Released by: Severin Films
Released on: December 13th, 2022.
Director: Bruno Mattei
Cast: Miles O’Keeffe, Donald Pleasence, Massimo Vanni, Luciano Pigozzi, Ottaviano Dell’Acqua
Year: 1987
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Double Target – Movie Review:
One of quite a few low budget wars movies that Bruno Mattei (under his infamous Vincent Dawn alias) made in The Philippines in the wake of the success of films like Apocalypse Now, Platoon and the Rambo movies, 1987’s Double Target stars Miles O’Keeffe as a man named Bob Ross. Bob is, no, not a way too mellow painter, but in fact a former commando who is brought back into action at the behest of the American government, specifically Senator Blaster (Donald Pleasence), after a series of terrorist attacks obliterate a few of their embassies in Asia. They suspect the Vietnamese are behind this.
Bob isn’t really so keen on the idea of going back into action but when the government offers to help him locate his missing son Jan (Edison Navarro), the one that his now dead wife gave birth to years ago and who he’s never really known, he doesn’t really have much of a choice but to comply. As he starts shooting his way across Asia trying to figure out who is behind the killings and why, signs start to point to a Russian maniac named Colonel Galckin (Bo Svenson) as the culprit. Will Bob Ross, with some help from McDougall (Luciano Pigozzi, credited as Alan Collions) and Toro (Zombie's Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, credited as Richard Raymond), be able to fight his way to Galckin and put a stop to his evil plans before his son and others that he cares about, like McDougall’s beautiful daughter Mary (Kristine Erlandson), get caught in the crossfire?
Loaded with the type of nonsense and stock footage inserts you want from a Mattei film, and featuring a pretty awesome, if not entirely original, shark attack scene, Double Target is loaded with goofy dialogue, cheap squibs and exploding miniatures. In short, it gives you exactly what you want from one of Mattei’s action films from the period. If you like rocket launchers and helicopters and explosions and supporting actors that look weirdly like Chuck Norris (we're looking at you, Massimo Vanni!) alongside recycled The Last Shark footage and weirdly familiar sounding soundtrack cues, this is the movie for you.
As dumb as a bag of hammers but more fun than a barrel of monkeys, Double Target makes good use of a quirky cast. While it’s fair to complain that one time Tarzan leading man Miles O’Keefe, probably better known around these here parts for Ator The Fighting Eagle, is no Reb Brown (who Mattei had used earlier on Strike Commando), he does what he needs to do: grimace, flex, show off his muscles, punch things, shoot things, blow things up. As such, he’s pretty decent in the lead. Donald Pleasence yells a lot, likely shot all of his footage in an afternoon and always seems on the verge of having an asthma attack but he’s a blast to watch here. Try not to pay too much attention to Bo Svenson’s randomly changing accent, or rather, just take it all in and enjoy it. He chews the scenery with the best of them here and is great as the film’s main villain. The supporting players are all a lot of fun here too.
Double Target – Blu-ray Review:
Double Target is presented on a 50GB disc with the feature using 33GBs. The AVC encoded 1080p high definition image is framed at 1.66.1 widescreen and is taken from a 2k scan of the original 35mm negative. Overall this looks quite nice. There are, as expected, some (well, a lot) of stock footage inserts that are sometimes clearly taken from lesser sources and you’ll notice some scratches during the opening credits and some of the scene transitions but otherwise, the image is clean and nicely detailed with very good color reproduction and strong black levels.
Audio options are provided for the film in English and Italian language 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo tracks with optional subtitles provided in English audio only. Audio quality is solid regardless of which option you choose. The tracks are clean, clear and nicely balanced.
Extras start off with Italian Masters Of War – an interview with Co-Director/Screenwriter Claudio Fragasso that runs twenty-nine minutes. He speaks here about how Mattei started making movies in The Philippines after meeting Luciano Pigozzi who had immigrated there because things were cheap. This led to Mattei scouting the country and realizing after Apocalypse Now was made there, that it would a great spot to start making war and action films on a low budget. When Strike Commando did well at the box office, Mattie leaned into this idea and Fragrasso was there for most of it, working with the director behind the scenes and coming up with story ideas. He tells some amusing stories about the pros and cons of shooting in The Philippines, working with Filipino stuntmen and crew members, replacing Reb Brown with Miles O'Keefe for Double Target, what O'Keefe and Pleasence were like to work with, creating the shark attack sequence and quite a bit more.
All About The Sentiment interviews Screenwriter Rossella Drudi for nineteen minutes in a piece that lets her share early memories of getting to know and starting to work with Mattie, his love of history and sense of humor and his hatred of actors. She also covers the editing process used on his movies and his frequent use of stock footage, writing scripts for film before the advent of computers, how these movies were financed, the influence of the Rambo movies, having to change and fix the script on the fly during production and her thoughts on working in The Philippines and on the different cast members that took part in the production.
Additionally, the disc includes a U.S. trailer and an original trailer for the movie as well as menus and chapter selection options.
Double Target - The Final Word:
Double Target might not have an original bone in its body but it’s fast paced, gleefully violent and a whole lot of good, trashy fun. The Blu-ray release from Severin Films presents the film looking and sounding great and the two interviews are both interesting and informative. Recommended for those who like their action movies dumb and cheap!
Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized Double Target Blu-ray screen caps!