Second Film made in the Philippines by Antonio. Of this film we did not have a good memories, even if we are talking about a good products, because during the shootin died a very good friend of my father and mine: the Director of Photography Riccardo Pallottini (Who made dozens of films with my father and they were really good friends also in private life).  Was the last day of shooting and Riccardo was taking some aerial shots above the jungle, with a small private airplane. At the last shooting passage, they hit with aone wing a coconut palm which was over one hundred feet tall. The plane falls on the ground, inside of the little local cemetery. It was friday 13th 1981, (since that day we became very superstitious and we never work again on the friday 13th). In the following years we always commemorate his death, suspending any work on his anniversary and having a mass. 

Sincerely, either my father and I, we did not watched this film anymore.  

Title

Tiger Joe

Aka

Fuga dall'arcipelago Maledetto (Ita)

Director

Antonio Margheriti (Anthony M. Dawson)

Story by

Gianfranco Coujoumdjian

Screenwriter

Tito Carpi

Photography by

Riccardo Pallottini

Art Director

n.a.

Editor

Alberto Moriani

Music by

Carlo Savina

Cast

David Warbeck

Role

Tiger Joe

Tony King

Midnight

Annie Belle

Kia

Alan Collins (Luciano Pigozzi)

Giancarlo Badessi

René Abadeza

Story

Reviews

by:  Mike Martinez

Much like director Antonio Margheriti's later film Tornado, Tiger Joe manages to put another variation on the Vietnam equals hell theme while putting ample use to special effects shots lifted out of his earlier superior effort The Last Hunter. Not to say it's not entertaining, though!

David Warbeck (at the time considered a big box-office draw to international audiences after The Beyond and The Last Hunter) stars as "Tiger Joe" a sort of gun-runner who flies weapons to the remnants of the ARVN army in the closing days of the war in Vietnam. Not so surprisingly, in one of his runs into enemy territory, his plane is shot down, so his two friends Luciano Pigozzi (Yor - The Hunter From the Future, Exterminators of the Year 3000) and Tony King (The Atlantis Interceptors and Cannibal Apocalypse) set out to find him. Meanwhile, Warbeck finds humanitarian (and somewhat of an ice queen) missionary surgeon Annie Belle (The House on the Edge of the Park) who of course he eventually develops an unhealthy relationship with. The whole time, the stumble upon stronghold after stronghold of NVA soldiers, killing them off as they heroically rescue fleeing villagers. The formula quickly grown repetitive and dull up until two mind-blowing smash-em-up and kill-em-all action sequences towards the end (one of which complete apes David Lean's Bridge on the River Kwai).

Warbeck is great, King is awesome, Belle a sight for sore eyes, and Pigozzi a funny little bugger as usual. The cast chemistry seems to work unusually well throughout this plotless and formulaic typical-in-every-way Margheriti action flick. His action sequences and miniature explosions are the main saving grace, and the film would be a great way to spend a rainy afternoon if not for another boring mish-mash musical score. The results: pretty slow going and boring at times. I also attribute the rather rushed script by Margheriti's usual inept, yet prolific, scriptwriter Tito Carpi to dragging the film down with moronic situations and some dreadful dialog. Slightly better than later Margheriti 'Nam efforts Tornado and Code Name: Wild geese, but not as much fun as it should have been. I found it satisfying though, as it did adequately feed my hunger for another decent Italian jungle shoot-em-up. All in all, Tiger Joe is quite satisfying, but nothing new or unexpected

Read also this review by Mike Martinez on his original site (www.insane.nu) [ READ IT ]