnam War, Peter “Slash” Harris (Rom) and Major Andrew Scott (Mike Monty, not to be confused with Dolph in Universal Soldier) are buddies during the thick of the fighting. Later on in life, Scott becomes a CIA agent. He works with a woman named Barbara (Hung), and they go between Cambodia and Thailand fighting the commies. After Barbara steals some secret KGB files from a hidden safe, she’s kidnapped by baddies. Scott’s reaction is only natural: he calls Slash to go and rescue her and/or the files. As a one-man fighting force, Slash proceeds to mow down countless faceless nameless bad guys along the way. Will Slash be saying “welcome to the jungle”? Find out today…

Like the other Jun Gallardo films we’ve seen, Slash has a lot of what you might call “third-world charm”. We’ve mentioned this in other reviews, especially for the films by Arizal (who’s a heck of a lot more talented than Gallardo in our opinion), but the main gist is this: making an action movie under near-impoverished conditions didn’t stop them from giving it their all. Gallardo probably figured that he couldn’t deliver deep dialogue exchanges and well-thought-out plot developments to audiences, so he’d make up for it with non-stop machine gun-shooting and explosions. 

From the second the movie appears on the screen, there are shooting and blow-ups, and it basically doesn’t relent from there on in. Of course, this is yet another jungle-set exploding hut movie, where lush, verdant settings are torched into oblivion and an inexhaustible supply of uniformed assailants are continually mowed down.

There’s so much smoke on screen at the outset, the white titles are not legible to the audience. Did the filmmakers not notice this during the editing process? Anyway, all our Philippines-set regulars are here: Mike Monty, Nick Nicholson, and the rest of the gang. As our stand in for Rambo, we have Rombo – Rom Kristoff. It’s enjoyable to watch him scream, shoot machine guns, and scream while he shoots machine guns. 

His rocket launchers inexplicably make a laser noise when fired, and there is a memorable exploding helicopter along the way. Naturally, guard towers blow up and huts blow up. The villain of the piece doesn’t show up until way late into the proceedings. He should have been around earlier so as to set up the good guy-bad guy dynamic and tension. 

While not in any sense a bad movie, Slash doesn’t do much to separate itself from the pack as far as these exploding hutters go. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really stand out from the crowd even though, as noted earlier, clearly a lot of time and work went into the non-stop action scenes. 

If you just can’t get enough of this type of stuff, Slash will satisfy your machine-guns-in-the-jungle craving. However, those seeking substance or something different may come away disappointed. But the third-world charm remains.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Commander 3 (1986)

Commander 3 (1986)- * *1\2

AKA: War Without End



Directed by: Teddy Page


Starring: Robert Marius, Jim Gaines, Mike Monty and Nick Nicholson












It’s 1982 in Cambodia. Captain Ted Wilson (Marius), and his fellow soldier Lt. Garvey (Gaines), among others, are test-flying a technologically-advanced airplane named the Wild Weasel. Their platoon (or perhaps their mission?) is named Lickin’ Chicken. We repeat: Lickin’ Chicken. When things go wrong and the plane goes down, Wilson and Garvey manage to escape into the jungle – but is it the KGB who caused the plane crash? Or could it be someone else? The two soldiers find locals named Nooin and Nam, and they head off on a perilous mission to find answers. Of course, this involves almost non-stop machine-gun shooting and exploding huts. What will be the ultimate fate of Lickin’ Chicken?



Director Teddy Page takes us on yet another jungle excursion with all the shooting, blow-ups, and guard-tower falls you’d expect to see. While the movie does have a handful of cool moments sprinkled throughout, including a chain of well-timed consecutive exploding huts, it’s all a bit too mediocre for our liking. The movie isn’t bad at all, and fans of jungle-set exploding hutters who can’t get enough of that sort of thing could certainly check it out on Amazon Prime. It’s competently made, but it’s just not our favorite Teddy Page – which is, of course, Phantom Soldiers (1989).



