TIGER JOE (Italy/Philippines, 1982)

Original title: Fuga dall'archipelago maledetto

VHS/USA/format???/English dub/no subs

Until I get a review done myself this review by an eBay seller (called mr.reeldeal) will have to do. Hope he doesn't mind. If you're interested he got two copies of the tape right now.

The always excellent value for money David Warbeck headlines in this action yarn as an ex special forces leader in Nam who is now making a living flying in arms for a rebel cause somewhere in south east Asia. On one such run however, our hero finds himself getting directly hands on involved as it were when his plane is brought down by the enemy forces. A fair number of fairly well staged action sequences inevitably follow as Warbeck subsequently tries to make his way back to safety aided by the rebels he was supplying and in addition, with a little help from some buddies who stage an unsuccessful mission to retrieve him. This was director Antonio Margheriti's second film in a war trilogy (the first being the excellent The Last Hunter and the sequel to this effort was Tornado a.k.a. Tornado Strike Force) Whilst the film reviewed here certainly has it's moments, it sadly pales in comparison to the first in the series. Nonetheless, the enjoyable performances of the leads in this (who also headlined in the earlier film) raise the standard immeasurably, especially as displayed in some of their highly amusing verbal exchanges amongst themselves. The ever so sadly missed Warbeck especially is on great form here. In fact it has to be said that with his incredibly charismatic personality, Warbeck could always be relied upon to raise any film in which he found himself. It's such a great pity that he never made it big outside of the Italian movie industry. How tempting it is to imagine how Warbeck would have been in the role of James Bond for instance.