The Violent Breed (1984)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Boring

A lot of fun.

Back when they were all in 'Nam together, Mike Martin (Muller Jr.), Kirk Cooper (Silva) and Polo (Strode) were the best of buddies and they always looked out for each other: saving children, rescuing hostages and even plying bullets out of each others' bodies. This team of soldiers worked together well, with their expertise being in surprise attacks. To the shock of Mike and Kirk, Polo willingly stays behind in 'Nam.Years later, both Mike and Kirk are CIA agents. It turns out that Polo is one of southeast Asia's worst offenders when it comes to drugs and arms smuggling. He's working with the Russians, the Mafia, everybody. So Kirk sends Mike to Bangkok to find his old compatriot Polo and stop his evil doings. While there, he meets a hooker with a heart of gold, thanks to the "comic relief" French madam (La Loggia), and they take on Polo's army (yes, he commands his own army) of goons. And what is Mike's girlfriend Sharon (Andre) up to? Dare you try to find out? The Violent Breed is your classic jungle/exploding huts shoot 'em up with constant gunfire and explosions. After a while, it all gets pretty numbing. Muller is the glib, wisecracking hero who always seems to land on his feet. While he fights the baddies, his Harrison-fu is on full display. Silva and Strode, both great actors, could have done much more with their meager roles.Director Fernando Di Leo has done considerably better work than this in his career, and everything in this film seems to drag on and on. Perhaps he was just trying to fit in to the then-current Italian action boom, but this one falls pretty flat. You'd have to be a pretty big Harrison Muller Jr. fan to try to track this one down. Seeing as we've reviewed FOUR of his movies to date, Comeuppance Reviews seems to be your one-stop Harrison Muller Jr. shop. Who else can claim that? Seemingly a continuation of The Final Executioner (1984) formula (both have Muller and Strode), and again released by Cannon/MGM in those cool big boxes on VHS (as was its predecessor), The Violent Breed, despite its promising name, is middle-of-the-road action at best.for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

I caught up with this movie in the late eighties when I rented it on a local video store. It was a bad recorded VHS tape transfered directly from a bad 35mm copy. The main reason I rented it is because Carol André, the beautiful actress from the SANDOKAN TV series was on the cast. The movie is incredibly awful, beyond the worst I have seen so far. Bad actors, terrible acting, horrible script, unintelligible plot and some sequences that really made me feel guilty for having rented it. Unforgettable is the character Polo, one of the most naff villains to appear ever on an action movie. Also the scenes with the silly and clumsy main character jumping in and out of windows really made me laugh out loud. No doubt I expect the day to watch it again to laugh again at it. But this time I expect not to pay a single cent.

On a mission in Vietnam Kirk, Mike and Polo are the only survivors of their platoon who rescue a bunch of children, but Polo stays behind when they get to their boat and tells them to leave. Polo happens to be in arms and drug trafficking operation with the KGB and the mafia. Kirk now working for the CIA sends out Mike to Vietnam to stop Polo's enterprise.What an incoherent mess. The good folks of Cannon produce this very low-rent Italian b-action fodder. Well there's not a whole lot to say about this one, but it's poorly executed and the cast are all but washed up. Woody Strode and Henry Silva go through the motions with such little effort, while the leading man Harrison Muller provides the personality, but his timing seems off. Most the time his running and jumping in or out of windows. Those sneakers of his cop a real work out. Carole Andre's sly part was small, but prominent. The no frills action drags on, especially the film's final standoff where the bad guys have terrible aim and plenty of explosions are assured. The continuous gun fire also made sure that there was some bloody pulp. But boy does it go on, because if feel like its in slow motion! The tempo throughout stays mellow and lacks oomph. How about that conclusion though?! Talk about baffling. The one-man team of Fernando Di Leo who directed and wrote the screenplay and story does a clumsy job on all fronts. The whole premise is slipshod and embarrassingly one-note, and the insipid script chalks up many tacky lines. His blunt direction is quite aimless and clunky. Being shot location in the Philippines gives the film a raw touch and makes it quite ugly to look at. The hybrid sounding music score seems to actually work and fit right in, despite some junky passages. Never boring, but there's no denying how unbelievably trite it turns out to be.

A reasonably entertaining jungle action turkey. The plot has something to do with with the far east drugs war, CIA, young prostitutes and mercenaries. Fluffy indeed.Lots of pyrotechnics and gunplay make this one watchable, but bad acting and tremendously bad script work in the other direction.Released on video in Finland in the early eighties.