DELTA FORCE COMMANDO is another cheap-and-trashy military thriller from Italy at the tail-end of the 1980s. It's a mix of TOP GUN and the usual low rent war flick. The setting is South America, where some revolutionaries have stolen a nuclear missile, leading an American captain to send in a team to recover it and kill the terrorists in the process. A guy whose wife was killed during the theft also tags along, and it's this actor - the unknown Brett Baxter Clark - who gets the most screen time and also happens to give the worst performance. The film is generally very cheap and uninteresting as per the usual state of Italian cinema in the late 1980s, with unconvincing action sequences and sloppy plotting. The best things about it are a charismatic performance from Fred Williamson as the heroic captain, Bo Svenson as an ageing colonel, and Mark Gregory as the villain of the hour.
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Leofwine_draca27 January 2018
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BandSAboutMovies9 September 2018I thought that I had watched every Mark Gregory movie there was. I'd made it through 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Escape from the Bronx, Adam and Eve vs. the Cannibals and even Thunder. But now you're telling me that he's playing a terrorist who goes up against Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson in a movie written by Dardano Sacchetti (Zombi, The House by the Cemetery, The Beyond, Blastfighter, Demons, Demons 2, Hands of Steel)? It's like getting a Christmas gift months after the holiday is over!
Latin American revolutionaries - led by Mark Gregory, who still hasn't learned how to walk properly but has cut his hair - invade a military base on Puerto Rico, steal a nuclear bomb and kill Lt. Tony Turner's (sure, Brett Baxter Clark was in Teen Witch, but he's also the gardener who sexes up Harlee McBride in the Cinemax After Dark classic Young Lady Chatterley II) pregnant wife.
Lt. Tony decides to steal a jet and its pilot: Captain Beck, played by Fred "the Hammer" Williamson! They follow the terrorists back home, take them out and almost die when the weapons are due to go off. Funny story - it was just a training weapon and a story to get the U.S. media excited about the Delta Force again.
Your enjoyment of this film is based around how much you enjoy seeing Mark Gregory loopily walk around with a nuclear weapon on his back and Fred Williamson wiping out an entire army while dropping one liners like, "Hey, this beautiful brown body's got a lot of living left to do, pal!" This is a movie that has a puke grenade. This is a movie that has Fred driving a bus while a helicopter shoots at it point blank. Me? All in.
Good news. Not is this movie amazingly and ridiculously awesome, there's a sequel. -
HaemovoreRex8 August 2006As a big fan of bad movies I have derived much enjoyment from those glorious films that fall under the category of the 'so bad it's good' variety. Directors who consistently produce such joyfully inept works include the infamous Godfrey Ho and Bruno Mattei, both of whom have a vast filmography to their names on account of churning out craptaculars on the cheap and whose films I have a very special fondness for.
Let's get one thing straight though, although the principle is indeed subjective, I feel the 'so bad it's good' term is far too frequently and inappropriately used, especially by many reviewers on this site.
A classic case in point is the film in question here. Make no mistake, this film is entirely and spectacularly crap.....but not in any 'positive' way whatsoever. Interminably boring throughout and not helped any by risible acting and hopelessly executed 'action' scenes, this is a pretty much unwatchable affair. So bad was this in fact that I couldn't even watch it in its entirety in a single sitting.
I can think of only two good things to say about this to be quite honest; One is the always welcome face and larger than life presence of Fred Williamson and the other is that none other than Mark Gregory plays the villainous lead. Sadly both actors are wasted in their respective roles though but it is at least a speck of light in an otherwise murky void.
For true connoisseurs of bad movies (enjoyable ones that is) skip this rancid ordure and instead revel in the works of the previously mentioned directors who really know how to make good quality crap. -
michapringle16 April 2002Save yourself. Don't watch this movie. A friend of mine wanted to rent it because he said it was laughably awful. He was right - it stinks.
This movie has the worst acting I have seen in my entire life. I still cannot figure out how some of these movies (like this one) manage to get a rating above 2.
It is in the top 5 worst movies I have ever seen, which is really saying something since I like to find and watch bad movies just for laughs.