Maybe it’s unfair to compare everything Page does to that gem, because he’s done a lot of other fine work as well, but this time he had a lot of people backing him up that are mainstays of the Philippines-shot action world – stars Marius and Gaines featured almost exclusively in these types of movies. Fan favorite Nick Nicholson looks great this time around as the shady, bearded KGB agent. Mike Monty, as Dr. Meehan, wears a rumpled sky-blue suit, which is a plus, but on the negative side we don’t think it was his voice doing the dubbing. Of course, when the movie goes from the jungle action to the military offices, there is not only a picture of Reagan on the wall (as normal), but also a framed Reagan pic on the desk. The rotary-dial red phone featured in the movie must be used to call him directly.



Now let’s talk about the Cambodian elephant in the room. While the movie is known as War Without End, it’s also called Commander 3. As readers of the site know, the original Commander (1988) is one of our favorites, and perhaps the best “explosion” movie of all time. How could a Commander 3 possibly measure up? Well, sadly, Craig Alan is nowhere in sight. Commander was an Italian production and Commander 3 isn’t. While we have nothing against Robert Marius, it appears Commander 3 is an in-name-only sequel, and the two movies have little, if anything, to do with each other. This supposed sequel doesn’t approach the majesty of the original, so if you haven’t seen either of them, make sure you see the first one first. 

Commander 3 is not the worst exploding hutter we've seen, nor is it the best. It does feature a cool ending where Marius is brandishing a hand-held missile launcher in one hand and a machine gun in the other and is blowing up everything in sight. For those that can't get enough of the jungle genre, we'd say check it out, but for everyone else, perhaps not. 

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Hell's Heroes (1987)

Hell's Heroes (1987)- * *

Directed by: Stelvio Massi

Starring: Fred Williamson, Miles O'Keefe, Scott Green, Gabriele Gori, and Chuck Connors

Set in the jungles of ‘Nam during the war, Hell’s Heroes tells the tale of Sgt. Darkin (O’Keeffe), a badass soldier whose badassery is constantly hampered by bureaucratic red tape. Naturally, this causes Darkin to become disillusioned with the war. When Senator Morris (Connors) comes to visit the troops on some sort of a press junket, Darkin expresses his dissatisfaction with life and the TV cameras and radio microphones eagerly pick it up. When Senator Morris and the soldiers he’s with are ambushed by some sneaky Viet Cong bad guys, Darkin is made the scapegoat even though he had nothing to do with it and was merely expressing his opinion. During his period of punishment, he meets up with other rebellious soldiers such as Feather (Fred), Trash (Green), and Bronx (Gori). Now a team with nothing to lose, will the men fight their way out of Vietnam when there are traps and gunfire everywhere? You just may find out…

Hell’s Heroes is yet another mediocre jungle slog that even Miles O’Keeffe, Fred Williamson, and Chuck Connors could not enliven. That should tell you how dreary it can be. Granted, fan favorites Fred and Connors don’t get a lot of time to shine here. That’s one of the problems. The major issues are, as we’ve seen time and time again, a lack of lighting, and the fact that there’s no one central villain. You’d think those would be no-brainer inclusions to an exploding-hutter like this, but no. The lights are off for about 60 percent of this movie’s running time and truly no one is home.

Just some mindless machine gun shooting, helicopters flying around (none explode), and huts exploding – not to mention O’Keeffe doing his Clint Eastwood impression again – is not really enough to get this plodding mush off the ground. Having more Chuck Connors would have been an improvement, but it must be said that his exit is grand, as is befitting the great man. It is highly appropriate that O’Keeffe’s character is named Darkin – we’re certainly in the dark for the majority of the film. It’s almost like they were thumbing their noses at us, the loyal audience. If that’s the case, that’s not cool, man. When a movie is so dark that the only light sources are muzzle flashes or explosions, that’s not good. It all adds up to an Italian-made jungle slog that we really wanted to like, but the lack of lighting and  too-brief appearances of the fan favorites made that difficult…actually, impossible.

