BROTHERS IN BLOOD is a typical Italian war movie of 1987, heavily indebted to RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART 2 but made without any of that film's cheesy fun or entertainment value. Instead, this film is quite boring. Peter Hooten is the usual bland hero type, leading a squad of soldiers against impossible numbers on dangerous missions and betrayed by his own side. Werner Pochath has a typically bizarre turn as a cross-dressing fighter while Bo Svenson and Martin Balsam are the old-timers turning up for their pay cheques. If you're looking for a cure for insomnia, this is the film.
5 Reviews
Good idea...fails to execute
brainpuddle28 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Hoping this would be a "good bad" movie but it just can't pull itself together.
Warning: synopsis/spoilers -
Nam mission goes sideways. Danny Duh-may-oh gets left behind as wounded Sgt Steele escapes in helicopter (and seems to groan, "Daddy's bleeding.") 12 years later Nam POW's are kidnapped by Central American terrorists (?) and Steele's old team goes to free them (including a guy in drag who maybe resents it?). Way too slow & not enough action. A double crossing C.I.A. man scowls, "Don't lose him."
Warning: synopsis/spoilers -
Nam mission goes sideways. Danny Duh-may-oh gets left behind as wounded Sgt Steele escapes in helicopter (and seems to groan, "Daddy's bleeding.") 12 years later Nam POW's are kidnapped by Central American terrorists (?) and Steele's old team goes to free them (including a guy in drag who maybe resents it?). Way too slow & not enough action. A double crossing C.I.A. man scowls, "Don't lose him."
Danny! Daaaannnnnyy!
Bezenby3 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
IMDB description: "War is Hell... especially NAM. A group of battle weary soldiers in Vietnam are trapped behind enemy lines. There is no way back. No help on the way. It's only a matter of time and these guys intend to "Die Fighting" Bo Svenson and Peter Hooten together again (Inglorious B*stards) join the Late, great Werner Porchat (as a part-time drag queen commando) in this explosive Italian commando film."
Only the prologue takes place in Nam. Only one guy is left behind and by the time the actual plot starts he's in South America, where most of this films takes place. The above description is also on Amazon Prime. Maybe the guy who wrote it watched the first five minutes of the film, then thought it was over. I kind of wish I'd done that.
Bo Svenson is the Sarge suffering from guilt after leaving his mate Danny behind in the bush, and years later he's hitting the sauce and getting into trouble with the missus. Once he discovers that Danny has been kidnapped in the Caribbean and taken to South America with a load of ex-POWs, he gets his old team together and decides to get Danny back. Now, I'm not sure if the Vietcong released Danny and the others and they just remained together as a group, or the terrorists in South America had a deal with the Cong. It's not the only thing that happens here that makes no sense.
Bo grabs mate Peter Hooten (married, has sick kid), Mark (runs a casino, in trouble with the Mafia) and Werner Pochatch (who is being forced against his will to be a drag queen and sex slave for a local warlord!) and they all head out to wherever this film takes place. Unluckily for them Major Martin Balsam in on their tail, ready to kill them for....some reason. Both Svenson and Balsam are dubbed by other people, and that doesn't help either.
By this point I was thinking the perhaps the slow pace of the film was leading up to a balls-to-the-wall last hour of violence and huts exploding, but then the film dragged on even more. The lads do finally make it to the island where the hostages are being held, but even then they kind of run out of fuel, have to steal a truck, have a discussion about stealing a boat, and then, then, only Bo Svenson heads to the compound to free the prisoners.
(Spoiler coming up, if anyone cares) - Turns out Danny hated everyone for leaving him behind so much that he turned his back on America and became a communist. He's the head of the terrorists and hates Bo Svenson, at least until a grenade blows him up, wipes out his memory of the last ten years, whereupon he joins the good guys, thinking that he's been rescued in Nam! If only the rest of the film could have been that stupid. Didn't Tonino Valeri make the kick buttock Western The Price of Power? What happened here?
Not action packed, stupid or nonsensical enough to be a great eighties Italian war film, Brothers in Blood kind of meanders along for most of its short running time. There also looks to be dialogue scenes missing here and there, as if some guy try to make it less boring. And failed.
I did like the 'what happened to the characters' bit at the end. Nice and pointless. Still, where else would you see Werner Pochatch in drag?
Only the prologue takes place in Nam. Only one guy is left behind and by the time the actual plot starts he's in South America, where most of this films takes place. The above description is also on Amazon Prime. Maybe the guy who wrote it watched the first five minutes of the film, then thought it was over. I kind of wish I'd done that.
