Hell On The Battleground (1989)

Hell On The Battleground (1989)-* * *

Directed by: David A. Prior

Starring: Fritz Matthews, Ted Prior, William Smith, Johnnie Johnson III, Sean Holton, and Chet Hood





“This is war. There’s no time for love.” - Casey

Sgt. Bill Lance (Prior) and Sgt. Jack Casey (Matthews) are battle-hardened warriors who play by their own rules. While in the depths of the jungle fighting the Russians (is this Vietnam?), their superior officer, Col. Meredith (Smith) punishes them for their rogue ways by having them take some new recruits along with them on their patrols. Now outnumbered by the enemy and surrounded on all sides, Lance and Casey will have to use all their warlike ways to prevail. Will they do it?

Anyone who knows David Prior and the AIP style of filmmaking will appreciate this movie. It’s no Deadly Prey (1987), but what possibly could be? While Deadly Prey was Ted Prior’s movie, Hell On The Battleground is all about Fritz Matthews. Here Fritz gets his moment in the sun and he’s truly never been better. He’s a mulleted mega-meathead who literally spits his terse dialogue and it’s a lot of fun to watch. He even plays his own theme song on acoustic guitar, “Casey’s Bad Boys”. Truly mustaches and mullets are the order of the day here, as surely they were in Vietnam. Ironically, the great William Smith is ‘stache-less here, but he’s as gruff as ever.

Speaking of Smith, once we’re firmly into the movie, Smith - who sounds like a 45 of George C. Scott played on 33 1/3, breaks into a solemnly-spoken poem about Casey and Lance. Apropos of nothing, Smith intones this ballad of the two mighty heroes. Truly in a movie that is highly repetitive and contains shooting, shooting, maybe some grenade launchers and an exploding helicopter, some more shooting followed by maybe a little more shooting, this moment of poetry from an unlikely place stood out. Are Casey and Lance aware that Col. Meredith is writing poetry about them? And how would they feel about that? Those are the unanswered questions that are the food for thought here.

Apparently, since this was the 80’s, our heroes are fighting the Russians, and there’s even a guy that looks exactly like a Red Scorpion (1988)-era Dolph Lundgren. He even has the blonde brush-cut hairdo. The Prior brothers continued fighting the Russians in The Final Sanction (1990), and there they were represented by Robert Z’Dar. So who comes out on top? 

You’ll have to see for yourself. Also, we’re not sure if this was common practice or not, but Lance and Casey’s wives ( Alyson Davis and Ingrid Vold) are along with them, encamped on the battlefield. Both Davis and Vold were in the same year’s David Heavener vehicle Deadly Reactor (1989) together. Do they only come as a pair? But it just proves even further that 1989 was probably the top year for video stores in the U.S. Product was coming fast and furious, and only now are we beginning to sort it all out.

There’s the cross for good luck, and AIP staple Sean Holton is also on board, and this movie does probably top Jungle Assault (1989) and Operation Warzone (1988) for AIP war material, but the problem is there’s no one strong, central villain. There’s no baddie to boo and hiss at. It’s just the nebulous concept of “Russians”. 

But that aside, there are enough decent/funny/worthwhile moments to keep this one afloat, and it has a short running time, so it’s not a burden to watch like some of its more bloated competition. Yes, it’s very dumb, but it’s fun dumb. And it was all done on a tiny budget and released to video stores for the viewing public. It might not be to EVERYONE’s taste, but you have to respect their work ethic and the fact that they got it done.

Featuring yet another quality end-credits song by Steve McClintock, “I Believe In The Battle”, Hell On The Battleground, powered by the Prior-Fritz-Smith triumvirate, comes out as towards the top of the AIP war movie canon.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Operation Warzone (1988)

Operation Warzone (1988)-* *

Directed by: David A. Prior

Starring: Joe Spinell, Fritz Matthews, William Zipp, Sean Holton, and Chet Hood



"They Told 'Em War Was Hell...They Were Right!"

Get ready for yet another romp in the jungle courtesy of  David Prior and AIP. In this particular Vietnam war scenario, Sgt. Holt (Matthews), Cpl. Butler (Zipp) and Cpl. Adams (Holton), among other soldiers, are bravely fighting in the impossible conditions of the ‘Nam jungles. During a firefight, they rescue two Tunnel Rats, Jenson (King) and Hawkins (Cianetti). It comes to light that there is a mysterious, unseen man, dubbed “The General” that has classified documents that could supposedly end the war. Much of the madness can be traced back to Washington and the corrupt George Delevane (Spinell). In a Firehawk-like situation, the soldiers don’t know who to trust, and there could be a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. Will Holt and the boys make it home alive? Or will the behind-the-scenes dealings get the better of everyone?

