Main Cast: Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Joyce Godenzi, Lam Ching-Ying
Release Year: 1986
Country: HK
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
Actor/director Sammo Hung gathered an international cast including the late Oscar winner Dr. Haing S. Ngor (The Killing Fields) and some of the most recognizable faces in Hong Kong cinema for this action-packed martial arts adventure. Set in 1976, the film focuses on a ragtag group of Chinese and Vietnamese prisoners trained by the United States government to carry out a potentially suicidal parachute mission into Vietnam. They are charged with destroying a cache of American weapons accidentally left behind when Saigon fell the previous year before they are recovered by the Vietcong. Led by Tung Ming-sun (Hung), the troops are escorted by a trio of hardbitten female guerrilla fighters from Cambodia (led by Joyce Godenzi), and guided by a black market peddler (Yuen Biao) and his insane uncle (Ngor). Chased by a crazed Vietnamese colonel (Yuen Wah), the team makes their way to the underground storage complex for a violent, impressively staged finale. Blending traditional genre elements with those of the American war film (notably The Dirty Dozen), the film co-stars Corey Yuen, Yuen Woo-ping, Dick Wei, and Phillip Ko, among a host of other familiar genre regulars. The dubbed version released by Tai Seng changes some character names to eliminate any Vietnamese among the heroes and cuts three sequences available in subtitled import editions from other distributors. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Eastern Condors (traditional Chinese: 東方禿鷹) is a 1987Hong Kong action film set in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. It was directed by and starred Sammo Hung along with Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah. It has a supporting cast featuring several well-known Hong Kong stars, including Hung's current wife, Joyce Godenzi (though they weren't married at the time). Although set in Vietnam, most of the film was shot in the Philippines. The scenes set in the United States were actually filmed in Canada. The ensemble of convict soldiers in the film are reminiscent of similar squads in American war films like The Dirty Dozen. Hung believed his normal size and body shape, whilst suited to his comedic characters in his other films, would be inappropriate for a soldier. In order to get into shape for the lead role, Hung lost 30lb in 3 months, by surviving on a diet of nothing but chicken and rice.[1]
Lieutenant Colonel Lam is an American army officer given a top secret mission by the US military. The mission entails entering Vietnam to destroy an old American bunker filled with missiles before the Viet Cong can get to them.
Due to the dangerous nature of the mission, a group of Chinese American soldier convicts are selected to accompany him, led by Tung Ming-sung. Survivors are promised a pardon, US citizenship and $200,000 each. After a brief training session they are dropped into Vietnam. During the jump, Lam learns too late that the mission has been aborted.
Once in enemy territory, they are met by some Cambodian guerrillas led by Godenzi and take refuge in a small town. There they meet Rat (aka Chieh Man Yen), and his mentally ill "Godfather", Yeung.
Later, the squad is captured and incarcerated in a POW camp, where the prisoners are forced to play Russian roulette in a similar manner to the film The Deer Hunter. After escaping, they discover that one of the Cambodian guerrillas is a traitor. With the Vietnamese military in pursuit, they are able to reach the bunker, where a final showdown with the (giggling) Vietnamese general occurs.
