A motley group of Chinese prisoners held in the US is sent on a covert mission with the promise of a pardon: to go deep into Vietnam and destroy a secret depot of missiles that the US left behind during the pull-out.
Similar titles
Reviews
I guess its a quite good movie (for its genre), but the dubbing is really bad, even for a 80's kungfu movie, so if you got the dubbed version its only the actionscenes its bearable to watch, they are good tho. Im gonna try and find a version in the original language to watch.
In the early 90s, after reading a glowing review of the film in a fanzine, I shelled out mucho dinero for a pirated un-subtitled VHS copy of Eastern Condors. And even though I didn't have a clue what was being said, the movie blew me away with its OTT gung-ho action, bullet-riddled battle scenes and unbelievable martial arts madness.These days the film is available on DVD remastered, fully restored and subtitled, so fans of fantastic fight action have no excuse for not checking out this marvellous movie.Director and star Sammo Hung takes the basic plot of The Dirty Dozen (a group of criminals take part in a dangerous mission with the promise of freedom if they succeed), adds a touch of The Deer Hunter and Rambo, and throws in a ton of amazing kung fu to deliver one of the best Hong Kong flicks of the 80s.Joining Sammo on his dangerous mission (into Vietnam, to destroy a hidden US munitions dump) are the brilliant Yuen Baio (as a Vietnamese profiteer dealing in smuggled goods), Oscar winner Haing S. Ngor, Lam Ching Ying, Yuen Woo-ping, Corey Yuen, Charlie Chin, and Sammo's real-life wife, the gorgeous Joyce Godenzi. Playing nasty bad-guys out to foil the mission are Billy Chow and the fantastic Yuen Wah. With a line up like that, and Hung calling the shots, excellence is almost guaranteed.From the moment our 'heroes' parachute into a Vietcong infested jungle, Eastern Condors is non stop brutal action and unmissable fare for those who enjoy their war films violent and unfettered by serious political comment. The bad guys are pure evil (Wah's sniggering fan-waving general is as despicable as they come) and deserve to die. End of story.And die they do: blasted by machine guns, knifed to death in guerrilla attacks, hacked by machetes, and even killed by imaginative use of jungle flora! In a blistering finale in an underground, missile laden bunker, the surviving good-guys take on the enemy in a vicious showdown that will leave you breathless. Yuen Baio and Sammo take the spotlight in the final fight against Wah and Chow, and the result is some of the best martial arts action ever committed to film. Baio's acrobatic skills are well showcased, whilst Hung, who slimmed down in order to be able to perform more incredible stunts, is on particularly fine form.Only the occasional 'silly' moment (such as the death of a stuttering character who dies when he fails to reach twenty before opening his parachute), and the rather strange nutter played by Haing S. Ngor (I'm still not sure what the point of his character was) stop me from giving this top marks.But 9/10 is nothing to be sniffed at, and any fan of the genre should definitely check this one out.
Eastern Condors is a war movie which is filled to the brim with cool action and great kung fu acrobatics. A contingent of Chinese-Americans go to Vietnam just after the end of the Vietnam War in 1976 to find and blow up a U.S. weapons cache. As they arrive they are joined by three female Cambodian guerrilla warriors, the leader of which being played by the stunningly gorgeous and superbly kung fu capable Joyce Godenzi, who's only made a few movies (a friend tells me that she probably retired from movie-making after marrying Sammo Hung).Yuen Biao is very cool in it, though his role could have been larger. The main spotlight goes to Sammo Hung, whose character is aflame with constant guerrilla action, and to him also goes the final showdown with Yuen Wah.All in all, a very cool Sammo Hung actioner. The story and its execution are strictly speaking not great, but the action makes it eminently watchable. I rate the movie a 7 for the overall story, with an added point for Joyce Godenzi's coolness.Thus, 8 out of 10.
Eastern Condors (1986) is an awesome movie from Hong Kong Cinema legend Sammo Hung. Hung, along with his crew of usual actors remake the classic Dirty Dozen along with Full Metal Jacket. The end results is one of the best action movies ever made. From the beginning until the end, this action packed film doesn't disappoint it's intended audience and will make converts out of the non-believers.A group of Chinese-American soldiers are given a second chance at redemption. If they complete this dangerous assignment they'll receive a full pardon and compensation money. They have to take out a cache of weapons left behind by the U.S. Army in Viet-Nam. Can this bunch destroy the weapons depot and avoid detection from the local Vietnamese military?Lam Ching-Ying is appointed by the government to lead the rag tag soldiers into combat. Sammo Hung is second in command. Yuen Biao is a local Vietnamese resident who joins the soldiers, Yuen Wah co-stars as the ruthless Vietnamese officer who purses the soldiers to no end. Joyce Godenzi also co-stars as the leader of a small unit of freedom fighters.Like I said before, this is a no nonsense action packed film from beginning to end. The fight scenes are amazing and the direction from Sammo Hung is pretty solid. If you enjoy action films by all means grab this one immediately.Highest recommendation possible.