Scene of the Week: The End of the Beginning

One of the most interesting tales to come out of the documentary, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, centers around Cannon’s Missing in Action franchise starring Chuck Norris.

Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this one… Lance Hool’s Missing in Action 2: The Beginning was originally going to be released as the first film in the Missing in Action franchise. However, when director Joe Zito, who had been hired to do what at the time was going to be the second film in the Missing in Action franchise, saw the footage that director Lance Hool had shot and he was not a fan. Zito convinced Cannon to release his film first and then release Lance Hool’s film as a prequel.

So Zito’s film became Missing in Action and Hool’s film became Missing in Action 2: The Beginning.

In this week’s Scene of the Week, we look at the final battle in Missing in Action 2: The Beginning between Colonel James Braddock and the man who has imprisoned him, tortured him and killed off his friends, Colonel Yin (played by Soon-Tek Oh, who you may remember from Death Wish 4: The Crackdown). If you are thinking to yourself that Yin is in for a world of trouble, you would be correct, so sit back and watch an evil doer get his comeuppance… Chuck Norris style!