Kommando Leopard (1985)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Antonio Margheriti

Writer:

Roy Nelson (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 October 1985 (West Germany)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

Hard as stone soldiers of fortune fighting to survive

Plot:

A cruel dictator rules a Latin American state. Corruption, brutality and exploitation are present every day...

Plot Keywords:

Guerilla Warfare | Fictional War | Guerilla | Dictator | Latin America

Cast

Lewis Collins	...	Carrasco
Klaus Kinski	...	Silveira
Cristina Donadio	...	Maria
Manfred Lehmann	...	Padre Julio
John Steiner	...	Smithy
Hans Leutenegger	...	Capitan
Thomas Danneberg	...	José
Francis Derosa	...	Hidalgo
Alan C. Walker	...	Emiliano
Michael James	...	Pater Miguel
Rene Abadeza	...	Hector (as René Abadeza)
Subas Herrero	...	Homoza (as Subas Herrera)

Also Known As:

Commando Leopard

Runtime:

Norway:100 min

Country:

Italy | West Germany | Switzerland

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Norway:16 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Maracaibo, Estado Zulia, Venezuela

Company:

Ascot Film

Trivia:

At an estimated 15 million in Swiss Francs, this was up to the time the most expensive Swiss-budgeted film. Approximately half the budget went into the miniature special effects.

Movie Connections:

Follows Geheimcode: Wildgänse (1984)

Another dynamite Margheriti action movie

As a kid I saw CODENAME: WILDGEESE and was none-too-impressed. Since then, I've developed more of a taste for these Italian films and found that Antonio Margheriti is possibly the best of the bunch when it comes to action scenes. Bruno Mattei is a close contender (and no I am not joking) but Margheriti takes the cake for best explosion-filmer in Italian cinema.

The airplane explosion at the airport about halfway through is reason enough to track down this movie. It looks completely awesome! Equally cool is a massive oil refinery/train explosion later in the film, not recycled footage from THE LAST HUNTER either! Also notable are a couple helicopter explosions and a huge dam getting busted.

The plot is negligible and the acting and photography pretty routine, but the great cast and action sequences make up for that. Klaus Kinski is underused as usual, but appears to be having a lot of fun firing blanks from his M-16 and mowing down dozens of extras. The (Morricone?) musical score is pretty light and well-used for the most part, working well with the action scenes. However, Margheriti undermines the ending of the film with a completely awful song "In The War" which plays over the ending credits. This is pretty similar to the endings of a lot of his films from the time period, though it doesn't end with a freeze-frame oddly enough.

If you're a serious action buff, you shouldn't go without this movie!