Fuga dall'arcipelago maledetto

I'm a serious Antonio Margheriti fan and really enjoy his films from this era in particular. Let me be clear, if you're not a fan of Italian exploitation/genre films, then the low budget and SFX might turn you off. That said, Margheriti was a superior director and consistently produced entertaining films on minuscule budgets. His work with miniatures was often remarkable although I fear younger people now might ridicule it. Personally, I remain greatly impressed by the craftsmanship that went into those low-budget effects.

But I digress...as to this particular film, it is unfortunately not quite as entertaining as most of his others from this era. The film stars Margheriti regulars David Warbeck, Luciano Pigozzi , and Rene Abadeza. All three are great (as usual). And like many other Margheriti films of this era it was filmed in the Philippines, which provides a suitable exotic, jungle location. Unfortunately this film lacks some essential elements--the most glaring of which is the lack of an antagonist/villain. Instead, Warbeck & Co. are reduced to traipsing through the jungle merely dodging nameless soldiers. There's no Lee Van Cleef or Klaus Kinski running some scheme with drug lords. There's no Ernest Borgnine pulling the strings from the Capitol. It is literally just Warbeck and his buddies trying to avoid soldiers. This is unique in Margheriti's films and is impossible to excuse as the plot is literally the thinnest of any of his movies. Also dragging the production down is the fact that nearly 100% of the movie is filmed in the jungle. Without an antagonist, there are no scenes back in the city with the bad guys plotting, no scenes at drug manufacturing silos, and nothing visually interesting (for the most part). They literally traipse through the jungle and stop mostly in empty buildings. Although there are a couple of decent explosions, they are kept at a bare minimum and Margheriti fans will be disappointed in the conspicuous lack of flame-thrower action.

All that said, I cannot rate a Margheriti film lower than 5 out of 10 because despite this film having virtually no budget, he and the actors make the most it. It does have some (outlandish) casual racism that still perplexes me. If you are a fan of Margheriti in particular or Italian exploitation in general then check out this movie...if not, stay away.

This is about as typical as you can get for an Antonio Margheriti movie from the early 80's. It's an action movie which takes place somewhere in Indo-China (I'm assuming Vietnam) with David Warbeck, Tony King, and Luciano Pigozzi marching around the jungle mowing down waves of black pajama-wearing enemy soldiers. Lots of miniatures exploding in slow motion, really loud gunshot and punch sound effects, footage recycled from earlier Margheriti films, Rene Abadeza, and lack of any real plot establish this among Margheriti's other films from the period such as THE LAST HUNTER, JUNGLE RAIDERS, and CODE NAME: WILDGEESE.

Besides all the typicality, this film actually is pretty good when it tries to be, especially the nearer it gets to the end. There's some bang-up action sequences, such as a huge toy train explosion (a la BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI) and a great scene where Warbeck and King use gunboat to mow down an entire army on a beach. However, at times this film really, really drags as it's never exactly entirely clear just what's going on.

Margheriti and co. were unfortunately struck by tragedy while making this film when a plane carrying several crew members crashed in the Philippines, which resulted in the death of Riccardo Pallotini, one of Italy's greatest cinematographers of the time. Hence, it's probably understandable why the film doesn't have the "heart" that a lot of Margheriti's previous films had, but it's hard to enjoy a film with so much "baggage". Anyway, if you loved TORNADO and THE LAST HUNTER, then definitely give this a try, as it's more of the same. Expect nothing less and nothing more.

Antonio Margheriti will forever remain - at least as far as I am concerned - the undisputed king of Italian rip-off classics! During the late 70s and first half of the 80s, this wonderful man blatantly imitated the biggest contemporary blockbusters and made them crazier, sleazier, more violent, and more exploitative. His masterworks include "Killer Fish" (= "Piranha"), "The Last Hunter" (= The Deer Hunter), "Yor" (= "Conan the Barbarian"), "Tornado Joe" (= "Rambo"), "Hunters of the Golden Cobra", and "Ark of the Sun God" (= both "Raiders of the Lost Ark").

Of course, not everything Margheriti touched turned into gold, as he also made the god-awful "Jungle Raiders" and this terribly disappointing "Tiger Joe". Despite the presence of some his regulars (David Warbeck, Luciano Pigozzi), the film is a dull and uninspired "shoot-hundreds-of-extras-from-the-Philippines-and-pretend-they-are-Vietcong-soldiers" jungle adventure. Warbeck stars as a plane pilot and artillery smuggler, and when he gets shot out of the air he's rescued by a female guerilla with whiny ideals.

"Tiger Joe" literally exists of a group of people walking through the jungle, then running into a squad of enemy soldiers in a semi-abandoned village, then there's chaotic gunfire and theatrically dying "Vietnamese" soldiers, then there's mourning over someone from the group who also died, and then ... repeat! This routine goes on for 3 or 4 times, until only Warbeck and the girl remain the group of "good" guys. Sometimes there's a poisonous snake, or a toy train that derails, but nothing is nowhere near as spectacular as the stuff in Margheriti's aforementioned titles. Maybe he was overworked? Or maybe they shot "Tiger Joe" in their spare time, with the leftover sets and extras of "Hunters of the Golden Cobra".

David Warbeck is awesome to watch, no matter what. In this droning adventure, which has the actual audacity, to throw in a couple of Last Hunter clips, he's a saving grace here. Again, playing a vet, well ex vet, now flying illegal armor across Asia, and we are afforded familiar lush Last Hunter locations, he makes one trip too many, for good or bad. The other characters, King and company are great, especially the comedy duo who run the illegal enterprise, and boy, does one of them love to eat, as evidenced in one scene. The film does have heart, but for me, the film strains in much uninteresting plot development, direction, and we wonder what the story really is, in it's function. Is it trying to be more than it is. Despite the heavy action and occasional bloodletting, this just becomes average or by the numbers watch. I would even say tedious.

The always excellent value for money David Warbeck headlines in this action yarn as an ex special forces leader in Nam who is now making a living flying in arms for a rebel cause somewhere in south east Asia. On one such run however, our hero finds himself getting directly hands on involved as it were when his plane is brought down by the enemy forces. A fair number of fairly well staged action sequences inevitably follow as Warbeck subsequently tries to make his way back to safety aided by the rebels he was supplying and in addition, with a little help from some buddies who stage an unsuccessful mission to retrieve him.

This was director Antonio Margheriti's second film in a war trilogy (the first being the excellent The Last Hunter and the sequel to this effort was Tornado a.k.a. Tornado Strike Force)

Whilst the film reviewed here certainly has it's moments, it sadly pales in comparison to the first in the series. Nonetheless, the enjoyable performances of the leads in this (who also headlined in the earlier film) raise the standard immeasurably, especially as displayed in some of their highly amusing verbal exchanges amongst themselves. The ever so sadly missed Warbeck especially is on great form here. In fact it has to be said that with his incredibly charismatic personality, Warbeck could always be relied upon to raise any film in which he found himself.

It's such a great pity that he never made it big outside of the Italian movie industry. How tempting it is to imagine how Warbeck would have been in the role of James Bond for instance.