This same year, 1987, director Stelvio Massi again teamed up with Fred Williamson for the more entertaining Black Cobra. Perhaps he wanted to make amends for Hell’s Heroes and use Fred in a more workable context. The naming of the incidental characters Bronx and Trash will immediately remind genre fans of Mark Gregory and 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982) and Escape from the Bronx (1983), where he, of course, played Trash. Is this something we were supposed to pick up on? Because if so, then the character name of Darkin does indeed seem more like a nod to the fact that only the most minimal lights were used and nothing is seeable during the night scenes – and they knew it. Stelvio Massi is also known for his spate of Poliziotteschi movies in the 70’s, so he knows how to make fast-paced action. Something must have gone awry in the jungle this time…a bungle, to paraphrase Jethro Tull.

In the end, Hell’s Heroes is dull and not indicative of the talents of those involved. There’s a reason it was included with the 4-movie set “Inglorious Bastards 2 Hell Heroes 4 Inglorious Film Collection”, the title of which we’ve chastised before for being almost incomprehensible, and not released as a standalone disc. It’s not worth that treatment, and only die-hard fans of this type of movie are encouraged to seek it out.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Final Reprisal (1988)

Final Reprisal (1988)- * * *

Directed by: Teddy Page

Starring: Gary Daniels, Protacio Dee, Glazia Herradura, and Jim Gaines

In the heat of battle during the Vietnam War, Sgt. David Callahan (Daniels) along with old buddy and fellow soldier Charles Murphy (Gaines), among other members of an elite squad, stage a daring attack on the home of Vietnamese Captain Tran Van Phu (Dee). Things go horribly wrong when Van Phu’s young daughter Mai (Herradura) is senselessly murdered during the raid. Vowing revenge, Van Phu gets his wish when, five years later and now working as a trainer for the Thai military, Callahan has a family of his own. When they are mercilessly slaughtered, Callahan gets really mad and teams back up with Murphy so he can, at long last, get his FINAL REPRISAL. However, it won’t be all cut and dry, as some mysteries from the past begin to resurface…

Here we have some prime early Gary Daniels in only his second-ever film role – and it delivers the goods! Director Teddy Page rarely disappoints (here he’s credited as Tedd Hemingway; note the second “d” in Tedd), and the Page-Daniels alliance – working in the great year of 1988 and in a prime location, the Philippines – is indeed a recipe for success. Daniels’s skill and athleticism as a Martial Artist is on full display, and he’s as likable as ever. This is remarkable as he maintained these qualities throughout his career. He’s teamed up with Jim Gaines, who has had an amazing career of his own: Besides Final Reprisal, he was in Cop Game, Mannigan’s Force, Strike Commando 2, Jungle Rats, Robowar, and the rare Daniels debut The Secret of King Mahis Island – and that was just 1988!

Daniels and Gaines have a definite Crockett and Tubbs thing going on here. Miami Vice was super-hot at the time, and the clothes the two of them wear are a dead giveaway. Interestingly, Daniels’s first-ever screen credit was as “Male Stripper” in an episode of ‘Vice called Walk-Alone in ’86. Only two short years later, he was living the dream as a white-suited Crockett-esque lead. And while James “Sonny” Crockett was a Vietnam vet, Miami Vice didn’t feature Crockett mowing down baddies with a machine gun, going through “revenge training”, enduring the Prerequisite Torture as well as a torture montage. ‘Reprisal also contains killer fight scenes, as well as the classic guard tower falls and exploding huts.

While our heroes are most definitely fighting the commies, Final Reprisal offers an unusually sympathetic look at the other side of the coin. You feel bad for Van Phu and his daughter. This gives the movie a dimension you don’t often see. As a whole, Final Reprisal is a lot better and more entertaining than the much more well-known Missing in Action (1984). The whole outing starts with a bang and the viewer remains satisfied. It’s hard to ask for much more than that. Plus, we get a lot of the silenced-gun “pew” sound effect. This is to be distinguished from the “pew pew!” laser effect. A short, curt “pew” indicates a shooting done on the sly. We get a feast of them here, if there are any fans of that out there.

