Cocaine Wars (1985)

Miami DEA agent Cliff Adams is in South America working undercover for Gonzalo Reyes, the biggest cocaine exporter in South America. Cliff's fiancée, Janet Meade, is a reporter doing a ... See full summary »

Director:

Héctor Olivera

Writers:

Steven M. Krauzer (screenplay), Héctor Olivera (story)

Stars:

John Schneider, Kathryn Witt, Royal Dano

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Schneider	...	DEA Agent Cliff Adams
Kathryn Witt	...	Janet Meade
Royal Dano	...	Bailey
Federico Luppi	...	Gonzalo Reyes
Rodolfo Ranni	...	Gen. Lujan
Ivan Grey	...	Klausmann
Ricardo Hamlin	...	Wilhelm (as Richard Hamlin)
Edgardo Moreira	...	Rikki (as Edgar Moore)
Armando Capo	...	Oswaldo (as Armand Capo)
Martín Coria	...	Gomez (as Martin Korey)
Tom Cundom	...	Bailey's Driver
Ken Edgar	...	Kenny
Joe Capanga	...	Miguel
Marcos Woinsky	...	Pugg (as Mark Woinski)
Jacques Arndt	...	Franco

Storyline

Miami DEA agent Cliff Adams is in South America working undercover for Gonzalo Reyes, the biggest cocaine exporter in South America. Cliff's fiancée, Janet Meade, is a reporter doing a story about Reyes. Reyes orders Cliff to kill Marcelo Villalba, who is running for his countries position as president, but Cliff can't bring himself to do it, because his assignment from the DEA is to work against Reyes. Reyes is afraid Villalba will put him out of business, and is afraid that Janet's story will do the same thing, so Reyes sends someone else after Villalba, and then Reyes has Janet kidnapped, and Cliff is the only one who can keep Reyes' plans from succeeding.

---

Plot Keywords:

reporter | cocaine | female nudity | head held underwater | man tortured by electric shocks to nipples | 

---

Taglines:

John Schneider a one man's army.

---

Genres:

Action | Drama

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Argentina USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vice Wars

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aries Cinematográfica Argentina, New Horizons

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Gen. Lujan: [while applying the cattle prod to Cliff's teeth] "Tell me, Cliff... where are the papers?... You have no choice because I'm going to kill you...

---

Connections

Referenced in Tony (2009)

User Reviews

It's Nose Candy for your eyes!

"A Lone American Hero Challenges The Might Of A Vicious Drug Empire!" Cliff Adams (Schneider) is an American in South America. He works for drug super-kingpin Reyes (Luppi) and his partner General Lujan (Rodolfo Ranni) as their personal pilot and assistant. However, Cliff is a DEA agent working hard, undercover, to bust Reyes' organization. When Marcelo Villalba (John Vitali), a revolutionary, "power to the people"-type politician starts gaining some political momentum, Reyes gets worried, because Villalba is anti-drug. Reyes asks Cliff to kill Villalba. This unleashes a chain of events that sweeps up Cliff and his love interest/reporter Janet (Witt) in the violence. Will Cliff be able to protect Janet, Villalba, and their friend Bailey (Dano) from the thugs of Reyes? Will Reyes succeed in his nefarious drug-running plans? And who are those strange German characters? "Cocaine Wars" somehow manages to be pretty silly, yet unmemorable. Odds are, you will forget this movie very shortly after watching it. Maybe it's the unclear, disjointed way the plot rolls out, or some of the stilted dialogue and wacky dubbing (things that normally make these types of movies worth watching), but there it is. The unshaven John Schneider, who, here at least, is best described as "flatly charismatic", does a competent job as Cliff. His hirsute status gives him a doglike appearance, perhaps a golden retriever. I mean this in the best possible way, of course. Luckily, his mustache saves the movie.

There are the standard car chases and shooting-based action scenes, and the movie would definitely have been remiss in denying Schneider the all-important torture scene. There are some parallels to the Peter Fonda movie Fatal Mission (1990), as well as The Dogs of War (1980) and The Expendables (2010). The main music cue is very similar to the opening notes of Beverly Hills 90210. You think Schneider, after running people off cliffs and such, will at any moment walk into the Peach Pit.

Cocaine Wars is a very 80's subject, and this Roger Corman production, released on the great Media label, perhaps could have been executed better. But at 82 minutes, you can't really go wrong.

For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com