CAST: Lewis Collins (Major Colby), Lee Van Cleef (Colonel Mazzarini), Donald Pleasence (Henry Carlson), Manfred Lehmann (Mason/ Hiccock), Brett Halsey (McPherson), Chat Silayan (Ling), Hans Leutenegger (Gutierrez), Christian Bruckner (Frank Williams), Frank Glaubrecht (Lennox). Directed by Antonio Margheriti.
SYNOPSIS: Colonel Mazzarini, a major arms supplier, is deeply involved in trading guns for drugs with a ruthless general in Thailand, but when negotiations go bad, the general steals a disc containing valuable source information on contacts. In response, Mazzarini puts together a team of mercenaries led by Major Colby to attack the general’s stronghold in order to take over his operations. Also on the team is Hiccock, a secret agent for government head Henry Carlson (Donald Pleasence) who gets plastic surgery to mimic another mercenary named Mason. Hiccock’s goal is to retrieve the disc and deliver it to Carlson so he can track a leak in his department. Colby then leads his men into Thailand and uses his contacts to arrange vehicles, arms, and support for their mission. Along the way, the team finds some friends like Ling, a beautiful but deadly Thai mercenary, and enemies like Duclo, a Frenchman who sells out the team for money. After fighting their way through the jungle, Colby, Hiccock, and the rest of the team reach the general’s drug compound, where they learn that Mazzarini has also betrayed them. With their lives on the line, the team begins an all out war to destroy everything in sight. While a number of team members are killed, their mission is successful with Hiccock retrieving the disc which he then uses to blackmail Mazzarini. A meeting is set up to sell the disc, but one other major backstabbing and double cross is about to take place.
COMMENTARY: The Commander, a.k.a. Der Commander, is a low-budget action adventure set in a remote Asian jungle with Italian genre director Antonio Margheriti using the pseudonym of Anthony M. Dawson. This is actually the third part of Margheriti’s trilogy of jungle adventure films, the first two being Codename: Wildgeese (1984) and Commando Leopard (1985). One interesting connection between these three films besides the director is Lewis Collins as the hero. The Commander plays out predictably with no real surprises along the way, but the big draw are the battle scenes that are average at best with lots of gunfire and a few explosions. Adding some star power along with Pleasence is Lee Van Cleef, best known for his Italian spaghetti westerns. The Commander was one of Van Cleef ’s last films of his career that stretched back to High Noon in 1952. During his heyday, Van Cleef was the leading spaghetti western villain, and in The Commander, Van Cleef once again found himself playing the villain — a rose growing, gun-selling, sly as a snake character who of course eventually receives his just desserts.
Pleasence portrays Henry Carlson, a government leader who likes to chain-smoke cigars while being followed around by his lackeys. It is not a very involved role but Carlson does pop up every now and then to keep an eye on his secret agent Hiccock. Pleasence’s character can best be described as a man in charge, a role that Pleasence could do backwards with his eyes closed at this point in his career. Carleon does get to have a bit of fun toward the climax, turning up while Hiccock and Colby sit in their convertible with a briefcase full of cash. Prepared for his own vacation via a bright yellow shirt with a sun hat and camera, Carlson gives them his full blessing to enjoy themselves after a hard fought but successful mission.