Puzzlingly, Final Reprisal never received a U.S. VHS release (and, as of this writing, has no U.S. DVD or Blu-Ray editions). This is a real shame, as it could have been a video store-era classic, and it could have raised the name recognition of Gary Daniels back then. It would have been perfect for video store shelves of the day. Thankfully, it does exist, and fans of Gary Daniels and/or 80’s action have a winner on their hands with Final Reprisal.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett 

Cross Mission (1988)

Cross Mission (1988)- * *1\2

Directed by: Alfonso Brescia

Starring: Richard Randall, Maurice Poli, Nelson De La Rosa, Brigitte Porsche, and Peter Hintz










General Romero (Poli) is the iron-fisted leader of a small South American country. He appears to be working with the U.N. in trying to expel the drug trade that’s going on in his backyard, but, as you might expect, the U.N. are a bunch of dupes, and Romero is actively involved with the narco-trafficking. When a Marine named William (Randall) comes from the U.S. and attempts to investigate, things quickly take a turn for the worst. Teaming up with the stereotypical female reporter, this time in the form of Helen (Porsche), our two heroes soon find themselves caught in the CROSS MISSION - with all the shooting, exploding huts, and jungle-based madness you might expect. But Romero has an ace in the hole. Read on to find out more...

Cross Mission, for the most part, is your standard exploding hutter, but because it’s Italian-made (this time by Alfonso Brescia, using his usual anglicized name, Al Bradley), it’s, at minimum, watchable, with quality shooting and explosions and is good technically. It’s an El Presidente...well, not slog, per se, but maybe because they call Romero “El Predestinato”, we can call this the first El Predestinato slog. 

But here’s the difference. General Romero has magic powers that consist of being able to summon a diabolical midget named Astaroth (De La Rosa) at will. They also can shoot blue lightning at people. Voodoo is mentioned as the source of Romero’s powers. You don’t see that everyday. This might be the first time I’ve ever written in my notes “macumba consists of summoning magic midgets”. For that reason alone, Cross Mission is worth watching at least once.

That craziness aside, Cross Mission  hits all the typical notes you might expect if you watch a lot of jungle slogs: destroyed villages, female reporter, Prerequsite Torture, shooting, blow-ups, jungle setting. Though the fact that it makes the U.N. look like the fools they are gains it some extra points. Richard Randall puts on the time-honored “revenge outfit” towards the end to show he really means business. There is a silly park fight, as well as an exploding helicopter, but, except for the supernatural twist, this is jungle business as usual.

Sadly, this was the only film appearance for Brigitte Porsche, and the only theatrical feature for Richard Randall. They both could have done more in the Italian film industry. What happened to them? How did they get involved with Cross Mission? As lovely as they both were, it could have used one of the usual stars that always turn up in movies like this, perhaps an Oliver Reed, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasance, or Richard Harris. But we do get Nelson De La Rosa, and, as supernaturally evil as he is, the way he’s finally dealt with is quite novel.

Brescia followed this up with the Richard Roundtree/Harrison Muller Jr. team-up Miami Cops (1989), for those keeping track. At least Brescia tried something different here. It didn’t totally succeed, but we give him points for trying to inject a modicum of originality in what could be a rather staid playing field. The utterly crazy Romero sub-plot should have been expanded upon - but on the whole we’d say Cross Mission is a more than decent one-time watch, thanks solely to the nuttier elements at work.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Just A Damned Soldier (1988)

Just A Damned Soldier (1988)- * * *

Directed by: Ferdinando Baldi

Starring: Peter Hooten, Mike Monty, Romano Kristoff, and Mark Gregory 

In Cambodia, a four-man strike force led by Bolan (Hooten), stages a raid on an industrial complex. After shooting a lot of people and blowing a lot of stuff up (a trend that will continue throughout the proceedings), the men - which also includes Mark Gregory of the Thunder and Bronx series - steal a large cache of gold. The man whose compound was raided, top dog arch-baddie Mr. Titelman, wants revenge on the strike force. 

Based on who is sending and receiving the gold, Titelman states he doesn’t “want to see the tense political situation in this country explode”. Truly that’s not the only thing that’s going to explode. Titelman is tied in with the Cambodian authorities and will be in deep trouble if he doesn’t find his men. Thankfully, he has loads of cannon fodder to disperse throughout the jungles of Cambodia (i.e, the Philippines. Let’s not forget Mike Monty is involved as a suit named Schaffler). Who will survive...and who will get the gold?

