REB BROWN STARRING IN 'STRIKE COMMANDO'

year: 1987 rating: ***

In one unintentionally hilarious scene, Reb Brown, playing a rogue American commando named Ransom during the Vietnam War, kneels over a dying local boy and, while crying, promises the kid will visit Disneyland to meet Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and there will be an abundance of cotton candy, chocolate milk, and, most important of all, malteds... 

But the rest of the time Ransom ain’t weeping. He’s roaming the jungle seeking his shady captain (Christopher Connelly) who left him to die in the prelude mission. Along the way he comes across all types of antagonists, mostly gun-totting “Charlie” and their villainous leader: a formidable bald Russian muscleman who takes part in one of the greatest head-smashing fights in the history of b-films.

But for a low-budget war venture, STRIKE COMMANDO is quite entertaining. Brown’s performance, while not matching the genuine charisma of CAGE, BIG WEDNESDAY, or good war themed films like UNCOMMON VALOR… but stepping up the phoned-in delivery of SPACE MUTINY… is downright awesome: his brawny arms holding an M-16 like a baby doll. And there’s real stuff going on – in one scene Brown’s running towards a departing Huey copter as bombs burst only inches away: Unlike Rambo, which this is a replica of, and according to Brown himself in a personal interview (soon to be transcribed), the man himself, nearly blown to bits, ain’t no stunt double!