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Writer, producer, director James Glickenhaus was known for taking familiar genre films and doing his own low-budget take. His prior film, THE EXTERMINATOR, was his take on the DEATH WISH urban revenge picture, SHAKEDOWN was his take on the buddy-cop film, SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS was his take on the serial killer genre, and so on and so forth. His versions are usually more violent and have more of a gritty edge to them, and that is the case here with his take on the Cold War spy picture. Ken Wahl plays a secret agent known only as "The Soldier" and is tasked with tracking down a stolen nuke that's set to blow up a Saudi oil field. It's a serviceable spy plot, and THE SOLDIER delivers some solid action sequences, but Glickenhaus' limited budget is better suited to exploitation flicks shot on the slimy streets of 1980s NYC than a James Bond-like globe-trotting spy picture. When a dozen oil drums in the middle of a sand dune is meant to represent a vast Saudi oil field, that felt like a pretty big stretch (not to mention some pretty terrible use of stock footage). Still, Wahl is good in the lead, Glickenhaus delivers some exciting action sequences, and best of all, the film features an early score by Tangerine Dream (THIEF, LEGEND, RISKY BUSINESS). Overall, THE SOLDIER is not exactly a Cold War classic, but it is kind of a fun, scrappy cousin to Frederick Forsyth that's at least as entertaining as FIREFOX and definitely better than THE EIGER SANCTION.

Disappointing Sergio Corbucci spaghetti western is a mixed bag. Where the film excels is an above-average story for an Italian western (co-written by Albert Band, father of B-movie icon Charles Band), telling the tale of defeated Confederate officer Joseph Cotten traveling back home with stolen gold that he has plans to use to reconstitute the Confederate Army. The set-up is basically a western road movie, where Cotton and his small group of rebel confederates have various encounters with Union soldiers, posses, outlaws, and others. The fun kicker is the gold is hidden in a coffin, and they have kidnapped Norma Bengell (looking very much like Claudia Cardinale) to pose as the widow of the supposed deadman in the coffin. Unfortunately for the film, Cotton seems to sleepwalk through the picture, never really digging his teeth into the part of his bitter defeated Southern Colonel, and Corbucci delivers mostly standard western action and nothing as savage or shockingly original as his best films (that would be THE GREAT SILENCE, THE MERCENCY, or CAMPENEROS). Overall, it's an entertaining film, but I can't help but feel like it was a huge missed opportunity for something that could have been a classic.

DEATH WISH-like rape/revenge story about a group of women who've all been sexually assaulted by the same hockey-masked rapist (Peter Brown). Think PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, but grindhouse instead of art-house, as the group of women train in martial arts in order to exact their revenge. Although the film pretends to be providing social commentary about rape culture and the ineffectiveness of the justice system, ACT OF VENGEANCE unquestionably exploits its subject matter for all the wrong reasons. However, the revenge scenes are pretty damn satisfying, and Jo Ann Harris is fantastic in the lead. Best known for her seductress role in Clint Eastwood's oddball southern gothic THE BEGUILED, Harris really should have been a bigger star, and I totally could have seen her as one of Charlie's Angels. It's a bummer she didn't go on to do much else of note, though she did consistently work in TV up through the 90s. Overall, this is not a good film by almost any measure, but it does have its sleazy grindhouse charms for fans of these sorts of films. I also wondered if the FRIDAY THE 13TH filmmakers borrowed from this film when they gave Jason his hockey mask in part three? The great Steve Kanaly also appears in a small supporting role.