Day Of The Assassin (1979)

 Day Of The Assassin (1979)- * *1\2

Directed by: Brian Treanchard-Smith

Starring: Chuck Connors, Jorge Rivero, Glenn Ford, Henry Silva, Susana Dosamantes, and Richard Roundtree

When the Shah of Iran's boat sinks to the bottom of a Mexican bay, word spreads that said sunken vessel contains treasure. And not just any treasure, mind you, but supposedly among the contents of the loot is a piece of paper with the most important information in the world. What is that information? Well, Christakis (Ford) wants to find out, and he's willing to pay big. So he hires Fleming (Connors) to get the paper. But it's not going to be easy, because treasure hunters from around the world want to get to it first, among them Fessler the Mute (Roundtree) and Dante Vallone (Rivero). Police Chief Jorge Gomez (Silva) is at a loss. Susana, AKA "The Princess" (Dosamantes) is swept up in it all. Which adventurer will walk away with the prized paper?


Day of the Assassin is a nice, harmless adventure outing that sports a handful of cool moments. It definitely has its flaws; it's a bit too "safe", if you know what we mean, and the peaks-and-valleys structure of the film has some pretty deep (i.e. slow) valleys. But, overall, it's pretty amusing and mildly entertaining, thanks to its cast, its quirks, and the direction of fan favorite Brian Trenchard-Smith.


It all kicks off with a fantastic opening sequence: a guy bombs, neck-snaps and knives people while parasailing. That's right, a man suspended by a parachute over a body of water by a boat manages to kill several people, while Jorge Rivero watches the incident through a pair of binoculars. We can't say we've ever seen that before.

Soon enough, we're introduced to Glenn Ford as Christakis. He wears gray formal suit pants and dress shoes with a cream-and-red Adidas warmup jacket, gold chain, and sunglasses. He may not be in the movie that much, but at least he has a funky wardrobe. Then we get to our hero, Fleming, played by our real-life hero, Chuck Connors. At least in Day of the Assassin, he looks like what Dolph Lundgren will look like 40 years from now. As Elderly Dolph goes on about his adventuring, he then encounters lots of his competition, the most noteworthy of which are Fessler and Gomez.


That's something we appreciated about the film - it features a panoply of middle-aged or older character actors that we know and love. Yes, Roundtree doesn't say anything (because he's "mute", you see), but it was nice having Ford, Connors, Silva, and Roundtree all together. Jorge Rivero is the young man of the group. Dosamantes is the only woman. Perhaps there should have been more women.


Connors, instead of wearing his usual Brooklyn Dodgers hat, has a variety of different baseball caps this time around. Maybe this was an in-joke because he always insisted on his trademark Dodgers cap, but he's seen with Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals (?) and perhaps one other baseball team's logo on his head. Or he'll put the hat on a desk in plain sight. Even in such a light and jaunty outing as Day of the Assassin, there's some Prerequisite Torture of our hero, Fleming. Guess you always have to have that, even in something pretty fluffy like this.

Other movie highlights include the standout score by Bebu Silvetti, who is perhaps best known in America for his Spring Rain disco album from 1977. He contributes some library music-esque funk and other notable cues. Put that together with the picturesque Spanish locations (although the movie is set in Mexico) and you've got two noteworthy elements right there.

When it comes to the films of Brian Trenchard-Smith (who's the original BTS), Day of the Assassin does not reach the heights of The Man From Hong Kong (1975), or the Jason Blade diptych Fists of Blood and Day of the Panther (both 1988) (he must like "Day of the..." movie titles), but it still holds a certain charm, especially when cars blow up with little or no provocation.


Day of the Assassin originally came to home video in the U.S. on the Prism label on VHS. There doesn't seem to be any DVD history of the film, then it jumped to Amazon Prime. Despite the film's shortcomings, there's still plenty to enjoy here, especially if you're a fan of anyone involved.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Counterforce (1988)

Counterforce (1988)- * *

Directed by: Jose Antonio De Lama

Starring: Jorge Rivero, Andrew Stevens, Isaac Hayes, George Kennedy, Hugo Stiglitz, Simon Andreu, Susana Dosamantes, Louis Jourdan, Kevin Bernhardt, and Robert Forster

Somewhere in a foreign land, The Dictator (Forster) is causing trouble. No real surprise there, unless you consider the fact that he's known only as "The Dictator". Even the news reports about him call him that. Because there's a pro-democracy politician named Kassar (Jourdan) who opposes The Dictator, the U.S. sends in the COUNTERFORCE to protect him because he now has a target on his back.

Counterforce, who have their own, specially-branded hats and jackets so you know it's them, is an elite squad of soldiers who are the best of the best. They consist of Colby (Kennedy), their leader, Nash (Stevens), the spiritual guy who likes zen and meditation, Ballard (Hayes), the muscle, Harris (Rivero), who leads the men in the field, and Sutherland (Bernhardt), who everyone calls "flyboy" because he likes planes. Will the Counterforce protect Kassar and put an end to the reign of terror of The Dictator?

If you like the A-Team, you'll probably like Counterforce. It's very, very A-Team-esque. The whole movie plays out like a feature-length version of the show. Each member of Counterforce corresponds to an A-Team character. Instead of Mr. T, they got Isaac Hayes. Instead of George Peppard, they got George Kennedy. Of course, for the characters of Face and Howling Mad Murdock, they got Jorge Rivero and Andrew Stevens. And Kevin Bernhardt. Even the shooting, car stunts and blow-ups seem heavily inspired by a certain 80's TV show. And it's not Mama's Family. 

Now that that's out of the way, we can talk about the main reason why anyone would go out of their way to see Counterforce: the cast. It's an impressive lineup of B-Movie favorites and regulars. You get Robert Forster as an out-of-control Arab dictator, complete with an indefinable accent and a proclivity towards wearing capes over his normal clothes. There's Jorge Rivero, who last starred in director De La Loma's Killing Machine (1984), AKA Goma-2. He's very no-nonsense this time around, and his ability to load a pistol one-handed is very impressive.

Andrew Stevens and Isaac Hayes are the original odd couple and provide most of the humor in the film. George Kennedy, as usual, holds things together. At this point in his career, Kevin Bernhardt was on the ascendancy, as Counterforce was sandwiched in between Kick Or Die (1987) and Midnight Warrior (1989). Whether those qualify as video store classics is debatable, but it seems Bernhardt was everywhere in the late 80's. 

As if all that wasn't enough, familiar faces such as Louis Jourdan, Simon Andreu, and Hugo Stiglitz round out the cast, which was truly international. The only real female cast member, Susana Dosamantes, was a mainstay in Mexican movies and TV but is probably best known for being in Rio Lobo (1970) with John Wayne. 

While there are a handful of cool bits and some nice, mild humor, it's all very standard. It's an El Presidente slog by any other name. Yes, the scene in the gym where the Counterforce are all lifting weights, except for Andrew Stevens, who is meditating, is a highlight, but it's all so middle of the road. 

Counterforce is by no means a failure, or even unpleasant to watch, but nothing about it stands out enough for us to give it a wholehearted recommendation.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty