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Commando Leopard (1985)

Dir: Antonio Margheriti

It's one of those war-torn, strife ridden Latin American countries again! This one is under the murderous thumb of one General Homoza (Subas Herrero), a typically big bellied dictator who keeps control with the aid of his ruthless Militia headed by Silveira (Klaus Kinski, happily using his own voice), a suitably brutal and sadistic villain.

Captain Carasco (Lewis Collins) and his group of dedicated mercenaries, including the cynical Smithy (Euro Trash stalwart John Steiner, with a Scottish dub!) and the feisty Maria (Cristina Donadio), are fighting for the rebels as they try to overthrow Homozo and his regime.

After a successful attack on a nearby dam, Carasco and his squad flee to the jungle and hide out at a church mission hospital, run by the peaceful Padre Julio (Manfred Lehmann), to tend their wounded.
But Silveira and his Militia are hot on their heels……

 

After the international financial (if not critical) success of 1984's "Codename: Wild Geese", it came as no surprise that Producer Erwin C. Dietrich quickly gathered up most of the usual suspects (Ernest Borgnine and Lee Van Cleef are missing this time round) to make another jungle set action film that would follow much the same formula.
The varied and prolific director Antonio Margheriti once again helms proceedings and does much the same job as before, providing overly dramatic dialogue scenes, cornball trashy action sequences, wildly erratic pacing and loads of exploding models. The screenplay is more episodic than "Codename" though and we are thrown into the rebel plot from the very start with no build-up, unlike the 'men on a mission' style design of the earlier movie.

The opening attack on the dam is well crafted and expertly starts the film off on a slam bang note.
And when the Goran Kuzminac/Ennio Morricone score kicks in (electronic panpipe grooves mixed with a disco beat) you just have to smile as the warm and welcoming world of European co-production Trash Cinema envelopes you once again.
This action sequence, as with all of them, is sadly lacking any squibs/bullet hits for the most part (though a few bloody moments occur later on) but there is a typically violent bit of Euro dummy abuse when a guy plummets off the top of the dam and hits everything worth hitting on the way down!
The finale of the dam attack also brings up the FX work, Supervised by the director's Son Edoardo Margheriti.
The exploding model dam is actually a much better piece of work than you would expect and this goes for the rest of the film. There is a great, coming in to land, exploding plane (that looks even better in the recent 'Anchor Bay' anamorphic transfer), a pretty well done and suitably noisy exploding train and although some model helicopters are less convincing, generally the model FX are not too bad at all and are certainly a lot better than those seen in "Codename: Wild Geese".

The Philippines and Venezuelan locations add essential authenticity to proceedings and once again everyone looks suitably grimy and sweaty and such a location shoot must help the actors get into their roles.
And talking of actors Klaus Kinski is as mad and bad as ever though he is underused, Steiner is fun and his weird Scottish tones give his character an extra boost and Lehmann is as watchable as ever and in a very different role from "Codename: Wild Geese" (where he basically had the Steiner part) he manages to make a solid and likeable impression as the brave Priest.

Collins is more fluid here than in the previous movie. Once again he has too loop his dialogue in post production and once again this notably stiffens his quick fire, easy going, delivery that made his earlier performances in TV's "The Professionals", as well as his big screen role in "Who Dares Wins", so good. But he handles the action well (as does Kinski) and makes for a solid enough leading man and he deserved a much bigger career.

Although the film tends to slow to a crawl during the 'worthy speech' scenes, to emphasize the madness of war and the bravery of sacrifice etc, there are enough gun battles, explosions and cheesy 80's moments to ensure that "Commando Leopard" entertains in that Euro co-production way that made such 80's action cinema so damn entertaining. An attack by flame thrower equipped helicopters is especially fun.

Nothing here will change the world, part the oceans, feed the hungry masses or cure all known diseases, it's all very much what you would expect. But luckily what we expect, and what it delivers, are a lot of testosterone-fueled action, adventure and cheesy thrills.
Beware the truly hideous end title duet though (after one of cinema's most drawn out death scenes) it's astonishingly awful and is a true and pure example of the overused description of 'so bad it's good'.
What were they thinking?!

Released on a low priced DVD from 'Anchor Bay' (with a weird and haphazard in the extreme 'Making of…" featurette, which makes for an interesting look at a film like this and has some rare interviews with Collins on the set and some great Klaus Kinski mania) "Commando Leopard" is a slice of 80's cheese well worth another sniff and nibble.