Bo Svenson is the Sarge suffering from guilt after leaving his mate Danny behind in the bush, and years later he's hitting the sauce and getting into trouble with the missus. Once he discovers that Danny has been kidnapped in the Caribbean and taken to South America with a load of ex-POWs, he gets his old team together and decides to get Danny back. Now, I'm not sure if the Vietcong released Danny and the others and they just remained together as a group, or the terrorists in South America had a deal with the Cong. It's not the only thing that happens here that makes no sense.
Bo grabs mate Peter Hooten (married, has sick kid), Mark (runs a casino, in trouble with the Mafia) and Werner Pochatch (who is being forced against his will to be a drag queen and sex slave for a local warlord!) and they all head out to wherever this film takes place. Unluckily for them Major Martin Balsam in on their tail, ready to kill them for....some reason. Both Svenson and Balsam are dubbed by other people, and that doesn't help either.
By this point I was thinking the perhaps the slow pace of the film was leading up to a balls-to-the-wall last hour of violence and huts exploding, but then the film dragged on even more. The lads do finally make it to the island where the hostages are being held, but even then they kind of run out of fuel, have to steal a truck, have a discussion about stealing a boat, and then, then, only Bo Svenson heads to the compound to free the prisoners.
(Spoiler coming up, if anyone cares) - Turns out Danny hated everyone for leaving him behind so much that he turned his back on America and became a communist. He's the head of the terrorists and hates Bo Svenson, at least until a grenade blows him up, wipes out his memory of the last ten years, whereupon he joins the good guys, thinking that he's been rescued in Nam! If only the rest of the film could have been that stupid. Didn't Tonino Valeri make the kick buttock Western The Price of Power? What happened here?
Not action packed, stupid or nonsensical enough to be a great eighties Italian war film, Brothers in Blood kind of meanders along for most of its short running time. There also looks to be dialogue scenes missing here and there, as if some guy try to make it less boring. And failed.
I did like the 'what happened to the characters' bit at the end. Nice and pointless. Still, where else would you see Werner Pochatch in drag?
Low-octaine Vietnam Vet actioner
Serpent-57 April 1999
I am a big mark on Italian films, but this film is just plain boring. Bo Svenson and Peter Hootens together again (last seen in INGLORIOUS BASTARDS in 1978) joins the Late Werner Porchat (a part-time drag queen commando) in another Italian commando film. The reason why I hate this film so much is that Martin Balsam and Bo Svenson have a very familar voice, and they are dubbed in this film by someone else! The film also is very slow moving and the soundtrack has no energy. I can't comment on the acting for the three U.S. stars are dubbed. Not recommended.
The Inglorious B*stards reunite
Chase_Witherspoon3 January 2024
Overly sentimental action-drama stars the big Swede Bo Svenson as a Vietnam vet struggling to overcome his service memories until he's forced to confront them again in a daring mission to rescue a long-abandoned comrade.
Peter Hooten (formerly the small screen's 'Dr Strange') plays one of Svenson's reliable wartime buddies, both the actresses playing Svenson and Hooten's long-suffering wives are uncredited (!), Pochath is a reluctant drag-queen recruited by Svenson to rescue their fallen brother, and then veteran Martin Balsam like all the other actors is badly overdubbed as a military brass who suspects Svenson knows too much and doesn't want any 'unauthorised heroes lying around' quote, unquote (whatever that means). Spaghetti-western fans might also recognise an uncredited appearance by Riccardo Pizzuti as a prominent prison camp henchman.
It's a tedious bore made worse by the incongruous dubbing, comically absurd slapstick-style humour, and melodramatic pacing, weaving 'The Deer Hunter' and 'The Wild Geese' with little success. Things finally heat up in the final acts featuring the ubiquitous bullet spraying, muzzle blasts and controlled explosions perfectly suited for video, snacks and low expectations. And be sure to stick around for the voice-over epilogue which is truly hilarious.
Peter Hooten (formerly the small screen's 'Dr Strange') plays one of Svenson's reliable wartime buddies, both the actresses playing Svenson and Hooten's long-suffering wives are uncredited (!), Pochath is a reluctant drag-queen recruited by Svenson to rescue their fallen brother, and then veteran Martin Balsam like all the other actors is badly overdubbed as a military brass who suspects Svenson knows too much and doesn't want any 'unauthorised heroes lying around' quote, unquote (whatever that means). Spaghetti-western fans might also recognise an uncredited appearance by Riccardo Pizzuti as a prominent prison camp henchman.
It's a tedious bore made worse by the incongruous dubbing, comically absurd slapstick-style humour, and melodramatic pacing, weaving 'The Deer Hunter' and 'The Wild Geese' with little success. Things finally heat up in the final acts featuring the ubiquitous bullet spraying, muzzle blasts and controlled explosions perfectly suited for video, snacks and low expectations. And be sure to stick around for the voice-over epilogue which is truly hilarious.
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