Oh, Hooten, we hardly knew ye. Truly Peter Hooten could have been the next Steve Guttenberg. (Peter Hootenberg?) At least they have a similar look about them.  Hooten and the aforementioned Gregory lead us through yet another Italian-produced jungle romp, where the machine guns fire with abandon, and huts were made to be blown up. If you like that sort of thing - and we’re supposing you do - Just a Damned Soldier (great title - even better than Titelman) will win you over. It’s a quality example of this sort of movie, and there were plenty of them in the late 80’s. It’s no Commander, but what could be? JADS does what it does quite well, and praise goes to writer/director Ferdinando Baldi, using his normal anglicized name of Ted Kaplan. 

Baldi ended his lengthy career, which dates back to the 1950’s, by making some jungle-set blow-em-ups, and what better way to cap off a life in cinema? His final three movies are Warbus (1986), Ten Zan - Ultimate Mission (1988), where he infamously sent Frank Zagarino to North Korea - and the movie we’re currently discussing.  Baldi re-teamed with his Ten Zan composer, Elio Polizzi, whose great music goes a long way in helping things stay afloat. The music also helps to give the whole movie a “Contra” vibe - soldiers in the greenery, shooting, 1988.

Because plot is minimal (not a complaint; they had to make time for more exploding huts), things do slow down at times, but JADS is still solid and has a lot going for it. They sure don’t skimp on the blow-ups and shooting. Also Titelman is a Taekwondo arms dealer. Featuring the songs “The Shadow of Your Eyes” by Gatsby and the truly memorable “I Just Have Had Enough” by Paula, Just a Damned Soldier is a Damned good time. 

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Born To Fight (1989)

Born To Fight (1989)- * * *

Directed by: Bruno Mattei

Starring: Brent Huff, Werner Pochath, Mary Stavin, and Romano Puppo









Sam Wood (Huff) is a Vietnam War vet who is still chillin’ in ‘Nam because he “feels more free there”. When a female reporter named Maryline (not a typo) Kane (Stavin) approaches him about being in a news package about returning to Vietnam, he reluctantly accepts. It soon transpires that the whole thing about being on TV was just a ruse to get Wood to go back behind enemy lines to rescue Maryline’s father, who is still a prisoner of war at the Lu Tan prison camp. She sought him out because he’s a one-man army with a surprisingly positive attitude. 

His motto of “It can be done!” is downright infectious. But rescuing dear old dad isn’t going to be a walk in the Philippine park. He has to contend with super-evil arch-baddie Duan Loc (Pochath), his toady Bross (Puppo), and a never-ending stream of tan-outfitted, triangular-hat-wearing troops...who bring new meaning to the term ‘cannon fodder’! Will Sam and Maryline be the new Sam and Diane? Or will he prove once and for all that he is BORN TO FIGHT?

Man, Bruno Mattei was sure on a roll in the late ‘80s. To think that this one man, in this one short span of time, turned loose on the world Strike Commando (1987), Double Target (1987), Cop Game (1988), Robowar (1988), Strike Commando 2 (1988), and the movie up for discussion today, is just insane. Sure, he may have recycled a bit of footage here and there, but who’s counting exploding huts? And this is just ONE guy! Never mind all the many others churning out video store-era gems at the time. Yeah, this never came out on VHS in the U.S., but you get our point.


Both Huff and Mary Stavin return from Strike Commando 2, and while there is some standard bickering between them, this is truly Huff at his best and coolest. 

As some sort of lost-in-translation-from-the-original-Italian cross between Indiana Jones and Sonny Crockett - when he’s not channeling Clint Eastwood with his low-slung cowboy hat and cigar stub - he drinks snake venom at a bar and massacres countless people with his machine guns and grenades. He has a lot of funny lines, mainly after he kills some baddies: “Shut up!”, “Shove it!”, “You started it!”, etc., though it could be forgiven if it seems like his dialogue was written by one of those push-button insult machines of the time. Still, this is the Huff you want, unlike The Bad Pack (1997), which was disappointing Huff.

