Friday, August 5, 2011

Nam Angels

Nam Angels
1989
D: Cirio H. Santiago

Plot: More or less The Losers

Trash vet Santiago (who just this year passed away while making a post-apocalyptic type flick with Michael Madsen) took the premise of "The Losers," wrung the cynicism out of it, added more action, and more than likely turned a profit with this testosterone- and anachronism-filled direct to video entry.
This time some US soldiers are captured not by VC or NVA, but by tribesmen loyal to Chard (Vernon Wells, who was kinda a biker himself in "Weird Science"), a low-rent Col Kurtz who's a former Nazi that later deserted the French Foreign Legion to build a private native army. Calhoun (Brad Johnson) persuades Gen Donipha (Ken Metcalfe) to let him lead a raid to rescue the men before the whole area is bombed--and to let him hire some Hell's Angels who for some fucking reason seem to be in Vietnam just hanging out.
Just Calhoun's luck--the Angels just happen to start some shit in a local bar, and are arrested  (again, for some fucking reason) by MP's. He bails them out, provided they agree to the mission, and to sweeten the deal offeres them a healthy cut of the gold (it's clear that when this was shot they didn't know if the treasure they were seeking was gold or perhaps herion) that Chard possesses. (Say it with me:) For some fucking reason he does not mention that they're also to rescue captured soldiers.
Along the way are the usual twists, conflicts, and subplots; mutual distrust and dislike becomes grudging respect, you know the drill. It all builds to the action packed climax and somewhat abrupt ending.
Vernon Wells (sporting what may literally be the worst ponytail ever) tries to have fun with the role, and Rick Dean (whose character's name, by the way, is fucking Sonny Larger) does his best as well. And the action and buildup are all a little better than you'd expect. However, everything about this alleged period piece looks very, very late '80s, and I couldn't stop thinking Jumpin' Jesus does this place not look like Vietnam. Fun enough to get a 2.5 while I'm feeling charitable over here.

1 comment:

  1. Glad to see you're back in action! And also glad to see you're not limiting the scope of your endeavors to 60s/70s flicks only. You keep writing 'em - I'll keep readin' (and watchin') 'em.

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