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Illustration : G Francis |
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DVD Availability
: Amazon.com
| Amazon.co.uk |
Strike Force |
Aristide Massaccesi (as Joe D’Amato) | Italy | 1978 |
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From the hit-and-miss Aristide Massaccesi, comes this surprisingly effective late 1970’s
mercenary actioner, shot in the Dominican Republic. This is easily one
of Massaccesi’s best films, directed here under his ubiquitous Joe D’Amato pseudonym. Martin (Luc Merenda) flies into an unnamed war-torn African country, ostensibly
to join up with a mercenary army led by the ruthlessly tough Major
Hagerty (Donald O’Brien). Hagerty is commissioned to blow up a huge dam, and whilst
out on their mission, Martin’s real motive for joining the
mercenaries is revealed: “Bring back Hagerty’s right-hand
man Leon (Piero Vida) in exchange for $1m dollars.” Desperate not to miss out on a cut of the reward, Hagerty
— and two other soldiers — elect themselves as partners.
The four men, taking the bound Leon — plus Martin’s Negro
helper, Wabu (Percy Hogan) set out to reach the rendezvous point. The journey is
filled with constant peril as the mercenaries are pursued by opposing
armed forces, and with so much money at stake, their number begins to
dwindle as the individual share of the cash gets proportionally higher
and higher…
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Massaccesi’s Tough to Kill was first issued on tape by the obscure Mr. Video label, which was briefly distributed by Maureen Bartlett’s Video Media label, before distribution was diverted to that of CBS. By early 1986, Network Distribution picked up the rights and, using the Mr. Video master as a template, added the new video-generated title
of Strike Force. Completing Network’s modernization of the package was sleeve artist G. Francis' ersatz G.I. Joe endeavor, pulling
out all the stops to mislead potential viewers by using an
illustrative montage of images not featured anywhere in the actual
film! Note the mis-spelling of Joe D’Amato as Joe D’Omo on the rear of the sleeve . aka : Tough to Kill; Duri A Morire cast : Luc Merenda, Donald O'Brien, Percy Hogan, Laurence
Stark, Piero Vida, Wolfango Soldati, Isarco Ravaioli, Alessandro Haber,
Lorenza Rodriguez Lopez
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