Bullet Points: American Commandos (1985)

Fresh off the release of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando, came Christopher Mitchum and John Phillip Law in American Commandos…. another in the long line of action movies produced and filmed in the Philippines during the Golden Age of Action!

• All Night Long: As the movie opens, Dean Mitchell (Christopher Mitchum, American Hunter) is working at an all-night gas station. Things are pretty slow, until a car pulls up looking for $5 in gas (which would get you 4.46 gallons of gas on average back in 1985). A bearded man is driving the car and he is accompanied by two women. One of the women starts flirting with Mitchell as he is doing his gas station attendant duties. What Mitchell doesn’t know is that this is all a distraction, and this is a gang hit! More gang members, who were hiding in the shadows, make their presence felt as soon as Mitchell goes inside and opens the register. Mitchell finds himself being assaulted and all the cash is removed from the register. Then the gang run off like literal thieves in the night, piling in their stolen car. As they drive away, Mitchell grabs the gun that was hidden under the counter, goes outside and starts shooting at the car, which is now speeding away to avoid the bullets. After getting a good distance away from the gas station, the driver has everyone exit the car, he’s going back to finish off Mitchell… this leads to a game of chicken that Mitchell wins decisively. The police arrive and warn Mitchell that these hoodlums may strike back! Mitchell tells the detective that he’s dealt with worse.

• Vigilante Mode: The next night, Mitchell says goodbye to his wife, Ann. and their adopted son, Charlie. before he heads out for his shift at the gas station. As soon as Mitchell leaves, the gang pops out of the bushes around the Mitchell home. The gang members force their way in the residence and start looking for valuables… they then begin to sexually assault Ann. The commotion wakes up young Charlie, who grabs his baseball bat in an attempt to save his mother. Charlie gets swatted away, hits his head on the wall and dies instantly… When their nastiness is finished, the all go out for a drink at a bar to “celebrate”. This is also the point where one of them calls the gas station to let Mitchell that they are even for now… Mitchell races home to find his dead son and his wife tied up to their bed. Mitchell frees Ann, comforts her the best he can, then calls for an ambulance and police. While Mitchell is on the phone, Ann goes into the bathroom and commits suicide! Dean Mitchell’s entire world has just imploded… unfortunately for the gang, Mitchell is a former Green Beret, so it’s not a surprise when he goes into vigilante mode (with some help from his buddy Creeper) and starts offing gang members… it’s also no surprise that the police don’t want Mitchell killing people on their watch, and that’s when one of the cops, Stan Brady (Ken Metcalfe, Savage Justice) makes Mitchell an interesting offer.

• Reunion Tour: Brady points out that Mitchell killing low level junkies isn’t really solving the problem, to solve the problem he needs to cut the supply of heroin off at the source… The Golden Triangle! This means Mitchell will have to return to his old stomping grounds from the Vietnam War. So it’s off to Bangkok for Mitchell, where he meets up with his old buddy Kelly (John Phillip Law, Striker), who now works for Interpol. Kelly thinks Mitchell’s plan to destroy The Golden Triangle is impossible and at first, doesn’t want to be a part of it. But when Mitchell says he’s going to do it with our without Kelly, Kelly goes along with it. Next up they track down another member of their old unit, Brutus (Robert Marius, Bloodfist II), who now runs a massage parlor. Brutus is on board immediately. Creeper (Willie Williams, Missing in Action) follows Mitchell over from the United States and is ready for action! That only leaves Somsak (Franco Guerrero, The One Armed Executioner), who is now a successful businessman and owns his own plantation… Somsak wishes his fellow “Rat Bastards” well, but he has too much to lose and can’t be a part of their “wildest caper ever”.

• Spoiler Alert: Somsak is a man of his word, he does not join his former friends on their mission… instead he tries to derail their mission because he is The Golden Triangle! Somsak sends some of his men over to the massage parlor (aka Rat Bastard HQ) and they shoot up the place, some masseuses tragically die that day, but the Rat Bastards stand tall! …This leads to Plan B, which is a roadblock on the way to Somsak’s drug factory. Even with the advantage of air support in the form of a helicopter, Somsak’s men aren’t able to stop the Rat Bastards… in fact Kelly uses the armored trucks machine gun turret to blow Somsak’s helicopter out of the sky! …Now it’s only a matter of time before Mitchell and his friends make it to the factory and we have ourselves one helluva final battle!

There is something so appealing to me about these down and dirty, modestly budgeted actioners of the 1980s. In the case of American Commandos it was practically two movies in one… first the Dean Mitchell vigilante tale and then Dean Mitchell’s war on drugs! Both sections delivered plenty of action packed moments which made for an entertaining 88 minutes.

Now for some entertaining Bonus Bullet Points…

• Montage Alert: There is an A-Team like montage, where our heroes take a truck that Brutus had in storage and transform it into a bulletproof assault vehicle… unfortunately we eventually learn that it wasn’t Cessna proof in one of the more spectacular scenes in the movie.
• Familiar Face: Having seen my fair share of movies shot in the Philippines, I recognized Don Gordon Bell, who played Tiger. Tiger is another former comrade of Dean Mitchell, who opted to work as security for Somsak’s dirty drug business. I have seen DGB in a number of films over the years including Equalizer 2000 and Enter the Ninja.
• Bastard Count: There were a total of 5 “bastards” in American Commandos… three of which were “rat bastards”.
• Flashbacks: We get to see some of Dean Mitchell’s time as a Green Beret in the Vietnam War, and how he met his wife and adopted his son, thanks to the use of flashbacks.