Fireback (1983)

Great Film overall

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Being slightly drunk and a bit bored, I popped down Video City and purchased 'Fireback' in a moment of weakness. The box promised, a big weapon, a Rambo type mission, and displayed the tag line, 'They thought he was dead, They thought they were safe, They were wrong, DEAD wrong!'. so I parted with my £1.99 and shuffled home to check it out!Boy was I in for a shock! Everything about this film was BAD! I'm telling you, the script was obviously written by a retarded 5 year old. Name's such as 'Panther', 'Cat Burglar', 'Digger' and 'The man with the golden hand' add to the juvenile feel, and the plot is all over the place. The dubbing is atrocious, and the budget is non existent! The Vietnam stuff was over in 3 minutes and I never saw the big gun after that! The rest of the movie is supposed to be set in the USA, even though you can hear monkeys, parrots and other jungle noises in the background!It turns out that this film was directed by Teddy Page and released by Silver Star productions, both based in the Philippines. Teddy is an old hand at this type of no-budget action adventure, known as Filipino Z-Movies. He tends to use the same American ex-pats in all his films (Richard Harrison, Ann Milhench, Mike Monty, Jim Gaines and Bruce Baron), and fills in the blanks with Filipino extras (AKA Cannon fodder). His movies are infamous for ripping off successful Hollywood action films on a shoestring budget.The prologue introduces our hero, Jack Kaplan (Harrison), who is demonstrating the new 'One-Man Army Gun (codename Omega) to U.S.(?) troops at a jungle camp in Vietnam. The gun itself is what I was waiting to see in action!..I was on the edge of my seat as Kaplan demonstrated (to a rather bored audience of Asian looking U.S. grunts!) the gun features, Multi calibre, built-in radio, infra-red telescopic sites, grenade launcher, mini missile, rapid-fire, surface-to-air, blah blah!... you get the picture! Seconds later the camp is attacked by the Vietcong and Kaplan is taken prisoner (this is the last time the gun is featured!).After the titles roll, we get a schmaltzy poolside introduction to the film's chief bad guy, Duffy Collins, and his attempt to woo (and do!) Kaplan's wife, Diane (Ann Milhench). "I brought her flowers, but she wasn't interested" It's all heartfelt stuff, I mean her husband has been in Vietnam for years, and Duffy is sincere in his desire to make Diane happy, so what's the beef?? Anyhow he gets nowhere, so he kidnaps her when he can no longer contain his lust. Does he force her to do rumpy pumpy? ..Nope!... He just keeps her prisoner in his luxury villa until she is ready to drop her knickers!Back in Vietnam, a rescue team have been sent to snatch back Kaplan, and they have got to be the worst trained Navy Seals ever, they sneak towards the enemy camp shouting the plan to each other. But still somehow succeed in surprising the entire army, killing everyone, plus retrieving Kaplan.Back in the States (?), After a pointless and dreadfully acted hospital scene, the doctor agrees to release Kaplan, our hero makes his way home, only to discover Diane is not there! Without checking to see if she has gone shopping, he goes to the nearest bar and tells the first person he see's "I'm looking for my wife, Diane!". This amazingly produces results, when a police informer called Digger, puts Kaplan on the right trail (for a few dollar's of course!). His first call is at 'The man with the golden hand's' place (yep, he has a golden hand!). After a quick punch-up Kaplan gets TMWTGH to spill out the name, "Eve"! Jack goes to the sleazy club, where Eve works as a stripper, and visits her dressing room after the show. He immediately drills her for information, trying to throttle her in the process! She feeds him some data and he leaves. Eve gets on the phone to Duffy, who is startled that Jack is alive, and sends his top hit men to kill him before he can rescue Diane!Jack (dressed more like Dirk Bogarde from Death in Venice, than a man on a dangerous rescue mission) plays cat and mouse for the next 15 minutes, accidentally or deliberately killing any mug sent to stop him! One guy he has just bumped off, is belatedly ordered to "TALK", while a would-be assassin with a sharp walking stick comes off worse when Jack strangles him with the weapon.Meanwhile Digger is killed by the MWTGH, who thrusts his lethal hand into the unfortunate informer! This death gets the police involved, and police chief (Mike Monty) tells his boss "Digger helped me to put a lot of criminal's behind bars"! So now the cops go looking for Kaplan (because they think he will lead them to the real killer!)Jack see's his face plastered across the newspapers and tries to hide, but Eve picks him up and takes him round her place, She patches up the wound he received from walking stick man, and after unsuccessfully trying to seduce him, Kaplan again demands information about Diane. He has walked into a trap! TMWTGH is in the house and in the ensuing fight Eve is accidentally killed by the assassin!TMWTGH, Panther and Cat Burglar are all eventually destroyed by Jack, but Diane is also killed while attempting to escape from Duffy's place! The police launch a ridiculous manhunt to stop Kaplan ("He's escaped into the jungle"!), and after killing his pursuers in a First Blood rip off, dresses as a Ninja and kills Duffy in slow motion with a Samurai sword! The epilogue states 'Jack Kaplan was sent to prison and died of a heart attack'!

