Strike Commando
| Strike Commando | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Bruno Mattei |
| Written by | Rosella Drudi Claudio Fragasso Bruno Mattei |
| Screenplay by | Claudio Fragasso[1] |
| Story by |
|
| Produced by | Oscar Faradyne |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Riccardo Grassetti[1] |
| Edited by | Bruno Mattei[1] |
| Music by | Luigi Ceccarelli[1] |
Production company | Flora Film[1] |
| Distributed by | Variety Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | English |
Strike Commando is a 1987 Vietnam war action film directed by Bruno Mattei and starring Reb Brown, Christopher Connelly and Alex Vitale.
A sequel, Strike Commando II (Trappola diabolica), was released in 1988 and stars Brent Huff as Sgt. Michael Ransom.
Plot
Sgt. Michael Ransom and his team of "Strike Commandos" sneak into a Vietnamese base, planning to lay explosives. Colonel Radek and Ransom's majors watch from a nearby vantage point. All prove to be successful, until a commando is caught and killed by a sentry, raising the alarm. Colonel Radek, who is in charge of the mission, demands the explosives be set off as the commandos are still retreating. The ensuing explosion kills a soldier, and Ransom is blown into a river.
Ransom is found unconscious by a village boy who nurses him back to health. He speaks with Le Due a retired French soldier who says the village used to be a church until the Viet Cong kept attacking. Ransom also learns that there is a Russian presence in Vietnam. Ransom agrees to take the village people to safety in an unknown location. As they come across a decomposed dead soldier who has a radio, Ransom calls his home base and tells his commander that he is alive and where he could be picked up. However, he also says that the Strike team demands justice and that he will strike vengeance. Radek sends a helicopter to retrieve Ransom at a specific spot. Ransom and the village people make camp, as Ransom talks to the boy who saved him about the wonders of America.
The next day, the group run into resistance while trying to cross a river, and are shot down by a patrol boat. Then, the group is flanked by a group of VC's who are taken down by Le Due with a grenade. Ransom dumps a huge amount of grenades into the boat and kills everyone inside.
The village people continue their retreat out of the jungle. After stopping to catch his breath, Le Due is caught and killed by a Russian soldier. Ransom finds the corpse and a Russian patch symbol torn from the soldiers' uniform. While the Russians look for the village people, Ransom kills them off one by one. Ransom soon discovers, however, that there are too many and he must retreat. Radek commands the helicopter to retreat to base, but Ransom's major is able to talk the soldier into picking him up anyway. Ransom's major is able to calm Ransom, who volunteers to go back to take pictures of the base so that there will be proof of Russian presence in Vietnam.
Ransom goes back to Vietnam but finds the village people have been slaughtered. Ransom finds the boy as he is dying and tells him more things about the United States and Disneyland, just as he dies. Ransom finds the name of the Russian soldier, Jakoda, and seeks revenge. Ransom mugs a VC, who tells him where to find Jakoda. Ransom, enraged, fires at the village with his stolen M60 machine gun. Jakoda finds Ransom and is able to talk him into surrendering by holding a civilian hostage. Ransom's superiors find out that there are Russians in there. They brutally torture Ransom by having him do yard work for hours, beating him, electrifying him, and burning his back with a blow torch. After spending months in a cell with a corpse, Ransom breaks and agrees to make a demoralizing radio broadcast. However, he is able to get the best of the Russians and kills them. Ransom takes Jakoda's girlfriend Olga hostage and manages to kill some soldiers using her as bait. After radioing Radek to bring another chopper to pick him up, Ransom kills more Russians. When Ransom and Olga reach the pick-up point, Olga attempts to kill him. The helicopter flies by, kills Olga and almost kills Ransom. Ransom is able to gun down one of the gunmen and the helicopter retreats. Ransom then comes across an army boat, which he manages to blow up.
Ransom comes back to the shore where Jakoda challenges him to a fight. Ransom eventually wins and propels Jakoda into a waterfall.
Ransom then goes back to base and, enraged, an fires at Radek's office. But Ransom's major says that Radek has gone AWOL.
Radek becomes an importer/exporter in Manila. Ransom arrives at the building where Radek is, and goes to the front desk lady. He then lays a 2-minute grenade on the ash tray on the desk. The lady then alerts all the people. Ransom roams the halls of the building using his M60 and mows down all the men. He then blows Radek up with a grenade.
Ransom then leaves the building and finds that Jakoda is back and has got a pair of metal teeth from their last fight. In the ensuing battle, Ransom puts a grenade in Jakoda's mouth. Jakoda explodes, leaving only his metal teeth behind.
Cast
- Reb Brown as Michael Ransom
- Christopher Connelly as Colonel Radek
- Alex Vitale as Jakoda, the main antagonist of the film
- Mike Monty as Maj. Harriman
- Luciano Pigozzi Le Due
- Louise Kamsteeg as Olga
- James Gaines as Radek's soldier
- Edison Navarro as Lao
- Karen Lopez as Cho-Li
Release
Strike Commando was distributed in October 1987 in the United States with a 102 minute running time.[2] The film received a token theatrical release in Kansas City ahead of its home video release in the United States.[3]
In 2021, the film was released on Blu-ray in the United States, along with its sequel, Strike Commando 2.[4] It was distributed by Severin Films.[4]
Reception
The film was reviewed by a critic credited as "Lor." in Variety who reviewed the International Video Entertainment video cassette.[3] "Lor." described the film as a "run-of-the-mill Italian war picture imitating Rambo."[3] "Lor." went on to discuss "dumb dialog" and that the film was "at least a reel or two overlong, film has an idiotic, padded coda set about 15 years later in Manila."[3] The review went on to note that "Some okay minor action scenes do not disguise the face the film lacks the large-scale set pieces that have become de rigueur for Vietnam war pics."[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Strike Commando (1986)". Archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it (in Italian). Retrieved April 14, 2019.
- ^ Klain, Jane, ed. (1989). International Motion Picture Almanac for 1989 (60 ed.). Quigley Publishing Company, Inc. p. 404. ISBN 0-900610-40-9.
- ^ a b c d e Lor. 1991.
- ^ a b "'Strike Commando' and 'Strike Commando 2' available on YouTube in a restored version". PrimeMovies.pl. October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
Sources
- Lor. (1991). Variety's Film Reviews 1987-1988. Vol. 20. R. R. Bowker. There are no page numbers in this book. This entry is found under the header "November 25, 1987". ISBN 0-8352-2667-0.