Death Before Dishonor (1987)

Good idea lost in the noise

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Death Before Dishonor is an ultra patriotic and macho 80's action in the same vein as Rambo-First Blood pt.2 and The Delta Force. It is not as good as the films I have just mentioned and is in many ways cliché and little bit on the cheesy side. It is mostly a recruitment poster for the US Marines, but is a good film vehicle for Fred Dryer.(who is best known as Hunter) Death Before Dishonor delivers big on action with some excellent stunts, explosions and shootouts. Fred Dryer may not be the best actor, but he is good with firearms and is athletic and rugged enough to be a good action hero and is convincing as a Marine Corps badass. Director Terry Leonard did a good job as his only gig as director and there is a good support cast with Brian Keith and Paul Winfield. Rockne Tarkington of Black Samson fame did well cast as main baddie Jihad. I remember watching this as a young lad with my father when this originally had its run on cable, while certain elements of the film are dated, it holds up pretty good with most action movies of the same period.

When Col. Halloran (Keith) assigns Gunnery Sgt. Burns (Dryer) and his young Marines - including Ramirez (Gian) and Ruggieri (Mitchell) - to the turbulent middle east country of Jemal, despite the willingness of the local military to use their help, at first they don't get to do too much. This is thanks to the politically correct, out-of-touch views of Ambassador Virgil Morgan (Winfield), who doesn't want to step on any toes. But Morgan, and the rest of the Americans, get a rude dose of reality in the form of a terrorist named Jihad (Tarkington) who is orchestrating acts of terror in the region. A photographer, Elli Baumann (Pacula) is documenting his rise to power. When he and his goons kidnap some of Burns' men, including Halloran, Burns decides to take matters into his own hands and becomes a one-man army bent on revenge! Will he face death, dishonor, or NEITHER? Find out today! Death Before Dishonor is a classic example of the Reagan-era patriotism film. It features good, noble Americans doing heroic deeds - and in this era of cynicism, irony and anti-Americanism, movies like this are not only highly refreshing, but also needed. It was just nice to see America portrayed as upstanding good guys for a change, something you rarely, if ever, see on TV these days. Based on the subject matter, the movie is perhaps more relevant today than it was back when it was released. They should release Death Before Dishonor back into theaters! Now wouldn't that be something? The great Fred Dryer is always cool, whether he's initiating his new Marines (which mainly involves a lot of beer-chugging and grunting), or chasing/shooting the baddies. The movie is peppered with little standout moments, and it all plays out as if an episode of Hunter took place in Iraq or Afghanistan. It was nice to see Dryer act out his personal vendetta, with the full might of the 1980's-era military. Of course, you know the main baddie is really bad when his name is Jihad. Kind of a dead giveaway that he might be a dangerous Arab terrorist. Of course, there is the prerequisite machine gun shooting, as well as the prerequisite torture, but Dryer gets off some great lines and is a leader you can believe in.It was also cool to see a young Sasha Mitchell here in the ranks, before his Kickboxer 2 (1991) and Class of 1999 II (1994) (and of course Step by Step) fame. Joanna Pacula did the best she could in kind of an unnecessary role, and an off-camera Franco Columbu is credited as "body building coach". Because you're definitely going to need Columbu to work your quads so you can be in the proper shape to stop the terrorist bad guys. In all, "Death Before Dishonor" is sort of "What you see is what you get". It's a nice package of action where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. And in our uncertain, confusing times that we live in today, that's a comfort. Recommended.

"Death Before Dishonor" is a cheesy, nasty, jingoistic piece of work, and pretty fun on that level. In any event, it does exactly what it should be doing, and that's delivering lots of gunfire, explosions, and brutality before revving up for a nicely rousing finale. The villains are utter creeps whose demise we eagerly anticipate, and our hero is a jut jawed type who everybody knows damn well will take on all comers in order to do what's right. It's also the sole feature film vehicle for TV star Fred Dryer ('Hunter'), who plays Marine sergeant "Gunny" Burns, who's stationed in the Middle East. When terrorists manage to kidnap his superior, Colonel Halloran (a lovably crusty Brian Keith), he goes into action. Luscious Polish babe Joanna Pacula plays a dubious journalist covering the terrorists' activities, Paul Winfield (rather wasted) is an officious, typical bureaucrat (the kind of guy in this type of film who will insist that the hero do things by the book), Sasha Mitchell is one of Burns's young soldiers, and Rockne Tarkington, Mohammed Bakri, and Kasey Walker play our unsubtle villains. This marked the only 1st unit directing credit for veteran stuntman and stunt coordinator Terry Leonard, who's worked on films ranging from "McLintock!" to "The Green Hornet". You know it's comfortably familiar stuff, when, even if you're watching it for the first time, you can easily predict upcoming lines of dialogue. The on location shooting is a bonus, as is the excellent music by the under-rated Aussie composer Brian May. The action is first rate, and keeps us happily watching for the duration. And just to show us how sadistic the baddies are, the most memorable scene has them mutilating Keiths' hand with a power drill and threatening his young associate with similar treatment. That makes it all the more glorious when Dryer and associates, with the assistance of the Mossad, launch the climactic attack on the stronghold where Keith is being kept. It's guaranteed to get you cheering and pumping your fist, right up to the final frame. Seven out of 10.

Good casting and good plot. Modern movie watchers can say "predictable"; however, they've seen lots of action films SINCE 1987 that make plot elements here rather familiar. Don't you think? They acted like marines; everyone was fit and could do the wall climbs, etc. People seemed to be willing to do things not for money--that was a bit unusual, to the end that the "good guys" won! It was patriotic, sure, but in this age (2011) of from the top-down complacency, this patriotism comes across as welcome, I'd say. Good Action. Only the blond photographer lady seemed miscast to me. As you can see from the high score, I liked it!