The Last Hunter (1980)

Directed by: Antonio Margheriti
Starring: David Warbeck, Tisa Farrow, John Steiner

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Demoralizing Radio Announcer: "Go home American boy... don't obey your commander, he's only sending you out to die... this isn't your war... go home to your girl!"

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Captain Henry Morris (David Warbeck) is sent to Vietnam on a mission that will take him deep into enemy territory. Morris must track down the source of the radio transmission that is sending demoralizing anti-war propaganda to American troops. Antonio Margheriti's Italian 'man-on-a-mission' movie is everything you want in an exploitation war film- it's violent, angry, sleazy, and has kickass performances from over-the-top character actors.

70's Exploitation Reunion

Morris (our first exploitation veteran: A Fistful of Dynamite, Black Snake, The Beyond...) gets air dropped into 'Nam and finds himself right the the middle of an ambush. Luckily Sergeant George Washington (Tony King: Cannibal Apocalypse, Hell Up in Harlem) and his men (who have been sent to lead Morris through the jungle) show up just in time to bail him out. Morris is grateful to see them, but shocked to see that they have a female war reporter Jane Foster (Tisa Farrow, Mia's sister) tagging along with them. Tisa Farrow was in a ton of great Italian exploitation movies in the late-70's (Zombie, Antropophagus), but after 1980, she disappeared. It's too bad, because she was good actress and not too hard on the eyes.

Tisa, we hardly knew ye...

Morris and Washington trek across the jungle, encountering the types of situations that you'd expect in a movie like this: Vietcong women carrying babies that end up being bombs, rotting corpses of American soldiers hanging from trees, hidden Charlies spying on the troops...

I see you.

Eventually Morris and company come across an isolated Army outpost under the command of Major Cash (John Steiner). If you'd never seen Steiner act before, you'd probably be surprised at how intense he is, mostly because he looks like the brother from Fraiser. But take my word for it, Steiner is one of those guys that you can always count on to take a small part and just make it enjoyable as hell. The boys under his command have gone a little stir-crazy from boredom, and have resorted to amusing themselves by playing a game where one of the soldiers goes a suicide run out of the base and into the jungle to retrieve a coconut. As the Vietnamese shoot at him and his buddies cheer him on like he was running the bases at Fenway, you get a true feel for the damage the war has done to these men.

That's my guy.

After narrowly escaping another Vietcong ambush, Morris and his ever-shrinking band of followers trudge on through the jungle. Eventually they track down the source of broadcast, but not before Morris gets held prisoner and stuck into a half-submerged cage with a guy who's had his face chewed off by the hundreds of rats that fill the tiny box.

Kill 'em all.

Last Hunter is a damn fine war film, that goes to show yet again that 70's Italian filmmakers could do amazing work in any number of genres. Between Warbeck, Farrow, King, and Steiner, Margheriti assembled an amazing cast. There's gun fights, bar brawls, and gibantic explosions from start to finish. There's rotting bodies, severed limbs, and hot sweaty chicks. Definitely worth the time it's going to take to track it down. I'm pretty sure it hasn't been released here in the US, but that's why we've got region-free players, isn't it? As a sad bit of trivia, this was cinematographer Riccardo Pallottini's final film... he died in a plane crash during filming.

Bad day.
- Micah