It is time for another trip into the Action International Pictures vault for a review of 1989’s Jungle Assault…

• Three Sheets to the Wind: We open on three Marines stumbling down the street, open bottles in hand, talking about what they have waiting for them when they get home from active duty. The men perk up when they see a lovely local woman named Rosa (Maria Rosado) approaching them. One of the Marines steps up, and asks if Rosa is looking for some action. Rosa gestures that she wants a drink, so he hands her the bottle. She takes a swig, hands the bottle back to the Marine, right before she slits his throat. The reaction time of his buddies is drunkenly delayed, but by the time they figure it out, Rosa guns them down in the street!
• Things Went South: We learn from a TV news report that the attack on the Marines was not an isolated incident, as the people in this South American country are sickened by the United States propping up the dictator that has made their lives miserable. An American woman, sympathetic to the people’s cause, is interviewed… her name is Elaine Mitchell (Jeanie Moore, The Final Alliance) and she is the daughter of retired General Mitchell (William Smith, Eye of the Tiger). The General is watching as his own daughter denounces her country and denounces him.

• Two Peas in a Pod: It’s time to meet our heroes, Vietnam vets Kelly (William Zipp, Death Chase) and Becker (Ted Prior, Deadly Prey)… in fact we get to see them in action as Kelly is having a flashback dream to his time in Nam with Becker (that included an exploding helicopter!) …When Kelly wakes up from the nightmare he finds out his roommate Becker has drank their last beer. He also opens an eviction notice from their landlord… With no beer in the fridge and impending doom on the horizon, Kelly and Becker soon find themselves at a dive bar… but the bar is about to get some more patrons in the form of Crusher (Darwyn Swalve, Hands of Steel) and his crew, who have brought a defenseless woman into the bar so they can rape her on a pool table… something the bartender finds most amusing. Kelly and Becker aren’t just going to stand by and let this happen and that leads to the obligatory bar fight. A bar fight that ends with the appearance of General Mitchell, who has tracked his two best soldiers down to pitch an off the books mission!

• The Long and Short of It: Mitchell gets Kelly and Becker up to speed on what’s been going on in South America and more specifically the people his daughter is now associating with… Rosa and her hired mercenary second in command McClusky (David Marriott, Shotgun)… the General lays out the plan to rescue his daughter. But like most plans in action movies, when they are actually put into practice they fail miserably… starting with our heroes believing McClusky is one of their contacts, leading to their capture and interrogation, and their first attempt at escape being foiled by Elaine who did not believe she needed saving.
• Try, Try Again: Another escape attempt is made, but this time Kelly actually manages to get away… which does not sit well with Rosa. McClusky tells her not to worry, that he’ll get Kelly… but first he’ll call his buddies the Russians, then he decides now would be a good time to sexually assault Elaine!?!?! All of this gives Kelly plenty of time to set up booby traps for when McClusky and some troops finally go out to find Kelly. I hope Rosa wasn’t paying McClusky too much.

Jungle Assault benefits from having a strong finish, making you forget that along the way it was a below average AIP offering. It starts with Elaine using a chainsaw to help Becker escape, then there’s the definitive and satisfying results of Becker’s battle with Rosa and Kelly’s clash with McClusky. And the finale is topped off with Brian Bennett’s “Freedom” accompanying the end credits. That’s what you call ending on a high note!

Let me end this review with some Bonus Bullet Points…

• You Can’t Judge a Movie By Looking At the Cover: If you happen upon Jungle Assault on Tubi or Prime Video, you would be led to believe that Richard Lynch is in the movie. This is not the case, but for whatever reason the streamers decided to use a picture of Richard Lynch from the superior Invasion Force, for their Jungle Assault artwork.
• Favorite Quote: “This place smells like mule shit.” – General Mitchell
• AKA: Jungle Assault was released as Military Force in France and Jungle Patrol in Germany.
• Bastard Count: There were three confirmed “bastards” in Jungle Assault.
• Letterboxd: I was not surprised to find Jungle Assault on Will Slater’s list of movies with an Exploding Helicopter. After watching Jungle Assault, I have STILL only seen 24% of the movie’s on Will’s list.