''Deadly Heroes'' is a
direct-to-video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
1993
action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
starring
Michael Paré
Michael Kevin Paré (born October 9, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films ''Eddie and the Cruisers'' (1983), ''Streets of Fire'' (1984), and '' The Philadelphia Experiment'' (1984), and on the series ''Starhunt ...
,
Jan-Michael Vincent
Jan-Michael Vincent (July 15, 1944 – February 10, 2019) was an American actor known for portraying helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke in the TV series ''Airwolf'' (1984–1987) and the protagonist, Matt Johnson, in the 1978 film ''Big W ...
and
Billy Drago
William Eugene Burrows (November 30, 1945 – June 24, 2019), known professionally by his stage name Billy Drago, was an American television and film actor. Drago's films, in which he was frequently cast as a villain, included Clint Eastwood's ...
. Its leading hero Brad Cartowski (Paré) is a former
Navy SEAL
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...
who must save his kidnapped wife. Directed by
Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan ( he, מנחם גולן; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He was best known for co-owning The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon sp ...
, ''Deadly Heroes'' is notable for being one of the last films released under Golan's
21st Century Film Corporation
21st Century Film Corporation Inc. was a theatrical distribution company formed sometime in the 1970s as a production company and distributor. Menahem Golan served as CEO of the company from 1989 to the company's bankruptcy.
History
The compan ...
banner. The company went bankrupt shortly thereafter.
The filming obviously occurred on a small budget. The film's primary filming location was in Israel. To cut costs director Golan used many of the chase scenes from his 1991 release ''
Killing Streets'' (also starring Paré). The film has a similar feel to Golan's earlier and more successful film ''
The Delta Force
''The Delta Force'' is a 1986 American action film starring Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin (in his final film appearance) as leaders of an elite group of Special Operations Forces personnel based on the real life U.S. Army Delta Force unit. Directed ...
'' (1986).
''Deadly Heroes'' received mixed to mostly negative reviews, criticized for its
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
and apparent similarities to ''The Delta Force''. Paré and Vincent's performances were also largely panned. The film was later featured in an episode of ''
Cinema Insomnia
''Cinema Insomnia'' is a nationally syndicated American television series presented by horror host Mr. Lobo.
Format
Typically, Mr. Lobo opens each episode by promising to screen a well-known horror or science fiction classic (such as ''Creatu ...
''.
Plot
The film starts with a footage of a group of terrorists modifying toy guns to a real gun which can easily pass through a metal detector at
Athens Airport
Athens International Airport ''Eleftherios Venizelos'' ( el, Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Αθηνών «Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος», ''Diethnís Aeroliménas Athinón "Elefthérios Venizélos"''), commonly initialised as ...
. When a kid named Paul Cartowski discovers that the terrorist bring plastic guns, he soon wonders and tells his father who is also a former
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
and Navy SEAL, Brad Cartowski. Then a gunfight begins and Cartowski is injured during a pursuit when the terrorists take the airport bus. The terrorists kidnaps his wife and fly her on a hijacked plane to North Africa. Cartowski goes in pursuit, aided by another ex-SEAL, Cody Grant.
Cartowski soon finds the terrorists' hide-out but is captured. They tie him up, beat him brutally, humiliate him, and subject him to long
electro-torture sessions before he manages to escape. He soon returns with reinforcements of a group of Navy SEAL team to rescue his wife. The group of Navy SEALs sneak in the house with their stealth abilities. Alya, the female terrorist is the first who gets killed. Then Patrick, one of the terrorist manage to shoot one of the SEAL in the leg but the SEAL survives and able to playing dead on Patrick then kills him via neck-breaking, The SEAL then continue his mission with his partner.
As Cartowski able to kill another terrorist, he and Cody then ambushes Carlos, the leader of the terrorist group. As Cody shoots Carlos in the head, Cartowki rescues his wife. The mission was a success without a SEAL dies.
