Die Rückkehr der Wildgänse (1986)

Die Rückkehr der Wildgänse: Directed by Fabrizio De Angelis. With Oliver Tobias, Christopher Connelly, Manfred Lehmann, John Steiner. Ten years after the end of the war in Vietnam, four ex-Marines decide to return to S.E. Asia to investigate reports of American POWs still being held there. These four include Roger, whose daughter’s just been married, the unemployed James, Mark, who’s quit his job at an Arizona roadside tavern, and Richard, recently a patient at a mental hospital. In the jungles of S.E. Asia they discover American POWs but also find out about a U.S. Government plot to keep this knowledge a secret.

“This movie is cheap and ugly to look at and the cast is a hodgepodge of leftovers. Thereu0026#39;s little of the excitement or suspense one might expect in even a Grade-B u0026quot;action-waru0026quot; movie. Whatu0026#39;s more, the movieu0026#39;s cynical tone about the whole POW question leaves one with an unpleasant feeling after watching the proceedings. Perhaps the only scene of note here is a flashback showing Oliver Tobias being whipped in a POW camp. Unlike virtually every other whipping in the history of the movies, Tobias is shown (from the rear) to be completely naked in this scene, with blood from his back running down his buttocks and legs. This may have been included strictly for u0026quot;shocku0026quot; value but it does illustrate the fact that torture and forced nudity are often linked.”