The Last Hunter

I had the privelige to see this awesome movie on a huge screen in 1997, it was shown at a festival as a tribute to the late David Warbeck.

The opening sequence is truly stunning, a slow-burning scene in a brothel ends in huge explosions and sees Warbeck as an action hero in a white singlet years before Bruce Willis.

John Steiner once again shows his prowess as his squad is picked-off, leaving only Warbeck and the larger-breasted of the Farrow species (Tisa), to escape tiger-cages and discover the identity of a traitorous broadcaster.

Don't miss the final shot of Warbeck against the war-torn sunset, left to his fate in the jungle. It's a real kick in the guts, with the same power of seeing Martin Sheen rising from a swamp.

The one problem the movie really has is that the identity of the mysterious traitor is quite ridiculous, but not enough to grind things to a halt.

All in all, one to put at the top of your "must-get" list, right above beer, pizza and peanuts.

The Last Hunter is Italian director Antonio Margheriti's take on the Vietnam flick - and as you would expect, it goes straight for the jugular and removes all the soul searching stuff found in films like Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter and the result is...entertaining, but underwhelming. Any depth is replaced by an array of violence and bloodshed, and that means that the film entertains on the surface but doesn't do much more than that...although I can't condemn it too much since I'm not the biggest fan of the 'great' Vietnam movies anyway. The plot is just as flimsy as you would expect and we focus on an American soldier. He's been given a mission to go deep behind enemy lines and destroy a radio transmitter that is sending out demoralising messages to the American soldiers, telling them words to the effect of 'go home and give up fighting someone else's war'. He picks up some allies along the way and of course gets involved in more than his fair share of fighting.

The film stars David Warbeck who does well as the grizzled American soldier at the centre of the film. It's clear that he wasn't the most important thing as far as Antonio Margheriti was concerned, however, as he's far more interested in packing as much violence as possible into the film, and he does a good job with that; as shown by the many fight scenes. Every fight scene in the film is full on and very bloody; and the special effects are fairly realistic also, which adds to the credibility of the film. However, it all comes down to the fact that the film doesn't have much of a point. Of course sitting through the action is entertaining but there's no reason to really care for it and the film drags on numerous occasions as a result. It all boils down to an ill-advised and really rather silly twist at the end...but hey, I can't say I was expecting anything clever. Overall, The Last Hunter might be of interest to anyone who enjoys low Italian rip offs and/or war movies, but anyone hoping for a great Vietnam flick is in for a disappointment.

Antonio Margheriti's (CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE) first Macaroni Combat film, a genre that would become his final mainstay, is an outrageously, over-the-top thrill ride with no political agenda whatsoever.

After witnessing the grim suicide of his shell-shocked buddy, a burned-out Army captain (David Warbeck, THE BEYOND) agrees to take on a final suicide mission with the help of two black soldier dudes (Tony King and Bobby Rhodes) and a fine-looking photojournalist (Tisa Farrow, ZOMBIE).

As the first Macaroni Combat film about Vietnam, THE LAST HUNTER certainly delivers the exploitation goodness with just a hint of brief nudity. Although the script from Dardano Sacchetti is filled with unintentionally hilarious dialog, mainstream audiences may be turned off by the lack of historical context. Warbeck gives a good performance that is a literal reminiscent of Martin Sheen's Willard from APOCALYPSE NOW.

And speaking of that Coppola epic, the Philippine locations in which the film was shot are in fact leftover sets. It comes to show that no matter how blatant the filmmakers are, THE LAST HUNTER is certainly a pleasure to look at just for the settings. Despite not being a good actress as her sister, Tisa does give some enthusiasm into the character and it works rather well.

Turn off your brains and enjoy the mindless Italian action.

This film is one of the most entertaining Vietnam flicks ever produced. Truly excellent opening 10 minute scene, followed by a 40 minute lull. Picks up toward the middle though and keeps on chuggin along. Great cast, excellent gore effects, awesome explosions, cool claustrophobic camerawork, and a lot of funny dialogue make this well worth the 90 minutes. The poor Pan+Scanning is easy to forgive with a couple viewings. Owes more than a lot to APOCALYPSE NOW and THE DEER HUNTER, but honestly, who cares? Grade A entertainment.

