Bullet Points: Noon Sunday

If there is one place I would love to go back to visit on this third rock from the Sun it would have to be Guam. The western Pacific island territory of the United States has a beautiful climate, beautiful vistas and beautiful people. The small island also has a surprisingly rich history in the realm of movies. Movies like Albert Pyun’s Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon and Shiro’s Head were filmed in Guam. Being close to the Land of the Rising Sun, many Japanese productions also have used the island to film. However, only one movie can be the start of the cinematic scene in Guam and it has fascinated me ever since I saw it so many years ago. The 1970 movie Noon Sunday was the first feature film produced in Guam and I just happen to have some Bullet Points to share so join me on a journey to a truly historic action film.

• Noon Sunday starts with over five minutes of action before we get any dialogue. Filmmakers of today can take a lesson because we don’t need any narration or sloppy force fed exposition. If the audience can’t figure out what is going on then there is a problem with the storytelling. It also helps to have the first words spoken during an execution scene with people being shot right in front of their graves so they fall right in. Did I mention that there were children watching the execution? Well there were and it is powerful stuff.

• The executions show how bad the leaders of a guerrilla movement are to the local populace. Two mercenaries are sent in to assassinate the top trouble makers, General Twan (Tony Lee) and Colonel Oong (an extra special villainous Keye Luke.) No official action can be taken on the island because of the difficult political environment. Enter Jason Cootes (Mark Lenard) and Darmody (John Russell) separately going after the colonel and general respectively. Both men have a goal to kill their respective target at exactly noon on Sunday (hey, that sounds familiar) and then hightail it to a helicopter to get off the island.

• Cootes has a plan to blow up a church that he knows Oong will be at noon on Sunday (hey, that sounds familiar.) He has some locals helping him including Kon (Bobby Canavarro) and his sister Kalin (Linda Avery.) Incidentally, I enjoyed hearing Sarek (Mark Lenard’s Vulcan character from Star Trek) keep saying Kon because it is pronounced like Khan (the wrathful genetically engineered Star Trek villain.) Kalin is not who she originally seems to be. Unless you thought she was the kind of girl that would seduce Cootes in order to try to kill him while she is topless only to fail and end up getting choked to death by Cootes while still topless.

• Darmody originally tries to blow up a power plant but the plan is foiled and he realizes all he needs is a machine gun to take out the general. When he gets his gun he exclaims, “Welcome back, baby!” Darmody then has a guy play possum so he can infiltrate the base where Twan is living. He barges into the general’s place and shoots him right in front of Twan’s wife and kids. This sets off an action packed manhunt for Darmody.

• Meanwhile, Cootes is waiting to blow up the church with Colonel Oong but a group of children and nuns have also entered the church. Cootes wouldn’t blow up the church with the children in it, would he? No, and shame on you for even thinking about the demise of the poor barefoot angelic Guamanian children. He misses his noon Sunday (hey, that sounds familiar) deadline but is able to kill Oong with a grenade and we still get to see the church blow up after the children have left. This sets off an action packed manhunt for Cootes.

• Noon Sunday has a little bit of every type of action, gunfights, knife fights, explosions, violence against women, violence against children, violence against dogs, car chases, motorcycle chases, submarines, helicopters, electrocutions and every other type of action in the movie that I failed to mention.Noon Sunday excels in being a tension packed ride with an excellent soundtrack that adds to the suspense. Does Noon Sunday have a happy ending? It depends on which side you were rooting for and it actually leaves a little bit of mystery. Noon Sunday follows the popular late 60’s early 70’s feature of ending on a freeze frame and it couldn’t have ended better.

Noon Sunday is a historic film in the annals of Guam and everyone involved should be proud as I can’t image any other first movie representing the fine folks of Guam. Next time you are looking for something to watch on… I don’t know maybe a Sunday… at… I don’t know maybe around noon… give Noon Sunday a viewing. (You actually can watch it any day of the week and at any time.) In honor of some of the nicest people you can ever meet I am going to leave you with some Guamanian Bonus Bullet Points.

• The flag of Guam is dark blue with a thin red border and the coat of arms/seal in the center.

• The seal depicts a scene from Agaña Bay with a proa and a coconut tree. The name GUAM is in red in the middle and the shape of the seal is that of a Chamorro sling stone used as a weapon for warfare and hunting.

• A proa is a multi-hulled sailboat, similar to a canoe with a sail, built by the Chamorro.

• The Chamorro are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands of which Guam is the southernmost island. The Northern Mariana Islands make up the northern half of the Mariana Islands and is a Commonwealth of the U.S.A. consisting of fifteen islands.