Tweekums When Michael Smith, a CIA agent, is captured by government forces in Angola his father, retired US Marine Colonel Bill Smith sets out to rescue him. He flies into South West Africa and learns that his son is being interrogated by an East German officer in an Angolan fort. He hires a group of mercenaries and heads through the Skeleton Coast desert towards the border. Things go wrong when they cross paths with Captain Simpson; a cruel man who is employed by the diamond mines to hunt down smugglers. This leaves them a man down and more importantly their vehicles are destroyed. He leaves Smith and his people to die in the desert but they find a new way to Angola. Once there they run into the rebel leader Smith's son had been working with then head to the fort to attempt a rescue.This is a distinctly average film; the plot is fairly basic and much of the action is fairly laughable. That said it isn't terrible; it just could have been much better. Ernest Borgnine is solid enough as Col. Smith and Oliver Reid was suitably menacing as Captain Simpson; it was a pity that his character didn't play a larger role. Robert Vaughn was okay as East German intelligence officer Maj. Schneider; he played the role fairly straight when some over-the-top hamminess might have suited the film more! The direction isn't the greatest; if it wasn't for the fact that it was a bit violent in places one could be forgiven for thinking it was made for television. Overall I'd say that this isn't worth going out of your way to find… it was just about worth the 50p I paid for it.

shawhore This film is one of the greatest illusions I have ever witnessed - It managed to make my interest disappear right before my very eyes. Astounding! The acting made my hair stand on end (without any wires) and at one point I must have been hypnotised, because to this day I still haven't been able to recall anything redeeming about this film. There was some discreet mind-misdirecting going on during the act, I mean film, because my mind didn't just begin to wander, it took a bus halfway through the film and didn't turn up until the next morning. Conjuring Oliver Reed up in this film was a pretty clever gimmick as well. The penultimate showpiece was a "sleight of hand" trick: where I gave 36p of my money (via Amazon) for this DVD and never saw the cash again - simply amazing! All these of were mere parlour tricks though, compared to the final, and best trick of all... the one where I sawed the disc in half!

Comeuppance Reviews When his son Michael, who is an undercover CIA operative, is kidnapped and imprisoned by the Angolan army, his father Col. Bill Smith (Borgnine) snaps into action and assembles a team of inter-racial mercenaries to travel deep into Africa to free his son. This team includes, but is not limited to: Smith himself, Blade (Vosloo), Toshiro (Kwong), Sam (Mulford), Chuck (Kennedy) and Rick (Greene). All have their specialties in the fighting arts. On the side of the baddies we have Col. Schneider (Vaughn), supposedly an East German with some interests in the Angolan army vs. the rebels, and Capt. Simpson (Reed), yet another character who has his own interests. Add to this mix Elia (Lom) and you have a desert/jungle adventure best suited to Saturday afternoon viewing.Clearly, the only real reason to see this movie is its incredible cast. Our hometown hero Ernest Borgnine leads the pack with his engaging and always-upbeat performance. It really is a pleasure to see him shooting machine guns along with all the younger cast. We also always love to see Oliver Reed doing what he does best - yelling crazily - whether he technically has to be there or not. He plays a very similar character here as he does in Rage to Kill (1987). Robert Vaughn brings his distinct voice to the proceedings, and a fairly early performance by Arnold Vosloo completes the picture. Interestingly enough, he met and married co-star Nancy Mulford when they met on this film. See, Skeleton Coast really brings people together.While the many stars on show will draw viewers in, and there is plenty of beautiful scenery and such, the movie is kind of flat and feels like filler at times. It also has some wacky musical stings that seem inappropriate. Really, this is just a star-studded Exploding Hut movie, and it's also a bit overlong (probably to try to accommodate all the characters).On the technical front, if you watch this on Netflix streaming, the colors are soft and faded. On the Nelson VHS, that is not the case. The movie looks a lot more normal, with sharper colors. If you opt to buy this movie, look for the Nelson VHS.While the wonderfully jolly Ernest Borgnine is a personal hero, Skeleton Coast really is nothing overly good OR overly bad. It's kind of somewhere in the middle. If you're a fan of any of the stars involved, and you're okay with that, do proceed. If not, your time might be better spent elsewhere. If Skeleton Coast was The Expendables (2010) of its day, then Ernest Borgnine truly is the original Stallone.For more action insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Wizard-8 One has to wonder why all these Hollywood actors signed up in 1987 to do a movie that was a co-production with South Africa. Even when you put that fact aside, what you still have here is a very strange production. For one thing, can anyone figure out why Oliver Reed's character is in this movie? He makes a couple of appearances, then bam! he's gone and never is seen again. Herbert Lom's character could also easily be written out as well. Anyway, the movie overall is kind of talky and a little dull. Though there are some nice African locations, some decent action sequences, and Ernest Borgnine once again gives an entertaining performance. You get a little more out of him in this role because it gives you a rare chance to hear him swear (something Borgnine doesn't like to do in a movie), and you get to see him really ham it up when he disguises himself as a Cuban colonel (!) A movie to watch while you're reading a book.