Angel Hill: l'ultima missione

It's THE DIRTY DOZEN meets KELLY'S HEROES in the jungle with a splash of BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI for good measure, all with substantially reduced budget necessitating the editing in of as much action footage from THE LAST HUNTER as possible.

Richard Hatch is back and leading a similarly ragtag group of ruffians deep into the jungle on a mission to blow up a bridge in this routine by-the-book action movie. The twists come in the form of his love affair with a Vietnamese double-agent while being a former policeman with his soldiers being convicts and killers eager to sacrifice him to the V.C. and make a getaway into Thailand. Otherwise the plot has no surprises and there is no cliché left unturned including the umpteenth example of a cowardly soldier who finds courage in the face of danger only to immediately be rewarded promptly and soundly with a fatal hail of bullets.

Being the connoisseur of bad Italian 80's Exploding Hut Action that I am, I just can't quite bring myself to recommend this little art-house offering. There's a couple good action sequences complete with a hearty dose of smiling Filipino extras flailing around on fire and being flung about by grenades but the action just plunders too much footage to really stand out.

Of Ignazio Dolce's spate of jungle dramas, this features the weakest action but arguably the strongest cast featuring Donald Pleasence in a role as Hatch's well-meaning superior that must have taken only 2-3 days tops to film. Donald is unfortunately dubbed by Geoffrey Copleston, who is close, but no cigar, and does his lazy performance no favors. Ted Rusoff and Robert Sommer are also on-hand to dub Vasilli Karis and David Light, plus fans of similar jungle adventures ROBOWAR and TORNADO will recognize David Brass and Mel Davidson in unbilled roles as unwilling members of Hatch's team.

While it's obvious that the film's title ANGEL HILL: THE LAST PLATOON is a cash-in on both PLATOON and HAMBURGER HILL in a mockbustery attempt to dupe audiences, there's no further resemblance to the American classics. It represents a sad come-down from the frenetic explosive action Dolce displayed the previous year on his loopy RAMBO/COMMANDO-inspired COMMANDER and somewhat less-so on his GREEN BERETS/SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA knockoff LEATHERNECKS.

Well,usually i like B-films but this one is bad,really bad. I did not get the storyline,because in my eyes there isn't one. The beginning is really weird. Just see this movie if you just want to see a movie with action and no story.

Too sad. The Italian B-movies directed during the late 80's don't have the "magic" of the earlier films.

Nothing original here. You know how the movie will end after the first 20 minutes. Donald Pleasance seems so tired that he looks like he's gonna faint.

The film is not very violent, it contains no gore, except for one short scene where a guy has his foot stock in a trap, and a pair of t**s.

There's also a nice love story. But does the audience for this kind of films care ? I did. Because it was surprisingly the most interesting thing in this movie.

Richard Hatch (Battlestar Gallactica's Apollo!) plays a tough, no nonsense colonel leading a grimy squad (including some cons he has previously arrested back in his police force days) deep into Vietnamese territory in order to detonate a heavily guarded bridge in this pretty solid war flick.

Whilst Hatch is great in the role, the same sadly cannot be said of the usually ever reliable Donald Pleasance who puts on a particularly bad American accent and meanders his way through his lines here as Hatch's senior officer. Regular fans of Italian B-movies will also no doubt spot the welcome face of Mike Monty here although in a sadly far, far too brief role.

If you're looking for a great plot then I'm afraid that you've come to the wrong place for there virtually isn't one present. The film is merely content to show our hero's trekking through the hostile and frequently deadly territory as they gradually near their intended objective. Despite how this may sound on paper however, this linear and base approach actually works very well for the film and provides some gripping viewing, especially as our squad are gradually psychologically eroded and indeed are physically whittled down by numerous perilous VC set traps in addition to a number of lethal ambushes.

The action sequences themselves are competently handled throughout in a fairly realistic manner and all the said action is ever backed up by a solid soundtrack. Interestingly, but not a rare phenomenon in the Italian movie industry, there is a fair number of instances in which footage lifted from other movies is included in the films running time. Of particular note, a number of scenes from Antonio Margheriti's excellent 'The Last Hunter' pop up here (including the railway/refinery explosion sequence from the pre-credits opening of that movie).

Overall then, for fans of the war genre this is definitely well worth a look. Just don't go into this expecting any Rambo style heroics, this is war of the more gritty, realistic nature.