Imagine a straightforward, linear film cut down into little pieces, jumbled together like a jigsaw and re-assembled randomly. The resulting movie would then be called WHITE FIRE, one of the daftest films I've watched in recent months. One thing to do when watching this film is to ignore the plot, which is just headache-inducing scenes of stupidity and randomness involving a shining white diamond in a mine. The only thing to do is sit back and enjoy the endless low-rent action scenes which fill the movie, the silly scripting, sometimes inaudible dialogue and poor acting from the majority of the cast. One thing that helps explain the lack of coherence is the multi-national aspect of the production; not only did French director Jean-Marie Pallardy drag some of his French cast and crew to Turkey to shoot this movie, but somehow the UK (!) and Italy were also involved in the financing. The result is an unsatisfying but mildly diverting action odyssey with lots of craziness to recommend it.
The action mainly consists of guys in silly suits with large guns running around a quarry and shooting each other, getting blown up occasionally. The finale of the film is a explosive expert's dream as hero Robert Ginty (complete with an unbecoming moustache) runs around lobbing sticks of dynamite at people. Watch in amazement as stuntman after stuntman is blown through the air by an exploding bomb - I guess health and safety measures are cheap in Turkey. Production-wise, the sound quality is poor and the camera-work static and uninteresting, and the poor editing rounds things out to a disappointing whole. The Istanbul scenery is picturesque in places but could have been utilised to a far greater effect.
WHITE FIRE seems to be on a crusade of containing as many different deaths as possible for the extras - no two are alike. Things begin with a guy being burnt alive with a flamethrower, then move on to a thief being electrocuted, a guy cut into pieces with a band saw, and a man's face being melted on a burning crystal (?). Women are shot in the head with blow darts and in the film's cheesy but grim highlight, Robert Ginty lets rip with a chainsaw on the docks and slices up a few of the enemy. Sadly, the UK pre-cert of this film which I watched cut out all of the gore effects in the film, which are by all accounts cheesy and unrealistic anyway. The film is instantly dated with an annoying pop song which plays throughout, detracting from the entertainment value further.
For such a bad film, it's surprising at how many familiar exploitation faces are present and correct. It seems everyone travelled out to Turkey in 1984 to appear in this film. First up is Robert Ginty, plodding woodenly through his part as the tired have-a-go-hero; I kind of wish his role wasn't so physical in this movie, because the punches he throws are really fake. The female lead is played by Belinda Mayne, who has a bizarre incestuous relationship with her brother Ginty, and who spends most of her scenes either walking around or showering in gratuitous nude scenes. Pallardy regular Jess Hahn pops up as an aged aide of Ginty's whilst US action star Fred Williamson has a very minor and unmemorable part as a bounty hunter. Finally we get Gordon Mitchell playing another nondescript bad guy in a large red suit who gets gunned down by our hero at the finale. Only sado-masochists may get a kick out of this absurd, largely incoherent, movie.
The action mainly consists of guys in silly suits with large guns running around a quarry and shooting each other, getting blown up occasionally. The finale of the film is a explosive expert's dream as hero Robert Ginty (complete with an unbecoming moustache) runs around lobbing sticks of dynamite at people. Watch in amazement as stuntman after stuntman is blown through the air by an exploding bomb - I guess health and safety measures are cheap in Turkey. Production-wise, the sound quality is poor and the camera-work static and uninteresting, and the poor editing rounds things out to a disappointing whole. The Istanbul scenery is picturesque in places but could have been utilised to a far greater effect.
WHITE FIRE seems to be on a crusade of containing as many different deaths as possible for the extras - no two are alike. Things begin with a guy being burnt alive with a flamethrower, then move on to a thief being electrocuted, a guy cut into pieces with a band saw, and a man's face being melted on a burning crystal (?). Women are shot in the head with blow darts and in the film's cheesy but grim highlight, Robert Ginty lets rip with a chainsaw on the docks and slices up a few of the enemy. Sadly, the UK pre-cert of this film which I watched cut out all of the gore effects in the film, which are by all accounts cheesy and unrealistic anyway. The film is instantly dated with an annoying pop song which plays throughout, detracting from the entertainment value further.
For such a bad film, it's surprising at how many familiar exploitation faces are present and correct. It seems everyone travelled out to Turkey in 1984 to appear in this film. First up is Robert Ginty, plodding woodenly through his part as the tired have-a-go-hero; I kind of wish his role wasn't so physical in this movie, because the punches he throws are really fake. The female lead is played by Belinda Mayne, who has a bizarre incestuous relationship with her brother Ginty, and who spends most of her scenes either walking around or showering in gratuitous nude scenes. Pallardy regular Jess Hahn pops up as an aged aide of Ginty's whilst US action star Fred Williamson has a very minor and unmemorable part as a bounty hunter. Finally we get Gordon Mitchell playing another nondescript bad guy in a large red suit who gets gunned down by our hero at the finale. Only sado-masochists may get a kick out of this absurd, largely incoherent, movie.