1/10 -
I myself am a fan of the low budget movies that came out of Rome and the rest of the old world, but sometimes I have to draw the line. I get a kick out of bad acting and way out scripts, but there has to be something real about it. This movie almost reminds me of the Saturday morning cartoons of the 70's. I get a kick out of war movies when machine guns NEVER-EVER run out of ammo and one man gets shot at a hundred times by two hundred men and manages to kill them all and then gets his revenge on the murder of his wife. Fred Williamson and Bo Svenson either needed the money or thought it would be fun and had nothing else better to do. This cheese fest is a little ripe. But, I recommend to check it out and have an open mind.
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sveknu2 November 2007It's almost unbelievable that I actually have seen this movie. Movies with "Delta Force" in the title usually mean lots of OK action, like the "Delta Force"-movies with and without Chuck Norris (great movies except for the third one), the "Operation Delta Force"-movies (some of them good, some really terrible) and "Delta Force One" with Gary Daniels (bad).
Therefore, I decided to give this one a go. BIG mistake.
OK, there IS action in the movie, but it's all bad (like people shooting at each other with machine guns for five minutes straight without reloading and no one ever hits anything). The quality of the actual film stinks (looks like it's filmed with a hand-held camera from the 80's. Maybe it was, actually), and makes this a terrible experience to sit through. And then there's the story. Not to be too negative here, but it's no exaggeration saying that I've written school essays over 2 hours that have been better.
Don't forget the acting, either. It's way beyond terrible. In fact, the acting in cartoons is better than in this movie.
The only reason why I gave this a 2, and not a 1, is because of Fred Williamson and his sometimes cool attitude in this movie. This meant some semi-enjoyable moments, just have in mind that it was a very long time between each of them. -
wvbonds6 June 2005This movie is so bad that it is good. That is, it is fun to watch for all the errors and bad acting. It is hard to believe that Mr. Williamson takes himself seriously. This almost comes off as a spoof. But a spoof of what move? Itself. If you like bad movies, this will more than fill the bill. It is bad like "Plan 9 from Outer Space".
This movie has just about everything needed to be called a bad film, such as bad acting, gun with unlimited ammunition, wrong uniforms, bad editing, poor continuity, low budget etc. This could be a case study on how not to make a film or how to make a bad film. I must say this again. It is so bad that it is good.
I would rent it again, just to see if it is possible to count the mistakes. But let just face the facts, Mr. Williamson's films are not known for their artistic value. Mr. Williamson's films are more known for a chance for him to exercise his ego and for just simple entertainment. After more than thirty years as a filmmaker, I think most film buffs know this. So rent or watch this film for what it is, so bad that it is good. -
brinkenstierna11 July 2011This is 80s war movies at its finest. It is the ballad of Tony Turner (Brett Clark), perhaps the deadliest character ever to be portrayed in fiction. A bunch of South American terrorists attack a army base, steal a nuke and while doing so they kill Lt Turners pregnant wife - BIG MISTAKE! Turner steals a bag of different weapons and hijack a jet fighter of some kind, flown by no other than Captain Samuel Beck (Fred Williamson) and head of towards Nicaragua to deliver some serious payback. The rest of the movie is an orgy of awesomeness. This movie also features Bo Svenson as no-nonsense Colonel Keitel, a reliable stamp of quality.
