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Review
by
Brian Lindsey
Film:6
DVD:7
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| More
like Brute Squad... (There are only seven of 'em.) |
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Traveling
through rural Mexico on their way to a job in Central America,
a small band of American mercenaries halts their journey to bivouac
in the countryside for a few days. Their leader, Colonel Burckhardt
(Blacula's
Charles Macaulay), plans for the men to mix a bit of training
with R&R as they wait to rendezvous with additional personnel.
The six mercs under Burckhardt's command are a motley crew of
combat vets, and with the exception of his protégé Ross (Paul
Carr) they're either completely amoral or murderously psychotic.
Only Ross seems to possess the vestige of a conscience, at times
acting to restrain the others' crueler impulses. He doesn't bat
an eye, though, when fellow mercenary Quinn (Roy Jenson) calmly
picks up a shotgun and blows away the members of a motorcycle
gang. (Never interrupt Quinn when he's taking a dump!) |
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As
for the Colonel, he may be a stern taskmaster when it's time for
action but otherwise allows the men to let off steam however they
please, to include copious drinking and pot smoking. Once the
tents have been pitched and the grub ladled out the mercs kick
back for a bit of boozing, joking and toking. That’s when they're
encountered by two other Americans —
young hitchhikers who run into them purely by chance. Kevin (Joseph
Kaufmann) is a pacifist draft dodger who left the U.S. to avoid
service in 'Nam; Terry (Jennifer Billingsley) is a free-spirited
(and alarmingly naďve) hippy chick with curves in all the right
places. The mercs seem friendly enough, welcoming the hitchhikers
to share their chow, their beer and some Acapulco Gold... |
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It's
a recipe for big trouble. |
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The drunken roughhousing quickly gets out of hand and the
craziest, most sadistic of the mercenaries, Wicks (Alex Rocco),
tries to rape Terry. Kevin gallantly attempts to defend her but
has no chance against the callous killer. He’s getting the snot
beat out of him when the Colonel angrily intervenes, irritated
by the ruckus. Burckhardt decides that it would only be fair if
all the men had a chance to have the girl. Seizing the
opportunity to get a little training in, he sets the rules for
a contest. The mercs will have to battle for her, weaponless,
with the last man standing awarded the prize. Ross agrees to participate,
although unlike the others he hopes to win so he can protect Terry
from further violation. (He's a killer-for-hire, sure, but not
a rapist.) Only Quinn opts out, laconically declaring, "I'm
gettin' too old to fight for pussy." |
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In
the midst of all this Kevin manages to crawl unseen into the bushes,
escaping from the camp. When the mercs notice his absence the
Colonel orders a search and destroy mission but the young draft
dodger is able to get away (with clandestine help from a sympathetic
Ross) and makes for the nearest town, where he desperately tries
to enlist the aid of the local sheriff (Joseph Bernard). Unfortunately
the man must be the most cowardly law enforcement officer in all
of Mexico —
he flatly refuses —
and the town doesn't even have a phone connection. Kevin has no
choice but to sneak back to the mercenary camp alone, hoping he
can devise a way of rescuing Terry... |
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Brute
Corps had only a brief theatrical run, mostly at the bottom
of drive-in double feature bills, before
vanishing into near-total obscurity. (The film had never been
issued on legit home video —
not
even on VHS —
prior
to the 2011 Code Red DVD.) It didn't deserve such anonymity, for
while there isn't anything particularly remarkable about Brute
Corps it's still a solid little grindhouse actioner that
hits all the right exploitation buttons. The budget was very low
but many of the people who worked on it had experience in the
Hollywood television and film industry, thus avoiding some of
the technical gaffes and pitfalls associated with such indie fare.
This is no more evident than in the cast, which is populated with
a number of familiar faces from American TV shows and movies of
the period. Along with Macaulay, Carr (who co-produced), Jenson
(The Wind and the Lion,
Soylent
Green) and Rocco (Bonnie's
Kids, The Godfather), other
mercenaries are played by Felton Perry (Magnum
Force, Walking Tall) and
the late, great Michael Pataki (Five the
Hard Way, Zoltan:
Hound of Dracula). Sexy Jennifer Billingsley (White
Lightning) is quite good as the unfortunate Terry; she's
particularly effective in the rape/abuse scenes, which cannot
have been very pleasant or enjoyable to shoot. |
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The
chief appeal of Brute Corps is watching
these capable performers do their thing in such a scruffy, sleazy
exploitation milieu. Director Jerry Jameson (Airport
77) helms efficiently with the meager resources at hand;
locations found just outside Los Angeles serve admirably for the
boondocks of Mexico, especially the shit-hole town with the cowardly
sheriff. (Until listening to the commentary [see below] I would've
sworn that much of it had been filmed somewhere in Mexico.)
Where the film comes up noticeably short are in some of the action
scenes — the fights often have a definite 'Capt. Kirk Chop'/TV
show quality about them — and a terrible music score that often
seems completely inappropriate for what is occurring onscreen. |
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| Code
Red has given this '70s exploitation rarity a fine DVD release
indeed. The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer was taken from the original
interpositive (made from the original camera negative), so Brute
Corps is never going to look any better than it does here.
The source print displays some minor dirt and damage during the
first few minutes but the bulk of the film is pristinely clean,
offering sharp detail and strong colors. The mono audio track
is relatively clean as well, since the original sound recording
appears to have been of a more professional caliber than many
contemporary low budget independent productions. |
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In addition to a pair of theatrical trailers and a TV spot, two
short featurettes are included. Each is an interview with a cast
member. In his 18-minute chat, Felton Perry shares anecdotes about
some of his Brute Corps co-stars
as well as working on other, higher-profile projects like Magnum
Force and Robocop. (He reveals
that, yes, that is him really pissing out of the back of the truck
at the start of Brute Corps; the
film just didn't have the budget to fake urination.) In the other
interview featurette (12½ min.),
Parker West, who plays the redneck mercenary "Ballard", talks
about being the most inexperienced actor of the group and how
he concocted a backstory for the character to aid his performance.
The DVD also serves up an audio commentary with Brute
Corps writer/producer Michael Kars, who details the genesis
of the film (reworking the basic plot of the 1970 biker flick
The Rebel Rousers), scouting north
of L.A. for suitably "Mexican" locations, working with the various
actors, and other aspects of the production. 6/15/11
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