There's not a great deal I can add to previous comments about this unintentionally hilarious Philippines made atrocity, but I'll try. Fireback is hopelessly padded with interminable slow motion scenes, rendering poorly staged action sequences even worse by revealing additional flaws that might have gone unnoticed at regular speed (check out the 'Viet Cong's' fancy footwear). Star Richard Harrison sports a hideous caterpillar moustache, there's a jive talking black dude who spouts crypto-beatnik nonsense about 'Angelsville' (heaven), and (if you get a copy of the old USA Home Video VHS) spectacular bumpers featuring Sybil Danning's er, bumpers. The over-oiled Sybil cradles a massive gun in her arms whilst giving away all the highlights of the movie, but as there really aren't any highlights to give away, the spoilers won't really spoil anything for you. The Man With the Golden Hand is pretty cool, though.

Fellow fans of the numerous Godfrey Ho/Joseph Lai cut & splice ninja outings from the 1980's will no doubt initially delight to know that this is an early chance to see actor Richard Harrion in full ninja togs (at least in the final scenes of the film) - indeed such attire and the films in which he later wore it would subsequently earn Harrison a modest cult following!Unfortunately, it has to be said that the film reviewed here is sadly not nearly as much fun as any of the aforementioned ninja produce to spring forth from the IFD stables.Here Harrison plays Jack Kaplan, a weapons expert who is liberated from a Vietnamese prison camp only to return home to find that his wife has been abducted. The rest of the film has our hero searching for his lost love, which usually involves him beating the hell out of various sleaze bags who may or may not hold any relevant information as to her whereabouts. In addition, every now and then a hit-man is dispatched to bump our hero off....all failing miserably obviously!With bodies mounting up by the truck load, the police are also eager to apprehend our hero who they believe to be possibly psychologically unhinged (yikes!) Matters eventually reach a climax when Jack infiltrates the mansion of the miscreant who had his wife kidnapped and proceeds to deal out some well deserved and violent DIY justice!Lousily acted, poorly dubbed, shoddily made and generally boring throughout, this has very little to recommend it other than the presence of a number of notable B-movie stars including Mike Monty, Jim Gaines, future fellow Godfrey Ho/Joseph Lai victim and ninja movie regular Bruce Baron and of course Harrison himself.Having said this, I did quite enjoy the ending though, for in addition to giving Baron's character his just desserts, we are informed (via some writing superimposed over the final freeze frame shot) of the subsequent fate of our hero who apparently went on to serve time in the state penitentiary for his vigilante shenanigans before finally expiring due to heart complications(!!!)Hmmm....more films should employ this post finale information approach!

Pure cheese in a big chunky video box. MacGyver meets Rambo, badly dubbed and shot on a video camera. The dialogue is awful, the effects are rubbish, the camera work is brutal and the music makes you feel slightly ill. The storyline seems to be written by a couple of 10 year olds with a thirst for cheap dynamite and camouflage. I love it, and I actually have it on video. Possibly the funniest film I have ever seen, just because it takes itself so seriously. It's actually impossible to know where exactly the film is set. We know its not Vietnam, we think it's America, but it looks like Ecuador. And just wait until you see the US Presidents office. The words "Garden Shed" spring immediately to mind. Spark one up and watch it. You'll never laugh so hard..