Mercenary Fighters (1988)

The president of an African country wants to boost his economy with a new dam. He ignores the protests of the tribes in the flooded region, so they declare rebellion. To avoid bad publicity... See full summary »

Director:

Riki Shelach Nissimoff

Writers:

Andrew Deutsch, Bud Schaetzle (screenplay),

Stars:

Jerry Biggs, Reb Brown, Henry Cele

Cast

Credited cast:
Jerry Biggs
Reb Brown	...	D.J. Christian
Henry Cele	...	Jaunde
Robert DoQui	...	Colonel Kjemba
Peter Fonda	...	Virelli
James Mitchum	...	Wilson
Ron O'Neal	...	Cliff Taylor
Ian Steadman
Joanna Weinberg	...	Nurse Warwick

Storyline

The president of an African country wants to boost his economy with a new dam. He ignores the protests of the tribes in the flooded region, so they declare rebellion. To avoid bad publicity, the president doesn't use his army, but hires four international mercenaries, who shall find tribes leader Kuruba and smother the protest. However after learning about the tribes motivation, the Vietnam veterans T.J. and Cliff realize how they're being used and reconsider.

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Plot Keywords:

africa | independent film

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Taglines:

War is hell. Especially if you fight on both sides.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

South Africa USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

February 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Freedom Fighters

Filming Locations:

South Africa

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cannon Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to actor Richard Kiel in his autobiography "Making it Big in the Movies", he only turned down four roles in his whole life and the part that Peter Fonda plays in this movie is one of them.

User Reviews

A BLOT UPON SEVERAL REPUTATIONS.

This is of the category of action films, and action is the yield with very little reprieve in this generic tale of contemporary mercenaries in central Africa, entangled with intratribal warfare as the party in power in an imaginary nation hires them to protect construction of a dam which will displace villages of the rulers' historical adversaries. The leader of the hirelings, Vitelli (Peter Fonda), assembles a group of individuals to his unsparing taste, including characters played by Ron O'Neal (listed as O' Neil in the credits), James Mitchum, and Reb Brown as D.J., among other stalwarts, and they decamp to the mythical nation where the stunt work begins. We are then privy to watching vicious attacks without stint by our heroes, with helicopter gunships and, of course, sophisticated ordnance, as croutoned bodies are sent flying by a seemingly limitless progression of explosions while one marvels at the determination to persevere of the luckless quarry. The type of creature who enjoys this sort of fare would undoubtedly be delighted if this course of behaviour were to continue, but the well-funded producers apparently prefer that a love element be present (with Reb Brown!) as well as a midstream shift of allegiance by D.J. which makes no sense at all. Brown obviously has a forbidding time with any dialogue, but does enjoy yelling, and does a great deal of that, making it, if possible, even more surreal that a collection of tribesmen, with a distinct cultural history, would desire that sharp shift of mores required to accept D.J. as their warrior chieftain. After all, being a mercenary is just a job, as we are notified often from the script; unfortunately, not a very capable job is evident in this production, with sloppy direction, flawed tactics followed by all combatants, and some very poor cast performances, although O'Neal tries to rise above it all.