¨Hunter of the apocalypse¨ or ¨Héros d'apocalypse¨or ¨Cacciatore 2¨is set during the Vietnam war, an American soldier, Captain Henry Morris (David Warbeck) , gets trapped behind enemy lines. A squad of buddies (Bobby Rhodes , Tony King , who are accompanied by a reporter : Tisa Farrow) sets out to rescue him . Later on , the group arrives in a headquarter commanded by a stranger commandant , Major William Cash (John Steiner) . After that , captain Henry is trapped in Vietnam jungle , tortured , beaten, and still he fights. The Brutal Story of One Man's Fight for Survival Behind Enemy Lines. You're living a nightmare... in a hell hole they call Nam! The Most Horrific War Movie Ever Made!The screen explodes in a blazing spectacle of war, there was no escape for... THE LAST HUNTER

This moving film packs frantic thrills , perilous adventures , relentless feats , buck-loads of explosive action and violent events . This one isn't a film against the Vietnam War , but an entertaning and amusing movie full of noisy action , gore and violence . Medium budget European war film that lost continuity with US cuts . The noisy action is uniformly well-made , especially deserving of mention the rip-roaring final scenes in which the motley group is really besieged by the Vietcong , including some spectacular shootouts and blowing up . Anthony M Dawson or Margheritti as expert in special optical effects and model-making , that's why he provides a lot of explosion , crossfire , gory images , guts and mayhem . David Warbeck is the leader in this thrilling Vietnam wartime movie about a commando getting to carry out a deadly assignment . During the 1970s Warbeck became a popular European star of low-budget genre pictures made in Italy, the U.S. and England. His notable films include Antonio Margheriti's Teasure island of the outer space (1987) , Tiger Joe , Black cat , The Ark of the Sun God , Rat man , Formula for a murder and Luci Fulci's Beyond (1981) . Warbeck made his final film appearance in Jake West's Razor Blade Smile (1998) . He early died of cancer in 1997 , London , aged just 55 years-old . He is well supported by a fine plethora of B-actors and regular in Italian sub-genres such as Bobby Rhodes , Tony King , Massimo Vanni , John Steiner , Luciano Pigozzi as Alan Collins who's nicknamed the Italian Peter Lorre playing a Bartender.

Atmospheric cinematography by cameraman Riccardo Pallottini who unfortunately died in a plane crash during location filming in the Philippines, in fact the movie is dedicated to him . Being shot on location exteriors were filmed in the Philippines and the interiors scenes shot in Rome. The motion picture was professionally directed by terror/action/adventure expert Antonio Margheritti, though it displays some failures and flaws . Anthonio was assisted by his son : Edoardo Margheriti who served as second unit filmmaker . Antonio often used pseudonym Anthony M Dawson, he was born in Italy 1930 and passed away in 2002 . Italian writer director of horror and exploitation films, a former university engineering student who began shooting in 1956 . Antonio directs with ordinary aplomb and being especially known for films as Yor, Virus and Horror castle. He was specialist in model-making, optical effects , FX, miniature as floods, scale models and explosions . He directed all kinds of genres such as wartime : The last hunter, Tornado, Codename Wild geese, Der Commander, Command Leopard . SCIFi :War of planets , Planet of the prowl, Criminal of the galaxy, Yor the hunter from the future, Treasure planet . Spaghetti Western as Joko, Dynamite Joe, The stranger and the gunfighter, Take a hard ride, Ghosts go west, Joe implacable, God said to Cain . Terror as Virgin of Nuremberg, Cannibal Apocalypse, Alien from deep, Flesh for Frankenstein. Action : Operation Goldman, Indio, The squeeze, Cyberflic. Rating :5.5/10. Acceptable and passable.