Red-Barracuda This is the third entry in a loose trilogy of Euro action movies directed by Antonio Margheriti and starring Lewis Collins. I have yet to see the first instalment but have seen the second, Commando Leopard (1985), which I thought was quite good. This final entry, however, I didn't think so much of. The plot involved a group or mercenaries, lots of gun shooting, explosions and a top secret floppy disc. It was an entirely tiresome story-line quite honestly and a film in which you have to have a considerable interest in exploding helicopters and gun battles if you are going to get much out of it. I am somewhat ambivalent about action movies myself but I do enjoy some, such as the previous instalment in this series. But this one I essentially found to be a tedious series of action and dialogue scenes. Basically I have found that all films that focus on top secret floppy discs are awful.The cast is actually not bad though. We have b-movie legends such as Lee Van Cleef and Donald Pleasence and cult favourites such as Bobby Rhodes (the best cinematic pimp of all time from Demons (1985) and Demons 2 (1986)) and John Steiner (from Dario Argento's seminal giallo Tenebrae (1982). But the impressive cast can't save this one. It was also decidedly overlong for what it was and by the end I was just glad it was over.

ma-cortes This action-packed film deals about some stalwart mercenaries . A team formed by a misfit troop of commando-for hire are contracted (by Lee Van Cleef, Paul Muller) to attack a lord-ringer's stronghold and retrive a floppy disk. They're commanded by a tough and two-fisted Major (Lewis Collins) helped by a war veteran (Manfred Lhemann). The band of mercenaries (Romano Puppo, Mike Monty, Bobby Rhodes : customaries in Italian B series) land deep into jungle to obliterate some drug-lords in Asia's infamous Golden triangle and much movement and danger ensues. The bunch includes a Thai native girl who falls in love with the veteran war.This fast-paced movie contains adventures, thrills, mindless agitation and lots of noisy action for the most part. Big name cast by known actors as Lee Van Cleef and Donald Pleasance in a histrionic and sympathetic role. Screenplay by usual Tito Carpi but some spectacular action scenes cannot a silly script save. Stirring final full of explosions, shootouts and burning installations ; furthermore some plot twists. Cinematography is quite well, capturing the atmosphere of everywhere, in addition some moving images shot with camera above the shoulder. Embarrassment musical score composed by synthesizer isn't composed by Ennio Morricone. The picture is produced in average budget by Erwin C. Dietrich, ordinary producer and director of soft-core genre and Jess Frank's habitual financier. The motion picture is regularly directed by Antonio Margheriti. The film was realized in the wake of ¨Wild Geese¨ (Andrew V McLagen) and ¨Wild Geese II¨(Peter Hunt). And belong a trilogy constituted by ¨Codename : ¨Wild geese (1984)¨ and ¨Command leopard(1985)¨ starred by similar actors and same technical equipment and director. This jungle-setting exploitation movie will appeal to Eurotrash buffs.

MARIO GAUCI Around Christmas I had watched COMMANDO LEOPARD (1985), a passable low-brow German-Italian war flick; that film was the middle part of a trilogy and, back then, I had expressed a wish to check out the remaining two entries – CODENAME: WILDGEESE (1984) and THE COMMANDER (1988). I now happened upon the latter, but the result was even less rewarding! Lewis Collins is once again the hero and, as ever, producer Erwin C. Dietrich manages to assemble a fair line-up of actors in support: Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence, Manfred Lehmann and John Steiner (both from COMMANDO LEOPARD), Paul Muller (as Van Cleef’s smart butler!) and Brett Halsey.The convoluted plot involves an Asian dictator, a consignment of drugs and an all-important incriminating “floppy disk” (but which looks more like a CD!). The band of gung-ho mercenaries this time around also includes a native girl but, with much of the action being relegated to the second half, it’s mostly by-the-numbers stuff – until the explosive climax (which only Collins and Lehmann survive…though one member had expired early on from the bite of a cobra!). However, there’s a nice twist at the end regarding the characters of Van Cleef (fitted with a silly pirate-like earring throughout!) and Pleasence (alternating between hysteria and sarcasm and, finally, campily turning up as a tourist-photographer) – as they prove exact opposites to what they’d been played up to be!

ferryman-999 Warning! There are SPOILERS in this review. Warning!I was pleasantly surprised by this film. I only bought the video because Lee Van Cleef was in it and I had expected to find that he and Donald Pleasence would be the only redeeming features of yet another bad action film. I couldn't have been more wrong.The plot was exciting and fast-paced, with the tension kept up throughout the film. Particularly good was a scene where people keep getting shot as they try to steal a 'floppy disk' (actually a CD-ROM). One character goes into the room, blows the safe and gets the disk, only to be shot by another character, who then is shot by Mason (Manfred Lehmann). Suddenly the view switches to another gun pointing in the room...Another thing about this film is that it had the feel of a Leone Spaghetti Western about it, with amoral characters ready to do just about anything for money. It didn't try to explain the characters -- a mistake many bad films make -- but let the actors and the action show us what manner of people they were. The dialogue was generally good, only flagging now and again, particularly in the scene where Henry Carlson (Donald Pleasence) meets an old colleague who is investigating whether he (Carlson) has links to the drugs trade. The only bits that didn't quite come off were the scene where after Ling, a woman who Mason liked, died in battle, Mason started blindly shooting and shouting 'Murderers' and a scene where a snake bit one of the mercenaries who came with Colby. For some reason, I have never seen a film that has had a credible scene involving snakes. Snakes can be deadly, certainly, but they are made out to be a bigger menace than they are. The merc who found the snake in the back of the transport lorry should have simply stood up because he should have been wearing good boots. He then could have dropped a box on the snake. He could have even thrown his shirt on the snake and beat it with his rifle. I am surprised that the merc panicked in the way he did. Also, snake venom doesn't work *that* quickly.The acting was generally good and, as expected, Lee Van Cleef and Donald Pleasence shone through as the geniuses they were. Don't listen to those who say that Lee Van Cleef was past his prime; his delivery and presence were as perfect as ever. I was also very impressed by Lewis Collins. He held his own with Lee Van Cleef and Donald Pleasence. I rarely watch television and so had never seen Lewis Collins in 'The Professionals', but after seeing him in this film, I will look for others in which he appears. The action scenes were also generally well done. This film managed to capture some of the chaos of war: the best laid plans being undone as soon as the battle begins. Further, there were no Hollywood-style scenes in which the 'hero' pulls off some impossible bit of action in battle, rescuing someone or even everyone or in which someone dies 'heroically'. All but one of the people who went with Colby died, and only a few of those deaths were even vaguely heroic. For instance, Ling died because she looked down at a companion who had just been shot instead of keeping her attention on the battle. That's exactly the sort of way one would expect to find someone dying in battle. There were a few things that didn't come off right, though. One was the nuclear explosion: I don't care that it was a 'mini-nuke', it still should have had more kick than that. The other was the sound of the pistols; they sounded like starting pistols. As well, the actors looked too clean after having been out in the field at least one night and having been in battle. Go out in a muddy field for only a few hours and you won't look that clean. This is, however, a common failing of films. In low budget films, it is probably easier to deal with continuity issues if the actors remain clean.The cinematography was very good; it captured the atmosphere of everywhere from a drug lord's house to a jungle very nicely. The music was just right: low-key and slightly exotic, not dominating the film or being used as substitute for acting or action.All in all, I would recommend this film to anyone who likes action, amoral characters, and good acting. It is well worth it.