Filipino Vietnam War Movies

[R-T-C Tim]

No discussion of Asian action films can be complete without mention of the absurdity that is Filipino and Hong Kong produced Vietnam war films. Treated with reverence by American film makers, this brutal war became pure, bloody exploitation at the hands of Cirio H. Santiago and his kin.

I have just reviewed the Roger Corman co-produced Eye of the Eagle trilogy.

The original Eye of the Eagle is pure exploitation, a non-stop gunfighting and explosion packed film with a very young Robert Patrick. Storyline comes a distant second place but the film holds together.

Eye of the Eagle II is an entirely different affair, a dark, storyline based film, its action scenes are rather flat, but the plot makes this an interesting production.

Eye of the Eagle III gets back to the action, but with more storyline than the original, probably the best of the set, this is a genuinely enjoyable war film.


There is loads more info about these films at this excellent blog When the Vietnam War raged... in the Philippines, although sadly most are still only available on VHS. I have reviews of more that have emerged on DVD, coming later in the week.

[R-T-C Tim]

Part 2 - Commander Lawin, amazingly this ultra-obscure Philipine Rambo rip-off (so obscure that IMDb has the production date a full 5 years out) is available on DVD in the UK (although it is a mediocre VHS print). Few merits, but of interest to collectors.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by R-T-C Tim

Part 2 - Commander Lawin, amazingly this ultra-obscure Philipine Rambo rip-off (so obscure that IMDb has the production date a full 5 years out) is available on DVD in the UK (although it is a mediocre VHS print). Few merits, but of interest to collectors.

I got this from CEX for £3 but haven't watched it yet.

[R-T-C Tim]

More:



Teddy Page's Jungle Rats is a little dull for the most-part but a wonderfully absurd ending with more hut explosions than you can shake a stick at. On DVD in Germany with English audio.

[R-T-C Tim]

The most obscure entry yet and the last of my Far Eastern Vietnam War films for this review series, the terribly bad Hong Kong production - Black Warrior