If you like good movies, check somewhere else. If you like amazing movies, this is your movie! Brett Clarks rendition of a revengeful Delta Force soldier is nothing short of greatness and Williamson delivers the finest acting job of a grand career. -
tarbosh2200022 February 2013Lt. Tony Turner (Clark) is a highly respected member of the elite team known as the Delta Force. While stationed on a military base in Puerto Rico, evil Sandinistas (?) break into the base and steal a nuclear bomb. During their raid, they maliciously kill Turner's pregnant wife. BIG MISTAKE. Crazy with revenge, Turner begins tracking their every move (and killing everyone in sight), and along the way he ends up dragging ace pilot Capt. Samuel Beck (Williamson) along for the ride. While they don't always get along (the main theme of the soundtrack sounds like a disco version of the theme from "The Odd Couple" - coincidence?), they must fight for their lives as they face a barrage of attacks from their enemies. Once they make it to the hideout of the baddies in Nicaragua, Col. Keitel (Svenson) injects himself into the final outcome. What will happen to Turner and Beck? Here we have some Italian-made silliness that's enjoyable to watch mainly because of Fred Williamson, the endless violence (which is more amusing and cartoon-like than dark) and the funny dubbing. It has enough standout moments to keep the viewer interested. Sure, the editing is choppy and abrupt a lot of the time, but that just adds to the charm and uniqueness. Every movie you see in the theater nowadays is perfectly edited, and it's just plain boring! Don't be afraid to let the magic of Delta Force Commando sweep over you. Don't fight it. Just enjoy it.
Amidst the constant mindless shooting and rocket launcher blow-ups, we should point out that it's said that as a pilot, Beck is "The Best", and, of all the possible names they could have chosen as his handle, it's "Black Eagle". Nothing racist there. But why should Sam "Black Eagle" Beck be annoyed that Turner is following his every move like a puppy dog, when, despite the never-ending supply of machine guns, Turner breaks out the most effective weapon in war: a slingshot! It's nice to know that in the thick of combat, Dennis The Menace could triumph in a firefight.
Like any video game worth its salt in the 80's, there's an inexhaustible supply of enemy soldiers to dispatch who all wear the same clothes (and in this case, all have Nazi-like black helmets). During the Prerequisite Torture Scene, Beck's interrogator wants to know if he's "working for the Contras". Not only was this very topical, but it will put you in mind of a certain video game with a constant stream of baddies you must kill with your machine gun: Contra! But unlike Contra, Delta Force Commando has extremely inane dialogue, stock footage, and our personal favorite, REPEATED footage. But you could never accuse this movie of skimping on the action. There's actually some filler, and the movie starts to lose focus after a time - but it's going to take a WHOLE ARMY to stop our two heroes. Including tanks! Mark Gregory (who's had an amazing career in the Italian film industry, most notably with some of the post-apocalyptic movies) is the main baddie with the ill-fitting, ridiculous women's shirt. Naturally, unanswered questions about this led to a sequel, the long and confusing title of: Delta Force Commando 2: Priority Red One (1990). Nothing else could possibly explain why there's a SEQUEL to this movie. Was this financially successful? But in the sequel, which was also directed by Ciriaci, Bo Svenson and Brett Clark did not return. Who would be the best replacement for Brett Clark? Van Johnson, naturally. And instead of Svenson (who wears the same kimono here that he does in The Kill Reflex, 1989), Ciriaci got Richard Hatch (booooo.) Fred returned, of course.
As long as you don't take it too seriously, you'll probably get a kick out of Delta Force Commando.
For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com -
Red-Barracuda9 September 2015A couple of members of an elite military team travel without permission to Latin America to sort out a gang of terrorists who have stolen a nuclear bomb.
Delta Force Commando is an Italian action movie that takes its influence from the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Commando (1985). Consequently, it involves lots and lots of bad guys pitching up as cannon fodder for our heroes to mow down with machine guns and grenades. It's essentially action all the way with this one, with little concern for any other aspects whatsoever. It stars the American Fred Williamson in a role as a hijacked pilot and he does get ample opportunity to act cool on several occasions, the lead guy is someone called Brett Baxter Clark who walks around the entire movie with a face like fizz and he does make Williamson appear like Laurence Olivier by direct comparison; still he suited this film to a certain extent as all he has to do here is go around shooting and blowing people up. The only other guy I recognised was the chief baddie who was played by Mark Gregory. I know this guy from the 'Bronx Warriors' films but unfortunately he doesn't sport the spectacular poodle perm haircut in this film that adorned his head in those earlier flicks. A shame that, as a lead villain who looked like he was a member of an L.A. hair metal band would have resulted in Delta Force Commando receiving a further point in its score from me. But then we can't have everything can we?