Tough as he looks, Daniel Craig scores another for the British who dominate this category.  The current and most iron willed and cold hearted Bond, he plays a mean partisan in the movie Defiance.  I’d like to see him play Putin.  Craig can seem to do anything and everything except crack a smile.  He is not cuddly, but all action.  Carry on Dan.

This is a Vietnam War movie set after the War.  Like Rambo movies, this has action, in fact more mayhem then even Rambo can mix-up.  Except for a brief cameo of white westerners at the start of the movie, the movie is Chinese American and female Cambodian guerrillas versus Vietnamese.  Only a few of Chinese are military, the rest are thugs trading field service for commution of sentence.

Basically it is a suicide mission with the object to blow-up an arsenal left behind, by mistake.  Humor, martial arts, and plenty of ordinance demonstrations…Eastern Condors is one giant meat grinder. Sammo Hung helps to build a creditable martial arts ensemble. (Sammo is a buddy of Jackie Chan–they both studied under the same master).

Another one of those classic, exotic feature, a bit dated for the 1970’s, but enthralling for a youngster in the age before Internet and CGI.  This had the Indians rebelling against the colonial British, rich in high and mighty splendor.

The story concerns Rani of Jhansi, a queen of a princely state, fair, just, and not bad with whoop-ass size cutlery in her hands.  She is forced to take sides and the price of resistance gets pricey.  The story plays out as per the history books.  The violence is the tame 1950s style, but the music, costumes, and story is a magical mystery tour—one of those movies that got me turned on to visit India–somehow, sometime.

The film is virtually public domain and can be got at flea market cost, but also at full freight if not careful. Shop warily.