White Ghost

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.

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.

In this movie like many other Vietnam war films, Vietnam army is shown as weaker that US army. But everybody know that US lost this war. Vietnam officer tells this to Thi "We fought them and won". But in movie, Vietnamese soldiers can't shoot an American standing exposing his body in a short distance. Entire Vietnamese squad could not kill one American. Can any special force commando expose his body and destroy an entire army camp? This is an insult to Vietnam army who crashed the US forces very cleverly in Vietnam war. An army as shown in this film can be defeated by any person who can operate a gun. No special force training is needed. Apart from this weaknesses, it gives good hand to hand fight scenes. What is the purpose of Lt Steve's stay in the jungle? Was he on an undercover mission and later the connection with US army or CIA was lost? Major Cross states something about such operation and Steve says to a mercenary about his commanding officer is holding a woman and child. What is Thi? Is she working for US? Or did Steve stay in Vietnam to live with Thi? Walker and his bald sidekick are the most villains who kills the members of their platoon too. Movie would be more realistic if the war scenes were presented not making Steve a bulletproof superman. The love of Thi to Steve is very emotionally presented. Rosalind's acting as a woman bearing any pain to protect her man is appreciable.

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.

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.