The Annihilators (1985)

Director:

Charles E. Sellier Jr.

Writer:

Brian Russell (writer)

Release Date:

January 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Plot:

Upon his return from Vietnam, an ex-soldier finds his neighborhood has deteriorated badly, and is being terrorized by a vicious street gang. He calls some of his GI buddies, and together they hatch a plan to get rid of the gang.

Plot Keywords:

Vietnam | Ex Soldier | Street | Funeral | Punk

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Jim Antonio	...	Lt. Hawkins
Sid Conrad	...	Louie Nace
Gerrit Graham	...	Ray Track
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs	...	Garrett Floyd
Paul Koslo	...	Roy Boy Jagger
Dennis Redfield	...	Joe Nace
Christopher Stone	...	Bill
Andy Wood	...	Woody
Bruce Evers	...	Jesse
Millie Fisher	...	Marie
Tom Harper	...	Doc
Becky Harris	...	Woman Shopper
Mimi Honce	...	Gertie
Hugh Jarrett	...	Arthur
John Lawhorn	...	Earl

Also Known As:

Action Force (Europe: English title) (video title)

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:18 | USA:R | UK:18 (cut) | Iceland:16 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

2nd Street Tunnel, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Balcor Film Investors

Roy Boy is coming to get you!!!

Pretty awful but watchable and entertaining. It's the same old story (if you've lived through the 80s). Vietnam vets fight together as buddies against injustice back in the States. A-Team meets Death Wish, my favorite!

Time goes on, the soldiers go home, and years later a friend is in trouble. No, wait -- in fact, the friend is dead and it is his dad that's in trouble. Our first hero, Joey, is killed by an exceedingly horrifying (super pointy) meat tenderizer as he tries to defend his father's small store from the local "protection" gang despite being wheelchair bound from the war. Desperate for help, the father talks to Sarge, the leader of Joey's old unit from Vietnam, when Sarge shows up for the funeral.

Well, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the old gang saddles up for the city. You can pretty much imagine most of the rest of the movie.

The one thing that drove me crazy is that Sarge keeps haranguing his men about planning, and about how they're really good at what they do when they plan ahead. But Joey wouldn't have been put in a wheelchair by a gunshot in Vietnam in the first place if the unit hadn't been messing around! Then when things are going really well in the city as they battle the gangs, they do it again. For no reason at all, they completely bypass their plan and try to nail the gang without everyone being present. Phh!!!! I raise my hands in disgust. Foolishness!

There is also a suspicious moment when all present members of the unit make sure to try out the heroin they snatch from the gang to make sure it's real. EVERY single one of them. Hmm....

What are you going to do? Keep watching, I guess. The movie isn't too horrible to watch, but it IS a tease. There are all these climactic moments when nothing actually winds up happening. The most dramatic things that happen are those at the beginning of the movie -- the explosives in Vietnam, Joey's death battle, and the gang brutally kicking an innocent teddy bear aside (poor Teddy!).

I guess my main beef with this movie is that I feel let down by it. Even the confusing subplots with "mystery helpers" and their bizarrely cross-purpose motives wasn't enough to save it at the end. But someday maybe it'll all come right and they'll make a sequel. Ha ha ha ha!!!