"The Ultimate Mercenary Collection" 6 film blu-ray box set

I've recently bought a brand new excellent blu-ray box set of five Italian/German flicks of the sort we like on this here blog! Four of them are directed by Antonio Margheriti and one by Fabrizio de Angelis! 

"Brand new" as in I've had it sitting on my Amazon want-list for a couple of years! But brand new compared to the old Japanese VHS releases of the very same films that I have in my collection. And they're fully uncut ... and English friendly … and it's blu-ray! Reason enough to celebrate I'd say. 

The box set contains six films, the last one being the original THE WILD GEESE (UK 1978) that the Italians ripped off with some of their films in this set (I assume. I haven't watched the original film yet). 

The five Italian/German films all carry English audio for the films!

Unfortunately this doesn't apply for the extras which are in German, or Italian with German subs. 

As I write this the set is available from Amazon Germany. Go here.

The films in the box set are: 

TORNADO aka LAST BLOOD (Antonio Margheriti, Italy/Germany, 1983)
German title: "Im Wendekreis des Söldners"
Fully uncut. Several previous German vhs/dvd versions are cut

CODE NAME: WILD GEESE (Antonio Margheriti, Italy/Germany 1984)
German title: "Geheimcode Wildgänse"
Fully uncut. Arrow's UK blu-ray is cut 13 minutes!

COMMANDO LEOPARD (Antonio Margheriti, Italy/Germany 1985)
German title: Kommando Leopard
Fully uncut.

COMMANDER (Antonio Margheriti, Italy/Germany 1988)
German title: Der Commander
Fully uncut. The Arrow blu-ray is cut 1 minute

COBRA MISSION (Fabrizio de Angelis aka Larry Ludman, Italy/Germany, 1986)
aka Operation Nam
German title: "Die Rückkehr der Wildgänse"

THE WILD GEESE (Andrew V. McLaglen, UK 1978)
German title: "Die Wildgänse kommen"
In contradiction to the 5 Italian films, the UK film is of a lesser picture quality apparently; According to dvdcompare: "note the last 7 min 13 sec of the German BD are zoomed in and in much lower quality".

TORNADO (Italy/Philippines, 1983)

aka CAZA EN VIETNAM (Spain)

VHS/Greece/somewhat letterboxed/English dub/Greek subs.

Directed by: Antonio Margheriti (aka Anthony M. Dawson).

In 1980 Margheriti directed a Vietnam War movie that most fans of Italian cinema are familiar with even if they don't usually watch trashy war flicks; THE LAST HUNTER and two years later he did the follow up TIGER JOE. which is also known to most video collectors. However, what less Italo fans are aware of is that he also made a third Vietnam War movie in 1983 entitled TORNADO. All three are filmed in the Philippines and thus fulfill the requirements for passing thru the strictly guarded door into this here spiffy place. xD

And also, it features two actors who would later become household names in trashy Filipino war flicks; Ron Kristoff and Mike Monty. By the way, in the 'Pines TORNADO was released under the alternative title of The Last Blood but shouldn't be confused with a film from Hong Kong also called THE LAST BLOOD (which then again was re-titled in the UK to Hard-boiled 2 to make people believe it was a sequel to John Woo's heroic bloodshed movie HARD-BOILED!!). Incidentally, THE LAST BLOOD (the HK film) was directed by Wong Jing who who is kinda the Hong Kong Antonio Margheriti, haha. And altho I don't usually talk about HK flicks here I would feel really crappy all day if I didn't do my utmost to convince you to go and get hold of THE LAST BLOOD, well that is if you like your films violent and action filled. Altho it by no means has the style of John Woo's masterpiece it does everything in order not to fall behind. Needless to say it's a guilty pleasure of mine.

Anyway, TORNADO is quite good. It's set in the very last days of the US involvement in the conflict. Giancarlo Prete (as Timothy Brent) plays a sergeant who just can't cope with his captain who doesn't give a shit about his men. During a heated discussion the sergeant punches the captain in the choppers and is arrested and sent off to jail. Needless to say he pisses off and heads for the border. The only problem is that now he has to fight both the US army and the Vietcong. Action, torture, killings en masse, explosions, and our hero also finds time to kill a snake with his bare hands! xD Oh, and this probably has the worst ending since THE BIG SILENCE!
Recommended!

My tape is from Greece and altho it's letterboxed it's unfortunately also taken from an old and very scratched print. It's not equally bad all the way thru but there are scenes that are more scratch than film!! But screw that, if you get a chance to get the tape go for it. There's also a Japanese VHS which I'm told is letterboxed (probably fully lbx) but unfortunately I haven't come across that one. I definitely enjoyed the film and wanna watch it again.

UPDATE (December 2019): TORNADO is now on uncut, fully letterboxed blu-ray from Germany under the title "Im Wendekris des Söldners" English audio is included! Available from Amazon Germany. 

German blu-ray (uncut, original aspect ratio, English friendly)

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a trailer or any clips from TORNADO nor anything from TIGER JOE so here's the trailer for THE LAST HUNTER.




And finally, here's the HK trailer for THE LAST BLOOD. Check it out!