Director Antonio Margherti who has also co-created the classic flick, Flesh for Frankenstein 1973 and was assistant director on the classic flick, Blood for Dracula 1974 has created another gem in The Last Hunter.Starring David Warbeck who was also in another classic flick, The Beyond 1981.Also starring Tisa Farrow.Also starring Tony King.I enjoyed the violent scenes.If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic Vietnam war flicks, Battle Rats 1990, Phantom Soldiers 1987, Siege of Firebase Gloria 1989, Not Another Mistake 1988, Bullet in the Head 1990, Apocalypse Now 1979, The Deer Hunter 1978, Full Metal Jacket 1987, Hamburger Hill 1987, Platoon 1986, Platoon Leader 1988, First Blood 1982, Rambo 2008, Rambo: First Blood II 1985, Warbus 1986, Eastern Condors 1987, Heroes Shed No Tears 1986 and We Were Soldiers 2002.

The Last Hunter is Italian director Antonio Margheriti's take on the Vietnam flick - and as you would expect, it goes straight for the jugular and removes all the soul searching stuff found in films like Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter and the result is...entertaining, but underwhelming. Any depth is replaced by an array of violence and bloodshed, and that means that the film entertains on the surface but doesn't do much more than that...although I can't condemn it too much since I'm not the biggest fan of the 'great' Vietnam movies anyway. The plot is just as flimsy as you would expect and we focus on an American soldier. He's been given a mission to go deep behind enemy lines and destroy a radio transmitter that is sending out demoralising messages to the American soldiers, telling them words to the effect of 'go home and give up fighting someone else's war'. He picks up some allies along the way and of course gets involved in more than his fair share of fighting.The film stars David Warbeck who does well as the grizzled American soldier at the centre of the film. It's clear that he wasn't the most important thing as far as Antonio Margheriti was concerned, however, as he's far more interested in packing as much violence as possible into the film, and he does a good job with that; as shown by the many fight scenes. Every fight scene in the film is full on and very bloody; and the special effects are fairly realistic also, which adds to the credibility of the film. However, it all comes down to the fact that the film doesn't have much of a point. Of course sitting through the action is entertaining but there's no reason to really care for it and the film drags on numerous occasions as a result. It all boils down to an ill-advised and really rather silly twist at the end...but hey, I can't say I was expecting anything clever. Overall, The Last Hunter might be of interest to anyone who enjoys low Italian rip offs and/or war movies, but anyone hoping for a great Vietnam flick is in for a disappointment.

David Warbeck takes on Charlie in THE LAST HUNTER with only his .45 automatic, and comes pretty close to winning the entire war without the need for a helmet, combat gear, supporting troops, spare ammunition or even his shoes, for that matter. Dispatched on a mission so secretive that even the audience isn't sure exactly what he is supposed to be doing, Warbeck prowls into the Heart of Darkness of the Philipino locales used for filming (some of which have nicely trimmed grass that reminds me of the grounds of a hotel I once stayed in) dragging Tisa Farrow out of harm's way, encountering a secret Party Bunker populated by stoned Yankee soldiers just waiting for something worth raping to come along, and finding himself in the middle of a romantic triangle sub-plot that seems like an attempt to resurrect the power of Sergio Leone's use of the same from FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE, which featured Warbeck in it's flashbacks.The difference being, of course, that DUCK YOU SUCKER's flashbacks served an integral role in telling that movie's story. Here they are a plot device used to set up the film's gag inducing climax showdown, the least of which is said the better. No B grade war movie cliché button goes unpushed, with the added early instance of Americans killing other Americans added to the mix. There is even an over-the-top comedy sequence where a scurrilous Yankee soldier is forced to atone for his misdeeds by donning a bright red baseball hat and dodging enemy fire while running to get a coconut for his superior officer that is right out of "Gilligan's Island" imagery -- including the coconuts -- and I say that with affection.It's also descriptive of what the whole film amounts to, which is an overtly graphic "real life" cartoon about Vietnam for grown ups that lacks any sort of sub-textural depth. The movies it plundered for material to lampoon or exploit (THE DEER HUNTER, APOCALYPSE NOW, THE BOYS IN COMPANY C) all had greater reasons to see them that went beyond what you saw on the screen. THE LAST HUNTER is, by contrast, all surface material, and about the most insightful thing you might learn is that when guys get sprayed by a flamethrower they dance around & scream for a bit before dying. But as far as seeing revolutionary images or gut wrenching social commentary, forget it. Margheriti may have gone into the project with an anti-war message in mind but quickly falls into the trap that Goddard spoke of when stating that it is difficult to make a movie about war without glorifying it. Warbeck looks like he's having a pretty damn good time, even going so far as to not board the rescue chopper flown in during the closing scene, falling back into the jungle shirtless, brandishing his .45, and none the less the wear for having ran around for a half an hour without any shoes on. My only wish is that Margheriti would have committed to what he had started by having Warbeck then shoot the chopper down, though that would have been a problem to explain come time for TIGER JOE, the unofficial 1982 made continuation of the story.The principal weakness with THE LAST HUNTER is two pronged: It has achieved a reputation as being this sickening, exploitational parade of garbage, yet it's excesses & story ideas both have been far surpassed by the films about Vietnam which came after it (check out 84 CHARLIE MOPIC for a movie about a special ops platoon behind enemy lines that will leave you speechless). And it's weak narrative structure reduces the action into a string of moments that while having an undeniable visual power, don't really serve to tell a story populated by people that the viewer comes to care about. Unlike Marghertiti's YOR HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE, the film does not resonate on a level where one believes in the people, places and events shown, and the movie becomes a Geek Show. One waits to see the good stuff, and in 1980 the images may have been outrageous, but other than watching Warbeck club a grass snake & a bunch of rats swarming over him in a Tiger Cage scene there isn't a whole lot here that is really too offensive.So I dunno. THE BOYS IN COMPANY C was a satirical farce meant to elicit genuine laughter at the conventions of war. Here the laughter is more at the outrageousness of Margheriti's appropriation of the same yet without the meaning. If the idea of watching David Warbeck torch a horde of Gooks with a flamethrower is your idea of a good time, the movie will deliver. On that plane of thinking, THE LAST HUNTER is a classic in every sense of the word, though it may be a classic in bad taste, and lacking the sort of joyful, stupid, gleefulness found in other Margheriti films like YOR and KILLER FISH. I worship Margheriti's work and can live with the thought that this one didn't really work for me. But I will opine that if we'd had a couple of dozen David Warbecks running around 'Nam with their .45s and kicking ass, we probably would have won.

