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!

Tiger Joe (1982)

Tiger Joe (1982)- * * *

Directed by: Antonio Margheriti

Starring: David Warbeck, Luciano Pigozzi, Annie Belle, and Rade Abadeza









“Tiger” Joe (Warbeck) is a pilot in Southeast Asia. He’s a devil-may-care daredevil (who’s also a handsome devil with a devilish smile). At the small airport he works out of, Midnight (King) and Lenny (Pigozzi) are his co-workers and friends. Whether because of personal convictions or because of money, Joe uses his plane to deliver weapons to rebels fighting an oppressive regime in Cambodia. When he’s shot down in the jungle and his enemies capture him, it seems Tiger Joe has gone on his last flight. But he teams up with a “ferocious female freedom fighter” (to quote the title of an unrelated movie) named Kia (Belle) and her native companion named Datu (Abadeza). 

The three of them face many trials, tribulations and travails in the jungle as they fight the baddies and try to find freedom. Meanwhile, Joe’s buddies Lenny and Midnight engage on a trek of their own to try and find the missing Tiger Joe. Will they find him? Will Tiger Joe make it out of his cage? Find out today!

Here we have a jungle actioner with all the typical trappings such as multiple shots of waterfalls, machine guns mowing down Asian baddies with those conical hats, and maybe an exploding hut or two.

 But because it was directed by Antonio Margheriti, it has a certain touch that saves it from being bland. In addition, there’s some funny dialogue, such as the very first exchange of the movie when the advice is shouted, “You need to eat more carrots!” There’s even some classic political incorrectness of the day, such as how the Black Guy is named “Midnight” and other racial references in that vein. There’s also plenty of funny NON-dialogue, such as the noises the baddies make when they get shot: their flailing “AAaaahhhh!” will put a smile on your face, even after the 1000th time. Really, it will - it gets funnier every time you hear it.

The solid Italian B-movie cast of King, Pigozzi, Belle and Warbeck help things out. Warbeck especially puts in a witty and charming performance. While shirtless for 90 percent of the movie, you root for him anyway.  Plus he looks like a young Jack Nicholson. Warbeck should have had much more mainstream American success than he did. 

But Italian exploitation fans will always love him and that’s all that matters. On the negative side of Tiger Joe, there’s no one big villain to fight against and that’s always a problem. Who is good and who is bad isn’t always made clear. It’s a bit on the long side as well for such a threadbare plot - it should have been 5 to 10 minutes shorter. And since this movie was made hot on the heels of Margheriti’s The Last Hunter (1980) - which is a superior movie (check out the DVD from Dark Sky) - try not to compare the two too harshly. Margheriti was seriously blowing up the jungle at this time, besides Tiger Joe and The Last Hunter, he also did Tornado (1983) and Codename: Wildgeese (1984), among others in this timeframe. God bless Margheriti. He’s a great man.

On the technical side, the VHS was released by the great Lightning label back in the 80’s. This release is relatively easy to find today. The DVD, released as part of the Mercs box set, is in Widescreen, or something like Widescreen, so it’s probably preferable to see it that way. Thankfully, there are no technical glitches on this part of the Mercs set.  Whichever way you see it, despite its flaws, don’t be afraid to say hello to Tiger Joe.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Yor, The Hunter From The Future (1983)

Yor, The Hunter From The Future (1983)-* * *1\2

Directed by: Antonio Margheti

Starring: Reb Brown, Corinne Clery, Luciano Pigozzi, and John Steiner



“You command a world of puppets! Is that your goal in life?”







Yor (Brown) is a warrior from a prehistoric (?) time who seems to be the first person to invent ab crunches. At first he is content to go about his day fighting dinosaurs, fighting ape-like creatures with purple skin, and spending quality time with Ka-Laa (Clery) and the elder Pag (Pigozzi). But when a futuristic device appears that looks like a modern-day GPS, Yor begins to question his entire existence. Before you can say “oiled-up dude in a loincloth”, Yor and his friends are transported to some sort of Star Wars-like future world, complete with an Emperor (Steiner), who is called “Overlord”, and Stormtrooper-esque baddies with masks reminiscent of Darth Vader. Surely Yor is confused, but he must protect his allies and fight the baddies, all while trying to discover the secret to his origins. Can he do it?

Yor is a video store classic that anyone with a sense of nostalgia for that place and time (the 80’s, and video stores) will surely appreciate. In that classically Italian way, the movie is sort of a melange of the popular things of the time, such as the Star Wars series and He-Man. Throw in a little The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) and maybe a little Caveman (1981), put in a blender with some alcohol, and there you have it. While I don’t know this for sure, I would guess that this isn’t director Margheriti’s favorite from his own work (it was also based on some graphic novels of the time) - but it’s probably the Margheriti most American viewers have seen, since it was distributed widely to stores by Columbia Home Video. Perhaps it opened the door to fans seeking his other output.