As he got a permission from Pentagon, Cartowski manage to blow the terrorist's house with explosions the SEALs plant in the house shortly before the mission starts. The rest of the SEALs doing a small celebration of their success to bring the terrorist down and rescue Cartowski's wife. The film ends with a footage of Cartowski and his wife meets his mother and his son, then they starts to huge each other with happiness of the success of bringing Cartowski's wife back with small injury. The rest of the SEALs especially Cody watch happily when the Cartowki's family reunited successfully.
Cast
Production
The film was directed by
Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan ( he, מנחם גולן; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He was best known for co-owning The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon sp ...
, who also developed its concept with screenwriter
Damian Lee
Damian Lee is a Canadian film director, writer, and producer responsible as well as notable for such films as '' Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe'', ''No Exit'' and ''Ski School
A ski school is an establishment that teaches skiing, typicall ...
, under the pseudonym Joseph Goldman.
Lee produced ''Deadly Heroes'' and wrote its script with his brother Gregory.
Many of the film's crew members were Israeli, including cinematographer Yelhiel-Hilik Neeman, art director Avishay "Avi" Avivi, and actors
Alon Abutbul
Alon Moni Abutbul (or Aboutboul, he, אלון מוני אבוטבול; born 28 May 1965) is an Israeli actor. He won the IFFI Best Actor Award (Male) at the 44th International Film Festival of India.
Early life
Abutbul was born in Kiryat Ata, ...
, Galit Giat and
Uri Gavriel
Uri Gavriel ( he, אורי גבריאל) is an Israeli theater, film and television actor. Winner of the Ophir Award and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2005 as Best Actor in film '' What a Wonderful Place''. In 2018, he appeared as ...
.
The film was shot on a low budget, primarily in Israel but also in Los Angeles.
It was meant to resemble Golan's earlier, more successful action film ''
The Delta Force
''The Delta Force'' is a 1986 American action film starring Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin (in his final film appearance) as leaders of an elite group of Special Operations Forces personnel based on the real life U.S. Army Delta Force unit. Directed ...
'' (1986).
In order to save money, Golan ussed many of the chase scenes from his 1991 film ''
Killing Streets'' — in both of them Michael Paré stars as a
macho
Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...
-type leading man.
It is most apparent in the taxicab scene featuring actor Gabi Amrani, where the shots are identical in both films.
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...
was also provided for ''Deadly Heroes''.
Release
The film is notable for being one of the last titles released under Golan's
21st Century Film Corporation
21st Century Film Corporation Inc. was a theatrical distribution company formed sometime in the 1970s as a production company and distributor. Menahem Golan served as CEO of the company from 1989 to the company's bankruptcy.
History
The compan ...
banner. The company went bankrupt shortly eafter its 1993 premiere.
''Deadly Heroes'' was first screened during the
Milan Film Festival
Milan Film Festival (MFF), also known as Milano Film Festival, is an annual film festival held since 1996 in Milan, Italy. It was founded as a competition of only local short films. It became an international film festival in 1998 when it also st ...
in October 1993. It was then released direct-to-video in Germany in October 1994, and premiered in Japanese theaters on November 26, 1994. It then premiered in Japan on video in March 1995. In Germany, the film was also distributed under the title ''Deadly Heroes – S.E.A.L.S. in tödlicher Mission'',
and in Poland it was released by VIM as ''Komandosi śmierci''.
In Finland, the film was released on VHS as ''Tappavat sankarit'' in 1997. It was distributed direct-to-video in Canada (through C/FP Video, 1997), the Netherlands (Laurus Entertainment), Greece (Videosonic, 1997), and the United Kingdom (Delta Music, 2002).
It aired on
Telewizja Polska
Telewizja Polska S.A. (; "Polish Television"; TVP), also known in English as the public Polish Television is a Polish state media corporation. It is the largest Polish television network, although viewership has been declining in the 2010s.
Sinc ...
in Poland.
Availability
![Michael Pare crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Michael_Pare_crop.jpg)
Originally intended for a theatrical release, the film was released directly to videocassette and was given only limited theatrical releases overseas and was screened at various film festivals, including a run at the 1993 MIFED Film Market. The movie has never been released on DVD in the United States and as of March 2019,
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
has yet to announce any current plans for a Region 1 DVD release.
