Just watched these no-nonsense Cannon action classics again. I remember when we rented the video tapes back in the day and watched the films during our movie weekends. Both films are nasty and violent actioners with lots of civillian victims.
Invasion U.S.A. (1985)
"A Soviet superagent named Rostov leads an invasion of guerrilla squads who, after landing in Florida, spread throughout the U.S. and start shooting bazookas into suburban homes, inciting race riots by impersonating the police and attacking ethnic events, and planting bombs in churches and on school buses. Soon martial law descends as the country sinks into chaos. Only American superagent Matt Hunter can take Rostov on" (Amazon)
Invasion USA was directed by the legendary Joseph Zito (The Prowler, Friday IV, Missing in Action) and written by James Bruner, Chuck Norris and Aaron Norris.
Chuck Norris is ultra cool in the leading role and Richard Lynch is awesome as the evil Rostov. Melissa Prophet and Alexander Zale also star and you can also see the great Billy Drago but sadly Rostov kills his character right away.
If you like guns and explosions then you will love this one. Cool fact: Until recently (2007), Invasion U.S.A. was MGM's second highest selling home video title behind Gone with the Wind. I remember that it did very well also in Finland.
"A retired secret service agent, Captain Matt Hunter (Dudikoff), takes on a sinister right-wing political organization called the Pentangle. He comes to the aid of his best friend Larry Richards (James), an African-American politician who has become a target for the Pentangle's henchmen. Impressed by Dudikoff's martial arts skills, the Pentangle leaders try to persuade him to join their cause and to kidnap his sister Sarah (Gereighty) to make sure he cooperates. It´s payback time!"
Avenging Force was directed by another legend Sam Firstenberg (Revenge of the Ninja, Ninja III, Breakin´ 2, American Ninja) and written by James Booth who also stars in the film.
Michael Dudikoff plays Matt Hunter this time. Chuck Norris was originally planned to return as the character Matt Hunter but he became tied up on other Cannon film productions. The only connection with Invasion USA is that they both are ex secret agents. Oh yeah, and they drive pick ups The other stars are Steve James, excellent John P. Ryan, William Wallace, Karl Johnson and Marc Alaimo.
I thikn that this is one of the best action movies ever made. Great fight sequences, fantastic villains and very good score composed by George S. Clinton.
Posted by Johnny Roarke is reckless (Member # 9826) on :
Aah, the good ol' days when Cannon ruled the movie industry
To be honest, í haven't seen either of these flicks in over 20 years or so. I never even realised that they featured the same lead character.
I think it's a shame MGM didn't do anything special for their dvd releases of both these movies, since they apparently were big money-makers back in the day. An audio-commentary or something would have been nice. Nevertheless i think i need to revisit them both some time soon. Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
i second that as well atomik, i'd rate avenging force right up there as one of the best (it was direct to video in the u.k) action releases of the 80s.
directed with some skill by sam firstenberg it has none of the comic book feel of something like firstenbergs earlier american ninja and its later sequel ,instead it has a much nastier edge to it with some vicious kills plus the character of larry richards as played by steve james's being subjected to much racial abuse from the hunting group the pentangle.
superb movie,avenging force, platoon leader ,american ninja 1& 2,dudikoff sure did star in some entertaining action flicks.
as for invasion u.s.a that is totally awesome as well,i think us guys were so spoilt during these years, dudikoff,norris,bronson,van damme,stallone etc. etc.
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
on a side note how cool is this track from american ninja 2 http://youtu.be/H_65x4w7pMw - truckin by george s.clinton.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Yeah, Johnny. MGM is such a bare bones company. It would have been great to hear some stories behind the movies. I know that they even pressed some Avenging Force promo material with Norris in it. (The working title was Night Hunter) Check them out, i know that you still love ´em too!
Glad to see that you also like them, warrior. Yes, these are nasty flicks. No children are safe from these SOB´s. Gotta love those Clinton tunes!
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