I Love Trash

Too Late The Hero (Robert Aldrich, 1970).  If only they had cut at least 30 minutes from this flick, mostly from the boring first half, this could have been a classic WW2 movie.  The Philippines jungle crawl in the second half is good stuff.  Worth watching to see Boracay before it became overrun with tourists and high-rise hotels.

Code Name: Wild Geese (Antonio Margheriti, 1984).  IMDB indicates Hong Kong and the Philippines as filming locations, so I’ll assume the jungle scenes were done in the Philippines.  They are only okay, but the main reason to watch this flick is the final battle with Lee Van Cleef and Klaus Kinski.  Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “fire in the jungle”.

Strike Commando (1987). Directed by Bruno Mattei in the Philippines. When it comes to low-grade Vietnam War/Cold War movies, it’s hard to get more low-grade than this. Therefore, we can laugh as we watch it and appreciate its existence as a cultural artifact. Namedropping this flick can earn you serious cred with “bad movie buff” folks. Regarding the jungle stuff, some good stuff and some “not jungle” coconut plantation stuff.

Behind Enemy Lines (1986). Directed by Gideon Amir in the Philippines. Not to be confused with several other movies of the same name, this one is also known as P.O.W. The Escape or Attack Force ‘Nam and stars David Carradine. He plays a serious, dedicated colonel and doesn’t crack a smile the entire time, but I got some good laughs watching this flick. Maybe the Tanduay 1854 had something to do with it. Jungle footage is decent, though much of it looks like a coconut plantation to me. Bonus points for the punji rack trap swinging down from the trees.

Based on the box covers, which would you watch?

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