Critical reception
The film received mixed to mostly negative reviews. ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' ridiculed the film, writing: "Underachieving stars Michael Paré and Jan-Michael Vincent try to infuse ''Deadly Heroes'' with rousing patriotism. But most of the time, they simply glower unflinchingly as if to compensate for the fruity overacting of Billy Drago, who plays the villain."
The site's reviewer condemned the film's "irritating
gung-ho
''Gung ho'' () is an English term, with the current meaning of "overly enthusiastic or energetic". It originated during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) from a Chinese term, ( zh, hp=gōnghé, l=to work together), short for Chinese ...
patriotism and its lip-smacking preoccupation with Marcy's
laudette Mink's characterabduction into
white slavery
White slavery (also white slave trade or white slave trafficking) refers to the slavery of Europeans, whether by non-Europeans (such as West Asians and North Africa, North Africans), or by other Europeans (for example naval galley slaves or th ...
".
Schnittberichte.com praised Billy Drago as a "convincing villain" and Michael Paré as a decent leading hero.
The ''Movies or Minute'' website wrote that "''Deadly Heroes'' is chock full of idiotic moments of glee." ''Comeuppance Reviews'' provided a mixed evaluation, criticising Paré's "wooden" performance. Action cinema-related website ''Cool Target'' labeled the film as "a trashier remake of Menahem Golan's earlier hit ''The Delta Force''", and Paré's character as
sexist
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...
. Steve Q. of ''Zero Star Cinema'' agreed, considering the film "boilerplate 90's action schlock" and comparing it to ''The Delta Force''. He criticized its plot inconsistencies, and added: "It's silly, but it keeps moving."
In the review for ''VHS Retro'' the film was praised for its "tacky but irresistible" opening. Drago's supporting role was also cheered but Paré and Jan-Michael Vincent were deemed to be "absent" and "bored" in their acting. The plot was branded as "nonsensical": "Brad, terribly beaten up and tortured by Carlos and his thugs, acts like he's at the peak of his powers soon after he escapes captivity." Marta Górna of ''Górna Ogląda'' considered ''Deadly Heroes'' to be a case study of the
action star's downfall (in this context, Paré's and Vincent's).
Albert Nowicki (''Yippee-ki-yay, Motherf*cker!'') thought that Vincent's Cody Grant was an "expendable" character and Paré gave a stiff, "wooden" performance. He noted that Paré's "marvelous physical form" is one of the film's advantages but "impressive musculature won't patch lack of charisma".
Nowicki criticized Golan's direction, calling the film sexist and unintentionally funny, and thought that Paré's torture scene is "inadvertently erotic in its nature".
Internet critic Raymond Smith called it "action film with no action".
Writing for ''Movie Buffs Forever'', a reviewer applauded Paré, Vincent, Drago, and Galit Giat — who played the female torturer of Cartowski. He noted that the film "exciting" is and "starts off with a bang". ''BadMovies'' named ''Deadly Heroes'' "well-filmed action flick that could've been better if it was fifteen minutes shorter".
Legacy
The film was featured in the season one episode of ''
Cinema Insomnia
''Cinema Insomnia'' is a nationally syndicated American television series presented by horror host Mr. Lobo.
Format
Typically, Mr. Lobo opens each episode by promising to screen a well-known horror or science fiction classic (such as ''Creatu ...
'', which celebrates low quality cinema.
References
External links
*
{{Menahem Golan
1993 action films
1993 films
1993 direct-to-video films
American action films
Direct-to-video action films
Films about United States Navy SEALs
Films directed by Menahem Golan
Films set in Athens
Films set in North Africa
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films shot in Israel
Films with screenplays by Menahem Golan
Films about aircraft hijackings
Films about kidnapping
Films produced by Damian Lee
Films with screenplays by Damian Lee
1990s English-language films
1990s American films