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The Last Hunter (1980)

Dir: Antonio Margheriti

1973, Vietnam. A war weary American Captain named Harry Morris (David Warbeck) is sent on a secret mission into the heart of Vietcong territory.
With a group of hardened Soldiers as his guides, including Sgt George Washington (Tony King) and Carlos (Bobby Rhodes) plus a Female war photographer (Tisa Farrow), Morris heads off to complete a task that will bring back bitter memories and open raw wounds….

 

Using wonderful Philippine jungle locations, Margheriti expands on the Vietnam set opening of his classic splatter film "Cannibal Apocalypse", to excellent effect.
As in "Codename: Wild Geese", Margheriti makes the most of the sweat and grime of the jungle and with veteran cinematographer Riccardo Pallottini (who worked with Riccardo Freda and on Margeheriti's 60's Gothic films) creates a grimly realistic picture of this harsh environment.

The miniature effects for the more explosive sequences are less than convincing (though a lot better than the ones he would later use in "Codename: Wild Geese") but that aside, this film delivers enough action and large set pieces to satisfy any action fan.

Fan favourite Warbeck (although dubbed over) gives another professional performance, and brings some genuine depth to his mentally scarred character.
King is also on top, rabid form as Sgt Washington. Shouting defiance as he mows down VC's with gusto.
And anyone familiar with his ferocious turn in "Cannibal Apocalypse" will be pleased to see that the scariest, most manic toothy grins in the business is in full force here.
Rhodes (who gave one of horror's most popular performances, as the "Rosemary" shouting Pimp in the gore drenched cheese fest "Demons") is also in top 'bull in a china shop' form. Competing with King for the most psychotic grin award.

Farrow (much more interesting sister of Mia and co-star of Lucio Fulci's iconic "Zombie") is also surprisingly good and tough, (and even shows off her more than ample assets during one discreetly shot scene) but her characters very presence on a secret mission in the heart of enemy territory stretches credibility almost to breaking point.
Also look out for a pre "Hell of the Living Dead" infamy Margit Evelyn Newton in a small but pivotal role.

The most enjoyable performance and character though comes in the form of Italian exploitation stalwart John Steiner. He plays the slightly deranged Captain of a troop of stoned and drunk Soldiers (big, big shades here of the trench/river encampment madness of Coppola's breathtaking "Apocalypse Now") who's camp Morris and his Men come across.
While spouting some outrageous (and outrageously foul mouthed) dialogue like "I can read the writing on their balls" and "At night we do the most unspeakable things with our ticks and lice", he parades around the chaos, punishing men with near suicidal runs into the enemies guns to pick coconuts and relaxes by listening to recordings of gunfire!

The action is staged perfectly so it hides the low budget but still delivers the intense and very violent spectacle. And the violence on show is really balls out and crowd-pleasing. Messy bullets hits, ripped open stomachs, severed limbs, a gut spilling rotted corpse, a smoking blood pumping eye wound, and a nasty sliced open throat show that Margheriti knew what the Exploitation audience wanted, and just like in "Cannibal Apocalypse" he provides it.

The film is of course derivative of its bigger budget American counterparts. We have the aforementioned "Apocalypse Now" outpost filled with half mad and drugged up Soldiers that even sports an improvised bar complete with pinball machine, Christopher Walken style headbands and rat filled cages sunk into the river from "The Deer Hunter".
And of course all the essential Vietcong nastiness is here.
The lethal, swinging spike traps, gun toting Females, hidden trapdoors and craftily hidden grenades all pile on the Vietnam cliché's (that also include the staple Prostitutes delivering 'Me love you long time' style dialogue) with wild abandon. It's all out, nasty fun of the kind that is just not made anymore.

But despite all the full on, audience rousing action and violence, there is a surprisingly mature bleakness to the proceedings. A sense of doom and hopelessness hangs over everything and the typical downbeat attitude of Vietnam flicks is all present and correct in the script, who's co-writer Dardano Sacchetti was the writer of many of Lucio Fulci's finest films.

An intense, well-crafted, exciting, violent and meaty slice of bleak 80's Italian action film making.