Antonio Margheriti's L'Ultimo cacciatore aka The Last Hunter (1980) stars the late, great David Warbeck and Tisa "Zombie Flesh Eaters" Farrow as a group of soldiers who have a mission during Vietnam war to go and destroy some radio station of the enemy. Farrow is a photographer and Warbeck is a military captain and once they get on the way, they soon find themselves in the middle of fire power, deadly traps and killing as there are blood thirsty enemies everywhere. In other words, a typical violent exploitationer from the golden days of Spaghetti gore.This was definitely worth watching and getting the newly released UK release which is gorgeous widescreen and uncut, unlike many previous releases. The film concentrates on strong violence as there are horrible traps, bloody shootings, stabbings, limb snappings and over all gory mayhem, which is also pretty brutal and nihilistic, most notably the "boat scene" near the end in which the terror gets even more forms. This was the style of those days since producers wanted to make gory and violent films in all genres in order to cash in by the success of such box office classics as Romero's Dawn of the Dead and more importantly for the Italian themselves, Fulci's Zombie 2 aka Zombie Flesh Eaters. Director Margheriti has said that he wanted to do these two war related films of his (the other being Apocalypse Domani aka Cannibal Apocalypse, a horrific cannibal terror film set in a big city) more anti war themed and pacifistic, but the producers wanted to add large doses of violence and gore so that's why most of the time's films are so brutally violent.The Last Hunter was written by Dardano Sachetti, who worked with Fulci a lot. Director Margheriti is known for his imaginative camera style and often weird camera angles, which are perhaps too plenty in The Last Hunter as they become little irritating and underlining and don't mean anything when used this often. The first 30 minutes of the film is incredibly intense and the viewer definitely won't watch the clock during that, since the film is so exciting and fast moving at the beginning. The film slows down a little towards the end, but for most of the time it is pure action. The effects are very great, most notably the huge explosions which are plenty and fierce is this film, so the budget was definitely at least moderate. The gore effects have always been The thing for these Italian exploitation makers, and The Last Hunter isn't an exception. The gore effects are convincing and full of the usual "eye gouging close up" details which are also very usual in Fulci's zombie films like The Beyond and Zombie Flesh Eaters. The Last Hunter is totally pointless in any other level than delivering mayhem and violence so this is pretty classic exploitation film which still has great amount of cinematic skill and that's a great thing. I think I appreciate Apocalyse Domani little higher, but The Last Hunter is definitely noteworthy film for lovers of ultra violent and prolific Italian cinema of the 70's and 80's. 6/10