The Bamboo Gods Project: Attack And Destroy (1981)

Monday, November 27, 2023

Attack And Destroy (1981)

1981 - Attack And Destroy (Kinavesa Films International)

[Filipino/South Korean co-production, Philippines release date 13th March 1981. Filmed back-to-back with Hantingan (1981); translated Korean title “Guerrilla In The Philippines”. Released in Spain as “Ataca Y Destruye” and in Turkey as “Saldir Ve Yok Et”]

Directors Kwon Young Soon [Korean spelling “Gwon Yeong-Sun”], Noli Villar Producer [uncredited] Kim Yong Lim Music Totoy Nuke Editor Joe Mendoza Sound Supervisor Bimbo Chong Production Coordinator Robert Cheng Assistant Director Shin Dong Cruz Effect Man Santos Gallardo Makeup Artist Koun-Ho An Setman Nick Lagame? Propsman Dionisio Reyes? Utility Man Tony Amoto? Schedule Master Ador Cuaresma Production Assistant Luz Aquino Assistant Editors Mario Mendoza, Cecar Baltazar Stills Rudy Castillo Layout Artist [uncredited] Eddie Domer

Cast Dante Rivero (Orly Ramos), Jess Lapid Jr (Miguel), Azenith Briones (Maria Ramos), Marissa del Mar, Romano Kristoff (American Captain), James Gaines [Jr] (Sgt James Brown), Hee Yuen Kang, Joung Han Kook, Ken Watanabe (General Oh), Tae Joung Kim, Jimmy Cruz, Burt Rivero, Frank Lapid, Joe Baltazar, Leo Curay, Frank Ramos, Rene Carbon, Ramon Vista, Josie Mijoranda, Tessie Mendoza, Carmen Shing, Hermie Yazon, Shara Gambao’s Genesis Dancing Models, SOS Daredevils, Golden Bullets Stuntmen, [uncredited] Eddie Garcia (Major Escudero)

WAR

Part of the Kinavesa/Silver Star Project

MINI-REVIEW by Andrew Leavold: Attack And Destroy (1981) has a sizeable foreign presence, judging from its South Korean co-director and two leads, but in reality is no better than the hundreds of by-the-numbers Tagalog language action films of the period. Eddie Garcia, the veteran actor whose roles as cheating husband and charming rapist far outnumber his hero ones, leads the multinational cast as a Filipino Major fighting with guerrillas Orly (Dante Rivero) and Miguel (Jess Lapid Jr) in territory occupied by Korean-Japanese General Oh (Ken Watanabe) and the treacherous Colonel Imaguchi, a cackling psychopath more interested in claiming for himself the gold he's entrusted to bury. His underling, the similarly Korean-Japanese Lieutenant Kim, defects to the guerrillas' side along with the General's daughter, and feeds information to Orly's sister Maria (Azenith Briones), an exotic dancer and mole at the Japanese Officer's Club, and specialist in sending her basket of trained cobras to do her killing. Also present are an American Captain (Romano Kristoff) and Sergeant (James Gaines Jr) to boost its export chances, evidently limited to theatres in Greece and Egypt, and perhaps a few other minor territories; but with its complete disinterest in period detail, rancid English dubbing worse than most cheap kung fu flicks, and an earnestness bordering on sanctimonious, Attack And Destroy remains little more than a footnote in the Kinavesa saga. In its defence, however, Jim Gaines' big torture moment with Colonel Imaguchi, in which he blurts out his name "Sergeant… James… Brown!", renders the scene, and with it the rest of the film, just that slightly bit more memorable.