Macaroni Combat [Italian War]

[ChicGandil Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ChicGandil]

Starting to watch some of these with only Inglorious Bastards and The Last Hunter as a frame of reference. Having found some trailers/clips on YouTube, I'm thinking Tornado-The Last Blood (1983), War Bus (1987), Strike Commando (1987) and Born To Fight (1989) may be worth viewing/tracking down next. I tried to take in Five For Hell, but it was too light and jokey for me to hang with.

Anyway, I thought I'd see if anyone has a top five (or ten) list to float.

[Jack J Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jack J]

THE LAST HUNTER is certainly one of my faves. There's a sequel called TIGER JOE but unfortunately it's not on dvd or bluray (best release is actually the Japanese vhs). WAR BUS is great! I also really like Joe D'Amato's TOUGH TO KILL (not on blu either).

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

Tiger Joe needs a legitimate release. It was on one of those 'public domain' sets in a widescreen VHS rip with some other Italian/Philippines stuff.

http://www.rockshockpop.com/forums/c...Presents-Mercs

[Jack J Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jack J]

Yes. They used the letterboxed Japanese VHS for that bootleg set.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

I've seen quite a few of these films. The Mill Creek 50 movie set Combat Classics has several of them including Lenzi's DESERT COMMANDOS. That's a solid entry with some well staged and executed action sequences. Also COMMANDOS with Lee Van Cleef is another worth checking out. THE BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN, directed by Giorgio Ferroni (NIGHT OF THE DEVILS, MILL THE OF STONE WOMEN and several good spaghetti westerns) is pretty entertaining also. HELL IN NORMANDY, starring Guy Madison and Peter Lee Lawrence is another I would recommend. Wild East released a double feature of war films - CHURCHILL'S LEOPARDS and SALT IN THE WOUND - but despite the presence of Klaus Kinski in both I found them to be less than engaging. I do have a soft spot for FIVE FOR HELL, it was directed by Gianfranco Parolini who did the SABATA films and it has a similar, lighthearted and acrobatic vibe.

I do have to say that while some of these films are quite good I have yet to see one that made the kind of impression on me that the top tier spaghetti westerns or gialli do.

[The Silly Swede Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Silly Swede]

The WW2 ones rely to heavily on stock footage, IMO, but the Phillipino ´Nam ones are often more to my liking as they often have a bit of a sleazy approach.

Most in the genre are shit though, but there are quite a few gems in there.

Most really good ones have already been mentioned, but I would like to add Margheritis Codename: Wildgeese, Kommando: Leopard and Der Commander all starring Lewis Collins. They are shit, but the right kind of shit. (And Lee Van Cleef, Kinski and Donald Pleasence are in one or more of em) and also I am somewhat partial to Last Flight to Hell with Reb Brown, even if it not strictly a war movie.

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

Lest we forget The Beast in Heat, the ultimate combination of Nazi sleaze and recycled scenes from straight Italian WW II movies!

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

Most really good ones have already been mentioned, but I would like to add Margheritis Codename: Wildgeese, Kommando: Leopard and Der Commander all starring Lewis Collins. They are shit, but the right kind of shit. (And Lee Van Cleef, Kinski and Donald Pleasence are in one or more of em)

True, those are good, trashy fun. Ernest Borgnine is also in CODENAME: WILDGEESE. I have those Ascot Elite BDs and they're pretty sweet.

[ChicGandil Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ChicGandil]

Warbus, as advertised, was pretty great. I thought Tornado/The Last Blood was just as good. So far my favorite WWII variant has been Probability Zero with Henry Silva, but yeah - the sleaze factor really helps the Viet Nam set ones to reach a higher level. Still, I want to see Commandos. I'll check out Codename: Wildgeese, Commando Leopard and The Commander as well. The Beast In Heat I already had locked down in the Naziploitation wing of my collection. What is Last Flight To Hell exactly?

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

This thread has inspired me to finally order The Last Hunter so I can ditch my Shitco DVD. It probably won't arrive for months though.

What does everyone else make of Eagles over London? It was a little too conventional for my tastes. I'm not the world's biggest Castellari fan as it is, but I felt this could have been made by anyone.

[Jack J Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jack J]

TORNADO, CODE NAME: WILD GEESE, COMMANDO LEOPARD, COMMANDER, COBRA MISSION, THE WILD GEESE are in an English friendly Blu-ray box-set in Germany, and also as stand-alone releases.
https://trashy-filipino-war-movies.b...lection-6.html

[ChicGandil Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ChicGandil]

That set looks pretty badass. I'm halfway through Codename: Wildgeese. Not disappointed. (Although I did have to leave it midway to go to work).

[The Silly Swede Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Silly Swede]

What does everyone else make of Eagles over London? It was a little too conventional for my tastes. I'm not the world's biggest Castellari fan as it is, but I felt this could have been made by anyone.

I agree. It is an ok film, but is more or less devoid of any character or style. It is quite ordinary in all aspects.

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

I agree. It is an ok film, but is more or less devoid of any character or style. It is quite ordinary in all aspects.

I think generally speaking, from the examples that I've seen, Italian war films are not as distinctive as their westerns, crime or horror movies. I guess it's a more conventional genre to begin with with less room to go completely crazy. I'd love to see something as distinctive, sprawling and laissez-faire as The Good the Bad and the Ugly set in WWII, if there is such a film.

[Andrew Monroe Pallid Hands Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew Monroe]

I think generally speaking, from the examples that I've seen, Italian war films are not as distinctive as their westerns, crime or horror movies.

That's the impression I get too. As I mentioned before I have yet to see one that knocked my socks off like the best of those other genres do. Odd really, as many of the same directors, actors, writers and composers are involved. I don't think it's that war films are more limiting than westerns, crime or horror - westerns in particular seem to occupy a similar space - but for whatever reason they don't rise to the heights of the other genres.