Werner Pochath is notable as the evil baddie named Duan Loc, who has an ‘Evil German’ accent. Helpfully, he cries, “Sam Wood isn’t like other people. He thinks he’s inWINCEable! He was born to fight!” It’s also handy to know there are massive battalions of Viet Cong soldiers still on the attack in 1989. The hotel assault scene is a movie highlight, as is the climax, with a mega-kill count and exploding huts galore. 

It’s amazing the jungles of the Philippines were able to survive after all that was blown up there. But it’s all for our entertainment, and even with the repeated footage (both dialogue scenes and blow-up scenes), it all adds up to a golden age of filmmaking never to be repeated. We should really treasure the output of this time and place.

The soundtrack by Al Festa certainly won’t be confused for John Williams anytime soon, no matter how hard he tries. We certainly preferred the non-ripoff synthesizer themes. That’s what these movies are all about. Blow-ups, shooting, and the craziness in between. You gotta love it.

God bless Bruno Mattei and all his hut-exploding ilk. The reverberations from the explosions that they created are still being felt today.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett 

Double Target (1987)

Double Target (1987)- * * *

Directed by: Bruno Mattei

Starring: Miles O'Keefe, Donald Pleasence, David Anderson, Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Luciano Pigozzi, Kristine Erlandson, and Bo Svenson









When Major General Howard Stern is assassinated in Hong Kong (apparently someone’s not a fan), and further suicide attacks occur in Kuala Lumpur and the Philippines, the U.S. government calls in American commando/American hero/American badass Robert “Bob” Ross (O’Keeffe). This guy isn’t painting fluffy little clouds anymore. All Ross wants to do is get legal custody of the son he had in Vietnam with his now-deceased wife, and bring him back to the good old U.S. of A. But the questionable Senator Blaster (Pleasance) (shouldn’t that have been O’Keeffe’s name in the movie?) forces him to go on a dangerous mission in order to find his son - track down the evil russkies 

Col. Galckin (Svenson) and his henchman Talbukin (Anderson) and their never-ending army of goons, and eliminate them. In order to do this, Ross teams up with an in-country contact, Toro (Dell’Acqua), as well as those sympathetic to his cause, McDouglas (Pigozzi) and his daughter Mary (Erlandson, who has an impressive resume of these types of movies). Ross even offers to take Mary back to America along with him and his son...but under such heavy fire, will they all make it?

Blow-ups, shooting, O’Keeffe punching people, exploding huts, exploding guard towers, guard tower falls, exploding helicopters. It truly never gets old, unless it’s done wrong. And as we always say, the Italians made the best jungle-set exploding hutters, and here is no exception. Bruno Mattei is at the helm for this particular leafy-green violence fest, and he doesn’t disappoint. His work can be hit or miss, to say the least, but this is a minor hit. Minor because fellow O’Keeffe-starred Italian jungle epic The Hard Way is better, but Double Target hits the mark, if I may keep the shooting theme going.  The only real flaw is that it’s about eleven minutes too long. Yes, eleven.

Probably because they tried to develop certain dramatic themes, and that takes time. We’re always crying out for more character development, so it would be hypocritical of us to criticize the filmmakers for that, and we won’t. But there’s only so much of Donald Pleasance sitting at a desk coughing into his inhaler that any audience can reasonably stand. To be fair, though, his scenes with Mike Monty are perfectly fine, and when Pleasance, Monty, and O’Keeffe are all together, it’s a B-Movie action fan’s dream come true.

O’Keeffe has never been cooler, and that’s saying something because he’s usually pretty darn cool. It’s a joy to watch him mow down evil Russians, charge through fruit cart chases, and ignite entire villages with his rocket launcher. 

He even takes on a shark in an amazing bit of man-to-shark combat. That was definitely a movie highlight. It’s all set to an ace Stefano Mainetti score, which helps a lot. Mainetti also did the music for the closing song, “Losing You”, sung by Rosanna Napoli. It’s always funny when, after a viewer is subjected to 102 minutes of violence and bloodshed, a tender, romantic ballad plays over the credits. It’s all part of the anti-mainstream, illogical fun that comes with these pre-CGI-era blow-up movies.