Mindless shooting. Exploding huts. Endless machine gun firefights. Uninteresting explosions. Brain-numbing stupidity. Inexcusable boredom. Zero character development. Unexplained Australians. Goofy chases. Prerequisite torture sequence. An unnecessary fistfight scene that is so absurdly extended it makes the “put on the glasses” scene from They Live (1988) look like a blip. These are some basic snapshots that should give you some idea of the “we have to sit through it” vibe of Operation Warzone.

Matthews, Zipp and Holton are all AIP regulars, doing many things both in front of and behind the camera. It seems, contractually, Zipp cannot be in a movie that doesn’t take place in a jungle. So he must have been right at home. Holton looks completely different that he did in White Fury (1990). In ‘Fury he’s a snot-nosed little punk, and here he has an adult mustache and appears at least ten years older - but ‘Warzone  came out two years BEFORE White Fury! How quickly they grow up...or something like that. The legendary and excellent actor Joe Spinell is on hand, and his presence is much appreciated, but it’s what we call a “sit-down” role. In other words, in many instances, from Mickey Rooney in Maximum Force (1992), to Henry Silva in The Violent Breed (1984), to Spinell here (just to name a few), the movie production will hire a name actor to do some scenes over the course of a day or two, give or take. But all the actor’s scenes are sitting down. They never leave their chair. It just kind of exposes the penury of a given production. Here Spinell gives his sit-down role, which is better than many of the other actors’ more action based scenes, but the bottom line is the movie definitely could have used much more Spinell.

Another thing worth mentioning is the highly inappropriate music. Although the movie is set in 1960’s Vietnam, a happy, upbeat, jaunty 80’s synthpop song that sounds exactly like Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” blasts onto the soundtrack. I know it seems incredible, but it’s true. What were they thinking? That being said, Steve McClintock’s closing credits dirge “Shadow Of A Doubt” is catchy and one of the best things about Operation Warzone. You gotta hand it to AIP. Almost all their movies have at least one catchy, memorable, original song. It’s really a fairly dependable thing. No matter how “bad” the movie is, at least there will be a song. When is someone going to release a CD, “AIP’s greatest hits”? It would be amazing!

Dumb on top of dumb on top of dumb, Operation Warzone is a misfire.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

White Fury (1990)

 White Fury (1990)-* *

Directed by: David A. Prior

Starring: Deke Anderson, Sean Holton, Douglas Harter, Chasity Hammons, Christine Shinn, Michael Kaskel, and William Berg

Danny (Holton) is a champion snowboarder who loves nothing more than being a radically awesome dude with an attitude. His idea of a perfect life would undoubtedly be jumping out of a helicopter on his snowboard and “slamming” a can of Mountain Dew. He takes his girlfriend Christine (Shinn) and his pals Greg (Berg) and Lesley (Hammons) to a remote cabin in snowy Colorado.  They think they’re going to get some nice rest and relaxation, but something goes awry...

Tyler Bennett (Anderson) and his accomplice Marcus (Kaskel) are amoral bank robbers on the run. To escape from the heat of their latest job, they head out to the country and somehow find the aforementioned cabin. They hole up there and generally terrorize the four young adults. But they didn’t count on one thing: a “bounty hunter outta Detroit” named Martin Towers. This grizzled, bearded man is relentless and has been tracking Tyler for years. Armed with a missile launcher and his own determination, will Towers finally get his man...?

This one was pretty junky, even by AIP standards. It’s a fairly basic hostage drama, married with some shreddin’ snowboards. The main problem with White Fury is that its very simple idea overstays its welcome. Due to its pacing issues, when it seems the movie is going to end, it just keeps going with no new ideas to sustain it. Its threadbare plot is running on fumes. And having a wildly overlong snowmobile/snowboard chase/gunfight - which could have been a lot cooler had it been handled differently - doesn’t really help matters. The same song playing over and over again in the background during the scene is kind of a red flag that it might be going on too long. Plus there are plenty of “gaffes” throughout the film that give away its no-budget status. So it’s hard to shake the feeling that you’re watching some bare-bones boring crud.

On the bright side, there are some great late-80’s fashions on display, and most of the cast does their absolute best under trying circumstances.  Have you ever seen Ben Stiller's impression of Tom Cruise? That seems to be the acting style of Deke Anderson as the main baddie Tyler. Much of the rest of the cast seem to be non-actors, so no harsh criticism is coming their way, at least not here. Plus, there might be more subtext here than you might think. Due to some subtle clues, there might be a chance that this is actually a story of the forbidden love between Martin Towers and Danny. Truly one of the great star-crossed love stories of our time, I tell ya. If you ever watch the movie (or see it again if you already have), just take note of the dialogue and interactions between Martin and Danny. You’ll see what we mean. Maybe it’s not so far-fetched.

While we wouldn’t recommend it be the first AIP movie you ever see, if you can’t get enough of that AIP style, you’ll find some familiar entertainment in White Fury.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett