Contreforce

This i childhood for me. Objectively this i not a very good movie, but it was one om my favorite when i was young so i will always be a ten for me. The "weapon dressing" scene is epic.

I've been looking for this movie for quit some time. A couple of weeks ago I found it on e-bay on a VHS-tape, together with a movie called "Mines of Kilimanjaro". Now what exactly made me want to see Counterforce? The cast! For such a cheap, standard action movie it's extremely impressive. We find Louis Jourdan, the once promising Andrew Stevens, Isaac Hayes, Mexican superstar Jorge Rivero, Oscar-winner George Kennedy, Indian star Kabir "Sandokan" Bedi, Robert Foster and for fans of Italian B-horror there is Hugo Stiglitz (with Iron Maiden T-shirt!) who starred in Lenzi's "Incubo sulla città contaminata". Yesterday I watched it and although my expectations were really not that high, it was a disappointment. At best, this movie can be described as a cheap mixture of Delta force and The A-team, but that is not doing these 2 justice. There is not very much action, people just seem to go from here to there. The final tries to bring some suspense, but it's downright boring. Well actually, the entire movie is boring. The actors really can't save this movie, but give it a flair that it doesn't deserve. The editing is sometimes quit dynamic and the music by Joel Goldsmith (yes, Jerry's son) is not bad. 03/10

One look at the VHS box art and potential viewers should recognize what's what when it comes to Counterforce. No A-list actors, no pretentious title, no budget, just pure B-movie fun. Sure, the film lacks polish and the acting is stiff, but it makes up for it in heart. This is like old school G.I. Joe where the good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, with nary a shade of gray in sight. Jorge (George) Rivero, who co-starred with John Wayne in Rio Lobo, was sort of Mexico's Steve Reeves, not many Mexican actors at the time were in his kind of physical shape (the gym scene where the entire Counterforce is pumping iron is priceless). His English is quite good and his chiseled features made him a natural to star as the leader of Counterforce. Hugo Stiglitz stars as the villain here and he also appeared in Mexican cinema, most notably in a Jaws ripoff titled "Tintorera". Robert Forster (Jackie Brown, Vigilante) again plays a terrorist type as he did 2 years earlier in Chuck Norris' Delta Force. Action classic? Of course not. Silly fun? Absolutely.

The credible, pyrotechnical director of the grossly undervalued 'Killing Man' (1984) is once again reunited with dynamic, muscular action man, Jorge Rivero, the most visually stimulating member of covert black ops outfit 'Counterforce', alongside notable Cult movie icons, Isaac 'Truck Turner' Hayes, Louis 'Swamp Thing' Jourdan, George 'Everything' Kennedy, Andrew 'Brood' Stevens, Hugo' City of The walking Dead' Stiglitz and the estimable character actor, Robert 'Vigilante' Forster as the dastardly dictator sowing the seeds of discontent in North Africa now that his honourable, freedom campaigning rival Kassar (Louis Jourdan) is reluctantly in exile.

As pressures continue to escalate in North Africa, the people oppressed by ceaselessly death dealing dictator and a failed assassination attempt increasing the volatile tensions, as the heavily armed, montage-trained Counterforce are tasked with their inevitably incendiary mission to protect freedom fighter Kassar and his family from the savagely scheming despot, Forster, who proves himself to be one especially tenacious S. O. B, abusing his power for means nefarious to assassinate Kassar, thereby putting Counterforce's considerably awesome talents to the test! Loma's boisterous, ceaselessly locomotive 80s B-actioner entertainingly delivers an uncommonly zesty barrage of noisome gun play, audacious vehicular carnage, and a righteous overload of entertainingly explosive, Boy's Own, macho mayhem!

In lesser hands 'Counterforce' could well have been an altogether flaccid, low grade 'Delta Force' knock off, but, happily, the capable, no nonsense director is only too aware what the beery demographic for such unrepentantly formulaic fare expects to see! Plentiful explosions, frantically squib-heavy gun battles, high tension escapes, a communally sweaty homoerotic flexing montage, excessively 'bro-dacious' B-Movie banter, and cartoon evil, freedom-baiting terrorist skells getting it royally in the ear, and, rewardingly, ace director, José Antonio de la Loma generously provides uproariously escapist retrograde entertainment with his galloppingly Gung ho, hardwired-to-thrill, Alpha Bros save the world shoot 'em up, 'Counterforce'.

The B-Movie icing on this scrumptiously calamitous celluloid confection, the 'Bicing' if I might be so precious, is the extraordinarily vivid, heart-thumpingly magnificent score by master composer, Joel Goldsmith, the film being additionally blessed by one of the more memorable performances by Euro-cult boss, Hugo Stiglitz since his memorable turn in 'Cemetery of Terror'; with his glacial hit man 'The Blond' even sporting a gnarly-looking Iron Maiden Powerslave T-shirt. Right on!

This one sets up the plot rather easily with some US Intelligence commanders watching TV footage of a Arab tyrant (Robert Forster) as he rallies against the "Mad Cowboy in the White House":

Intelligence Commander #1: "We need to get that bastard."

Intelligence Commander #2: "How?"

Intelligence Commander #1: "I don't care."

That is all the set up you get, but what can you expect from a film where the villain is never given a name and merely billed as "The Dictator"? So they turn to Colby (George Kennedy), who gets his Counterforce team - who even have outfits with their own logo on them - on the job to protect Kassar (Louis Jourdan), the democratically elected President of this fictitious country. Counterforce consists of leader Harris (Jorge Rivero, billed as George Rivero), muscle Ballard (Isaac Hayes), zen karate guy Nash (Andrew Stevens) and rookie Sutherland (Kevin Bernhardt). Gee, can you guess which member of the team will be killed in action?

This is basically a low-rent DELTA FORCE knockoff, but it is not without its charms. The film is basically just two extended action scenes (protecting Kassar and saving his kidnapped wife and son) but it moves pretty fast and is exciting enough. The principals are all fine but Kennedy and Forster - who is obviously supposed to look like Gaddafi - get little screen time. The best character is a master of disguise hit-man played by a dubbed Hugo Stiglitz. I laughed when he disrobed in the elevator and was wearing an Iron Maiden shirt underneath his suit. The film ends with The Dictator getting away and sets up a COUNTERFORCE II, but that never happened for whatever reason. I like to think it was because Andrew Stevens discovered the softcore thriller genre and the filmmakers just felt it wouldn't be the same with a new team.