In misspelled credits news, we are informed of the many people that worked hard on the Philippine Crow. They must have meant “crew”. When English isn’t your first language, unpredictable things can happen when you try to print it on screen. Once again, it’s part of the unique experience. Either that or they employed a Philippine crow to relay messages back and forth amongst the crewmembers on the set. Seems economical.

Never released in the U.S., Double Target represents the exploding hut era well, with some really nice explosions and some other fine attributes. Really only because of its slightly overlong running time does it not reach the heights achieved by some of its competitors, but it is a more than worthy addition to the ‘cannon’, if you will.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up by our buddy, Cool Target!

W Is War (1983)

W Is War (1983)- * * 

Directed by: Willie Milan

Starring: Anthony Alonzo, Paul Vance, Joonee Gamboa, Den Motero, and Anna Marie Gutierrez









A frightening new gang is running wild on the streets of Manila and terrorizing the citizens. They are all bald and wear bizarre leather costumes. Imagine a cross between Buddhist monks and Zipperface-style leather freaks, and you’re just about there. A good cop named W2 (Alonzo) gets into a scuffle with the gang and...wait. 

The guy’s name is W2. W2. There’s also a guy in the movie named R2. In real life he’s played by Bing Davao, so we don’t know which is cooler. So the good guys are like tax forms meet Star Wars. When W2 shoots the evil gang leader’s brother, said leader, Nosfero (Montero) wants him dead, and that seriously puts a crimp in W2’s new marriage with W2’s Wife (Gutierrez) (her name in the movie is credited solely as “W2’s Wife” - but then again, if you were W2’s wife, isn’t that all you’d want to be known as?). 

After Maj. Medina (Gamboa) takes away W2’s badge and gun, he goes on a solo mission to stop Nosfero and the evil gang, which he discovers is a cult. When he finds out they kidnapped a bunch of schoolchildren, and are about to enter into a million-dollar opium-smuggling deal, he really snaps into action. Find out just how he does it as W2...IS WAR.

God bless the Philippines. They provided us with so much cinematic entertainment in the 70’s and 80’s, and this is one of their more off-kilter entries. It’s a bit like Cobra Thunderbolt (1984) (which is Thai, but who’s counting?) meets Search for Vengeance (1984). 

Much like how the centerpiece of Cobra Thunderbolt was our beloved Lt. Molly and her shooting a machine gun at the baddies while riding a jetpack, here the main focus is clearly the gang/cult and their wonderful attire. It’s like a Mad Max situation, but the movie gives no indication it takes place in the future. Is the Philippine economy really doing that bad? It can’t be, because their film industry seemed to be doing gangbusters then...but that didn’t stop Nosfero and the gang from being the “biggest pot producer in Asia” to graduating to lucrative opium deals. They sure got a ton of extras to be in the gang, and we can see the lure. Not the drugs -- the outfits, of course.

It’s even explained that people follow Nosfero because he has strong powers of hypnotism. And all this time we thought it was his fashion-forward sideways ponytail. Also, the higher-ups in the organization get cool single-name appellations like Pendragon and Voltar. In order to beat them, W2 slaps some metal siding on his car - and himself, becoming, quite literally, a knight in shining armor - and rolls into battle. 

The final 30 minutes or so of the movie is one extended battle sequence/climax. It goes from a strange curio with wacky dubbing and odd people in the first half to an out-and-out exploding hutter, with blow-ups, guard tower falls, and the works in the latter half. It all has a funky, 70’s-style score from Ernani Cuenco, and director Milan is handy with wide-angle lens effects. He also directed the hard-to-find and awesomely-named Ultimax Force (1987).

Released on the great Paragon label during the VHS era, it has also, interestingly enough, received a DVD release on the Telavista label. Both U.S. formats used the original title, simply “W”, not to be confused with the Twiggy movie of the same name. You could walk into a video store in the mid-80’s and find two movies called W, one on Paragon and the other on Lightning. It truly was an amazing time. We were really spoiled back then. But much like W2, W continues to survive.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty