''Savage Attack'' ( it, Brothers in Blood) is a

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

directed by

Tonino Valerii Tonino Valerii (20 May 1934 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian film director, most known for his Spaghetti Westerns. Tonino (Antonio) Valerii started his film career as an assistant director on Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'', before mo ...

. It was written by

Roberto Leoni Roberto Leoni is an Italian screenwriter and film director best known for such films as ''Santa Sangre'' signed on Empire magazine's 2008 list of th500 Greatest Movies Of All Time '' The Master Touch'' starring Kirk Douglas, '' Street People'' st ...

after the success of several films based around veterans of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. The film starred

Bo Svenson Bo Svenson (born Bo Ragnar Svensson; 13 February 1941) is a Swedish-American actor, film director, film producer, published author and award winning screenwriter, known for his roles in American genre films of the 1970s and 1980s. He has appea ...

and

Peter Hooten John Peter Hooten (born November 29, 1950) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the television film '' Dr. Strange'' (1978). Career Hooten started acting in 1968 at the age of 17. He appeared as an uncredited ...

and was shot primarily in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. It did not receive a theatrical release in Italy and was released on home video in West Germany as ''Brothers in Blood'' in 1987.

Background and production

In the mid-1980s, the Italian film industry was losing its audiences dramatically with the number of filmgoers in 1980 being 241.8 million to 123.1 million in 1985. This led to smaller Italian producers making films that imitated English pictures for less demanding markets such as

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and the home video audience. ''Savage Attack'' was part of this trend, being made after the popular success of the film ''

Uncommon Valor ''Uncommon Valor'' is a 1983 American action war film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Gene Hackman, Fred Ward, Reb Brown, Randall "Tex" Cobb, Robert Stack, Patrick Swayze, Harold Sylvester and Tim Thomerson. Hackman plays a former U.S. Mar ...

'' (1983), though

said the script was written before the success of that film. ''Brothers in Blood'' starred

, who had been a re-occurring actor in Italian cinema since the mid-to-late 1970s. Along with Svenson was

who had starred alongside the actor in several 1980s films including ''

The Inglorious Bastards ''The Inglorious Bastards'' ( it, Quel maledetto treno blindato, lit=That damned armored train) is a 1978 Italian Euro War film directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring Bo Svenson, Peter Hooten, Fred Williamson, Jackie Basehart, and Ian B ...

'' (1978). Initially, Leoni was working on a script for Enzo G. Castellari but after the budget was found to be too high he wrote the script that would become ''Savage Attack''. Castellari was less interested and was committed to other projects, leading to the producer asking

to direct the film. Filming began in late 1985. Filming predominantly took place in the

with some scenes shot in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In Langdon Hammer's book on James Merill, Hooten's partner from 1983 until his death, Hammer noted that Hooten had been trying to find film work for about two years and was initially "thrilled" at the chance to work but puzzled later when he found himself being paid with satchels of

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

on the spot. Hooten later proclaimed in an interview with Italian film critic and historian Roberto Curti that he enjoyed working with Valerii on the film, but that it was an off-an-on again production.

Release

''Savage Attack'' was never released theatrically in Italy. It was released in West Germany on home video as ''Brothers in Blood'' in October 1987. It was released on video in the United States as ''Savage Attack''. According to Svenson, as of 2015 he owns the American rights to the film.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* {{Tonino Valerii 1987 direct-to-video films Films scored by Riz Ortolani Italian war drama films Films directed by Tonino Valerii Films shot in the Dominican Republic Films shot in New York (state) Vietnam War films 1980s Italian films