The costumes are certainly a sight to behold - in the first half of the movie, the raggedy cavemen duds make you think at any moment one of the characters is going to say “It’s...!” and an episode of Monty Python will begin. Once we get to the futuristic section later, there’s even more greatness and creativity. Why is it in the future, breastplates are so popular? That nagging question aside, we get some nice laser action (because lasers were gigantic in the 80’s, never mind Laser Tag and Photon, just ask Judas Priest) - and the laser guns look more like car accessories, but who are we to say what laser guns will look like in the future?

Anyone who reads this site knows that we are big Reb Brown fans, and the fact that here he teams up with the great Antonio Margheriti behind the camera is truly a dream team. Brown plays the aforementioned oiled-up dude in a loincloth (OUDIAL for those on the go) with typical aplomb. Though this was so early in his career, he had yet to fully perfect his trademark scream. But he has amazing hair (especially for a prehistoric guy) and looks oddly like James Van Der Beek. Was this VHS tape ever put in the horror section of any video store? Speaking of which...this movie does introduce the public to “triceratops gore” which no doubt we’ve all been clamoring for.

There is some amazing music on the soundtrack. It’s not said who did the actual songs in the end credits. We know the music was by the great DeAngelis brothers, along with John Scott, but did they do the Queen-like tunes as well? It’s never said what those songs are. But no doubt they were recorded to hop on the bandwagon of yet another popular movie of the day, Flash Gordon (1980).

Anyone who doesn’t like this movie is just too logical. Turn off the logical part of your brain and just go with the flow. If you do, Yor gonna love it.
 

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Also check out more YOR write-ups from our buddies, DTVC and The Video Vacuum!

Strike Commando (1987)

Strike Commando (1987)-* * * *

Directed by: Bruno Mattei

Starring: Reb Brown, Edison Navarro, Luciano Pigozzi, Alex Vitale, and Christopher Connelly





"He's A War Machine on the Warpath!"








Sgt. Michael Ransom (Brown) is THE BEST. He’s the finest example of an American soldier...maybe ever. He goes behind enemy lines to rescue some Vietnamese civilians, and even becomes friends with a young boy, Lao (Edison Navarro). His guide in this rough terrain is Frenchman Le Due (Pigozzi) - but maniacally evil Russian Jakoda (Vitale) will stop at nothing until he tortures and kills his nemesis, the “Americanski”. And even though Col. Radek (Connelly) may have suspicious motives, nothing, and we mean NOTHING - will stop this true American hero from getting revenge on the baddies. One way or another, you WILL pay Ransom.

Now THIS is what Comeuppance Reviews, as a website and as an overall entity in the universe, is all about. Ignore anything negative you may have read about this great movie. For pure, uncut, unadulterated entertainment, this level of awesomeness is possibly only rivaled by Deadly Prey (1987). This movie gives jungle action movies a GOOD name. It has countless, high-quality explosions, guard tower blow-ups/falls, non-stop action, stunts, and shooting, waterfalls, and of course the prerequisite torture scene. But it has a ton of weird/funny/off-kilter moments that truly make it rise above the pack. We won’t spoil them for you here, but trust us, you will love this movie and you have to find it if you don’t already own it.

While we also strongly support the later collaboration between the great Reb Brown and director Bruno Mattei, Robowar (1989), we believe this is the superior team-up of the two men. If you can’t get enough of that trademark Reb scream, you won’t be disappointed, as he really yells it up here. That includes a specific line reading of his enemy’s name, “Jakoda”, that you won’t soon forget. Probably because your ears will be ringing for days afterwards. But yet, Reb displays his sensitive side here too. For all his ultra-macho shirtless carnage, his relationship with Lao is tender and even tear-jerking. Lao wants to go to Disneyland where the popcorn grows on trees. For some reason, this really appeals to him. But, you see, Ransom is not an inhuman monster like Jakoda. He may have killed a few thousand people, but he’s a real human being who you grow to love. You definitely want Ransom on your side. God help you if you get on his bad side.

Like Jungle Assault (1989), the soundtrack is inappropriately 80’s  (it being the Vietnam war and all) - but here the music cues are just so great it doesn’t even matter. The soundtrack by Lou Ceccarelli is pure genius. It features a killer opening song and it doesn’t stop there. Nintendo was huge at the time, and the music plus the action is almost like a live-action Contra movie. It truly is violent 80’s heaven that you can really sink your teeth into. Is there a CD of this? 

The worst thing you could say about this masterpiece is that the editing can be a bit choppy at times, but even that adds to the overall charm. Strike Commando delivers the goods in spades. Rock on!

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett