Bullet Points: American Tigers
The plot to 1967’s The Dirty Dozen was a recipe for action perfection… a dozen convicted murderers (AKA guys with nothing to lose), trained by an Army hard ass for a covert mission too dangerous to waste good, honest soldiers on.
Fast forward to the mid-90’s and a scaled down version of The Dirty Dozen recipe would be utilized by two films… the first was Soldier Boyz starring Michael Dudikoff. The second is the subject of this edition of Bullet Points, 1996’s American Tigers.
- Terror at Home: American Tigers‘ first order of business is to establish the villains in the film… I’d like to say the movie does a great job of this, but that would not be truthful. Some terrorists assassinate an ambassador via car bomb and find themselves pursued by the authorities in what was a poorly edited car chase that ends flat when a Winnebago pulls out into the road between the cops and the terrorists and apparently this was enough of an inconvenience for the cops to stop their pursuit. I was not a fan of this opening action sequence, but fortunately for the terrorists their boss, the dishonorably discharged Riley Hooker (Todd Curtis, Chain of Command), was thrilled that his men carried out their mission. But Hooker is even more excited about what is to come… a summit meeting of sorts with terrorists from around the world coming to the United States to participate.
- A Dirty Baker’s Half Dozen: After a bit of a rough start, the movie takes a turn for the better when we are introduced to Sergeant Major Duke Ransom (Sam J. Jones, Flash Gordon). The United States Army has learned of the planned “terrorist summit” and they have come up with a radical solution to the problem… the Army brass has tasked Sergeant Major Ransom with recruiting a commando unit comprised of six death row inmates to put the kibosh on the summit and eliminate all the participants… Ransom accepts the mission but under one condition, any of his men that survive the mission receive a full pardon. Both sides agree and the recruiting process begins… and this is where we meet our dirty half dozen… Eddie, Cody (played by prolific stuntman, Clayton J. Barber) Matsuda, Gomez (played by Rorion Gracie of the famous fighting Gracie family), Frank, Anthony and last but not least Dettman (played by Tony Halme or as he was better known from his days in the World Wrestling Federation, Ludvig Borga).
- Three Week Intensive: Ransom has three weeks to whip his seven men into shape… which means he is going to need some training montages and I am happy to report that we get those. Then Ransom’s seven becomes six, after Ransom ends up killing Frank in self defense…. this segment also gives us a special guest trainer as Ransom calls in his friend Cynthia Rothrock (playing herself) to teach the guys the finer points of hand to hand combat. As you might expect, the macho tough guys don’t take Cynthia seriously at first, but one by one she kicks their asses and makes believers out of them. This would probably be a good place to say if you ever wanted to see Cynthia Rothrock battle Ludvig Borga, then American Tigers is the movie for you.
- Here Come the Tigers: Ransom’s dirty half dozen are really starting to come together at this point, they even get the official moniker of Tiger Team (and the unofficial name of American Tigers). But wait!!! Somebody in power remembered they had Navy SEALS at their disposal, so the decision is made to send the Tiger Team back to death row and just let the SEALS take care of the terrorists. Ransom vehemently protests this decision and arranges for a series of six one on one fights to take place between Tiger Team and the Navy SEALS. If Tiger Team can win all six fights, the original deal is on. If they lose even one, they are going back to death row… this was an unexpected twist that ate up a lot of run time as Tiger Team swept the SEALS.
- This Movie is Scheduled for a 95 Minute Time Limit: At this point in the movie, it felt like they were running out of time (or money) and the whole mission that the American Tigers had been training for is over with in an unspectacular blink of an eye. I should also mention that Donald Gibb joins in on the action after having two cameos earlier in the film… thanks for coming Donald.
American Tigers had a sure fire recipe and some how managed to make the least of it. Having established action stars like Sam J. Jones, Cynthia Rothrock and Donald Gibb gave the movie a boost and there were some talented fighters in the supporting cast… but American Tigers needed a big action finale to be the payoff and it just wasn’t there.
This review is going to get the finale it deserves in the form of some Bonus Bullet Points…
- AKA: American Tigers was released on DVD in Germany as Army of Convicts.
- Disturbing Quote: “You like blood. You like boys. You like bloody boys don’t you? Wanna kiss me?” – Duke Ransom
- The Worthless Character Award: Carol Hoyt plays Duke’s ex-wife Jessie. Jessie works as a waitress at a strip club owned by Duke’s old army buddy Dan Storm (Donald Gibb). The Jessie character serves no real purpose other than to provide a needless piece in Duke’s backstory and provide the audience with scenes of useless dialogue between the former lovers. If you replaced the Jessie scenes with some action scenes, American Tigers goes up another notch.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Donald Gibb moderate a wet t-shirt contest, then American Tigers is the movie for you.
- Familiar Face: Joe Estevez (Memorial Day) plays General Clay, the man who approaches Duke Ransom with the mission to take out the terrorists.
