Counterforce

Counterforce (Escuadron) (1988)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Jose Antonio de Loma

Starring: Quite the B movie cast, as I explain below.

From: Several different companies

Why isn't this an 80's B-action movie favorite? At least it became a favorite with me, as I explain below: 

Even I-a giant movie nerd-can stumble upon a movie, or hear about something new to me because it was brought up or reviewed. The latter was the case with this film. Once I saw the cast and plot, I knew it was a must-see and it's not too terribly difficult to track down... technically I heard about it in a Rupert Pupkin Speaks article I read last March but somehow it went in one ear and out the other, despite knowing some of the cast, and what a cast it is:

Kevin Bernhardt, before he became a hotshot producer and writer
Isaac Hayes
Robert Forster
Louis Jourdan
Kabir Bedi; those two together made me chuckle as Bedi played Jourdan's bodyguard in Octopussy
George Kennedy
Andrew Stevens
Mexican star Jorge Rivero
Hugo Stiglitz

The plot: Kennedy leads a team that might as well be The A-Team except they actually kill people... they are Rivero, Stevens, Hayes and Bernhardt. They have to go to North Africa as the United States government did the sort of thing they've actually done before: meddle with another country by trying to kill Forster, who plays The Dictator (yes, that's his character's name) and he overthrew Jourdan to rule the country. Dictator things Jourdan was behind it so now his life is in jeopardy and Counterforce-who sometimes wear jumpsuits w/ matching baseball cap & the team name and their names on it!-has to protect him. Dic's nephew Bedi hires various people to try and accomplish this, including assassin Stiglitz, who wears various disguises in an attempt to do the assassination in a variety of different ways.

The description of the cast and plot is great on its own; thankfully this is cheese that is made well. It's never boring as there's plenty of action... shootouts, car chases, and even such tasks as scaling the sheer wall of a cliff-all of it is shot well. There's some hilariously over the top moments and the type of cheesy dialogue you'd expect in 80's B-action. It's a shame this is not more popular and is not on legitimate streaming sites or even better, on a Blu put out by a boutique label. Plenty of people enjoy 80's B-action and I am sure they will dig something that is legitimately entertaining and has a cast full of faces familiar to them.

Special note has to be made about Stiglitz and what he wears. When he's not in outfits that are part of his disguise, his lounge clothes are leather pants, a dark green jacket, a dark blue scarf, and a black t-shirt... #look. It isn't right away that you see the front of the shirt, but once you do, I was astounded. HUGO STIGLITZ WEARS AN IRON MAIDEN T-SHIRT is not a phrase I ever expected to type but I am incredibly happy that I can as that's what he does in Counterforce. The shirt is based on their 1985 Powerslave album, meaning it has an Egyptian motif. Speaking of music, Joel Goldsmith-yes, son of Jerry-created what may be the most 80's action film score I've ever heard, so that means I loved it.

It may be me and my sometimes peculiar tastes that I had such a good time with a random foreign action flick that is sadly forgotten, yet a good time I had.