White Ghost

William Katt (channeling Stallone's John Rambo) plays the title character, and his blonde permed mullet is a must see to believe. Sadly after the opening scenes of him going topless showing off his physique with his mullet in full flight, he doesn't keep the locks for much longer. Known as the white ghost by the Vietnamese, as he appears and disappears collecting the souls (their dog tags) of dead American soldiers. The American intelligence gets wind of it, and believe it could MIA soldier behind enemy lines for over 15 years and organises a rescue mission. Wayne Crawford shows up as the hired mercenary, and really chews up the scenery. However everything turns awry when we learn there's history between Katt and Crawford's characters. Reb Brown gets a minor role as the officer who organised the mission, but still manages to flexs his muscles, and becomes trigger happy in the film's dying stages.

No real surprises here; in the mould of 'First Blood Part 2' & the 'Missing in Action' films... this is a streamlined, gung-ho b-action joint done in a fast clip. Plenty of bloody carnage, and brutality as it doesn't shy away from its jungle booby traps, torture, massacres and explosions. I do find Katt an odd choice though, especially since they had Brown at their disposal. Maybe they loved his work in the horror-comedy 'House', where he did play a Vietnam Vet, or simply it was the hair? But anyway the more I think, it sort of believable In appearance because Katt's character been there for that long. Not being captured though is another story.

Oh yeah that's the good stuff 100% pure 80's action movie. It had everything the one man army, a huge body count, Explosions, buckets of blood, slow mo bad guy rag doll death and the Reb Brown yell what more could you want.

This is a true 80's actioner and sadly under appreciated perhaps because this was such a departure for Katt a man best know for the goofy and light hearted Greatest American Hero but he does a great job stepping into the action hero mould. I you love 80's action then you'll love this.

A very mediocre attempt to mimic Rambo and Missing in action. It fails on all counts. Poor acting, weak premise and a totally unacceptable interpretation of how an elite team of special forces soldier would act in the field. They are shown to be undisciplined and sloppy-very insulting. I love action movies and they don't have to be masterpieces, but this is a real yawner. Only saving grace, I downloaded it for free.

Although the worrying start will have you saying "What the?", this Vietnam yarn (nothing more) quickly redeems itself, and becomes an involving film, where ex vet Katt, below par, is still in Vietnam, where he's so often shacks up with girlfriend Chao. It's now 1987, and an elite team of mercenaries, are ordered by the Pentagon to find and eliminate Katt, where a few complications, arise. The Commander of this squad really has a hard on for Katt, who wouldn't mind seeing his arch enemy squeal before he dies. He's reasons mirror that in the same scenario of back story, done in Heated Vengeance. One of the Commander's squad (Hewitt) who's very much against it, sides with Katt, where our wrong cast lead must take on the elite force and Charlie who come out like ants. They have kidnapped Chao, and for Katt, his work is definitely cut out for him, where it becomes quite of a heavy mission itself. White Ghost has some gutsy moments, among explosions, close calls, and a little love making. The near mine trip scene is tense. It's start has Katt, just roaming through Vietnam, with the ever present Charlie about, his long curly hair, just gleamimg in the daylight, although he's just stepped off the make up truck, though I wouldn't really joke about that. He doesn't say much, but is just sheer wrong for the part, who like me, will have you thinking that, all the way through. That's just the vibe, you'll get. But Katt went pretty much out of action, after The Greatest American Hero, so he pretty much needed the work, discounting Baby and House. On the whole WG isn't a bad Nam' actioner at all, with good plotting, but too an admirable lead up/finale, when an old Vet buddy, goes into save him. The one major fallback here, sadly is Katt. By the way, White Ghost is a term for a Vet who disappeared off the radar, believed to be dead, or not, where in Katt's case, he's pretty much alive.

When you think about an ex-American soldier from the Vietnam war raging havoc in that country in the 1980s a la "Rambo", it is very unlikely that the first actor someone would picture in the role would be William Katt. Yet here he is in one of the biggest miscasting decisions I've seen in a movie for a long time. Seeing him act like Rambo does occasionally bring in some amusement, but that's about all the entertainment value "White Ghost" has. Although shot in Zimbabwe(!), the jungle locations are badly chosen, making the movie look like it was shot in the wilds of Florida. These locations and the actors are almost entirely shot with the cheap technique of having everything close to the camera. The action sequences are routine at best, and the story and characters we have seen in dozens of other movies before. If you come across a dusty copy in a thrift store, it's best to leave it alone and move to something else.