Bullet Points: The Annihilators

Does any of this sound familiar?

Local shopkeepers call on a group of former Vietnam veterans to help them deal with the gangs that have been terrorizing their neighborhood.

This could be the synopsis to multiple episodes of the classic action series, The A-Team… but it is also the synopsis for 1985’s The Annihilators….

• Squad Goals: The movie starts off with a flashback, where we are introduced to our heroes in the throes of the Vietnam War. The five man squad is led by Sgt. Bill Ecker (Christopher Stone, Cujo) and consists of Garrett Floyd (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, L.A. Vice), Ray Track (played by Bud the Chud himself, Gerrit Graham), Woody (conveniently played by Andy Wood) and Joe Nace (played by Dennis Redfield, who would go on to play a character named Dick Pizza in the 1985 TV movie, Deadly Messages). Joe Nace is the stand out character in this opening scene, when he sacrifices himself for the rest of the team as he is gunned down while warning his brothers in arms of a sneak attack.

• Fast Forward: The movie jumps forward 13 years to an Atlanta area neighborhood. We find out that Joe Nace survived that fateful day back in Vietnam, but he is wheelchair bound as a result. Joe now works at his father’s convenience store… a convenience store that has been targeted by a violent street gang, like all of the local businesses in the neighborhood. Joe has convinced his father, Louie, that they need to start fighting back and a Smith & Wesson would help their cause. So Louie hops on a bus and is off to the gun shop, leaving Joe to watch the store. It isn’t long before Roy Boy Jagger (Paul Koslo, Mr. Majestyk) and the Roller show up at the store to confront Joe since they’ve heard he’s been talking about fighting back and they plan on making an example of him. Unfortunately a female patron at the store is caught in the middle of all this… one of the Rollers rips off her dress and is about to sexually assault her, but the quick thinking female manages to avoid becoming a rape victim thanks to a swift knee to the balls… but she can not avoid becoming a murder victim after the would be rapist stabs her in the abdomen. Roy Boy Jagger then adds to the body count by bludgeoning Joe with a meat tenderizer.
• A Cry for Help: Louie Nace returns from his trip to the gun shop just in time to see his son being taken out of the convenience store in a body bag… we cut to Joe’s funeral, in attendance to pay his respect for the man who saved his life back in Vietnam is Sgt. Bill Ecker. After the funeral, Louie pleads with Bill to teach him and the rest of the citizens in the neighborhood who have been putting up with Roy Boy’s bullshit for too long to fight back. Bill agrees… but first he’s got to get the band back together.

• We’re All In This Together: After what Joe did for them in Nam, there’s no way that Garrett, Ray or Woody is going to turn down a chance to help Joe’s father and friends. No time is wasted in getting the community ready for the war ahead… and that means MONTAGE! And this is a prime example of how powerful a montage can be… because the mood of the entire neighborhood seemingly changes over night as the citizens begin to fight back. The tide turning does not go unnoticed by special investigator Lt. Hawkins (Jim Antonio), who while investigating the rash of murders in the neighborhood realizes he has some vigilantes to deal with.
• The Gameplan: The movie goes into full A-Team mode after Bill finds out that Roy Boy and the Rollers are the middle men in a drug trafficking ring. So Bill comes up with a plan to hit Roy Boy where it hurts and steal a huge shipment of heroin from Roy Boy. The plan comes together (with some help from an unlikely source) and with millions in heroin lost, Roy Boy goes off the deep end and he shows up with a flame thrower for what will end up being the last stand between Roy Boy and the Rollers and our Vietnam Vets!

While doing my The Annihilators due diligence prior to watching the movie, I saw that Paul Koslo was among the cast members. I immediately told myself that if Koslo was not one of the villains in the film, I was going to shut it off and find something else to watch. I would not have bought Koslo as a hero and casting him as a hero would have been a waste.

I am not sure the A-Team premise would have worked in this scenario if not for the douchebaggery of Paul Koslo’s Roy Boy Jagger. No offense to any of the actors involved but Bill, Garrett, Ray and Woody were no Hannibal Smith, B.A. Baracus, Murdock and Face. But there is no way you couldn’t support “The C Squad” when they were fighting against a guy as vile as Roy Boy Jagger. It is no exaggeration when I say Koslo’s Roy Boy makes this movie work… he is a high quality piece of shit.

I am going to put in a little more work and provide you with some Bonus Bullet Points…

• AKA: The Annihilators is also known as Action Force in parts of Europe.
• Take This Job and Shove It: When Ray (who is working as an accountant) decides he’s going to Atlanta with his old war buddies to kick some street punk ass, he takes his briefcase and chucks it into a fountain! Suck it corporate America!
• Expect the Unexpected: I was absolutely elated when from out of the blue, Garrett used a shuriken to save one of the shopkeepers during the film’s action packed third act.
• Connections: Several of the cast members of The Annihilators appeared on The A-Team during that show’s five season run. Jim Antonio in Season 1’s “Till Death Do Us Part”, Gerrit Graham in Season 1’s “Children of Jamestown” and Christopher Stone in Season 3’s “Incident at Crystal Lake”.