Beyond the Call of Duty (1992) User Reviews

But the true star of the show is undoubtedly the one and only Jan-Michael Vincent

[tarbosh22000 · 4/10 · 10 March 2019]

In South Vietnam, 1975, the war is winding down. However, ex-military man Len Jordan (Vincent) is "waging his own war in the Mekong Delta!" (to take a quote from the movie). Along with Lt. Henderson (Lottimer), and some other soldiers, Jordan heads a crew on a boat heading down the aforementioned Delta. To increase the danger and risk, the men are escorting a nun, a gaggle of orphans - including the precocious Mickey (Redillas) who warms the hearts of the hardened soldiers - and filmmaker Mary Jackson (McWhirter), who is making a documentary on Jordan. Will this boat trip dock successfully?

Cirio never seems to tire of the jungles of the Philippines, so here we are again with yet another shoot-fest with some exploding huts and helicopters on the side. We suppose this outing is a little different, because it involves a boat and is a little more aquatic than most other 'Nam jungle epics, and the kid that plays Mickey is actually very good and steals the movie, but this doesn't offer all that much new to the "jungle slog" genre.

The film features Philippines mainstays Henry Strzalkowski and fan favorite Nick Nicholson (in a criminally tiny part), as well as Jillian McWhirter, who's no stranger to the DTV world, having starred the fellow Corman title Hard Way Out (1996) as well as PM's Rage (1995) and the excellent Last Man Standing (1996). McWhirter puts in an especially P.J. Soles-like performance as the documentarian. What's good about her role is that it's not another stupid reporter, like so many of the token female roles we see. There's actually a bit of substance to her character. So she was probably happy about that.

But the true star of the show is undoubtedly the one and only Jan-Michael Vincent. Here, he's obviously the coolest and most badass 48 year old kid to ever brandish a machine gun. When he's not rockin' some awesome shades, he's rockin' some awesome eye-squints and some awesome hair. Even though he single-handedly takes on half the VC, and they all have machine guns, somehow NONE of them can hit the only dude out there with blonde hair and a blue tanktop. Sure, he wears the blue tanktop for 98% of the movie's running time, but hey, once you've found perfection, why mess with it? Plus, JMV looks jaggedly - even randomly - cut into the footage of this movie. The fact that it was edited from Nam Angels (1989) might explain that.

Additionally, the sound quality of this movie is not good. Add to that a blurry-sounding VHS tape, and a drunken JMV slurring his speech, and most of what he says is not comprehendable. He's about 10 times more unintelligible than Mako, but English is JMV's first language, so what's his excuse? And don't say alcohol. But we don't mean to beat up on the guy. We love seeing him, and we especially love his more besotted roles, which this one seems to be. You cannot do today what JMV did. He truly is one of the last of the "man's man" actors.

So while Beyond the Call of Duty lacks originality, a strong, central villain, or JMV parachuting out of an airplane on the box cover (couldn't they at least have super-imposed his head on the cover model's body?), there might be barely enough meat on the bone for fans of JMV or Cirio to check this one out, but don't spend too much money doing so.

For Vietnam War Completists Only

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 9 July 2014]

Jan-Michael Vincent does his own Rambo imitation in "Raiders of the Sun" director Cirio H. Santiago's low-budget version of "Apocalypse Now" entitled "Beyond the Call of Duty." The action takes place during the fall of Saigon and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Vietnam. Basically, this bullet-riddled, boat trip through the Mekong Delta in April 1975 with two women and a small group of refuge children aboard it is a Roger Corman B-movie. Meaning, you won't see any bogus backdrops in this average outdoors opus. Sadly, nothing about this made in the Philippines actioneer is remotely memorable. Nevertheless, Santiago makes "Beyond the Call of Duty" into a palatable potboiler because everybody is firing a weapon at some point or another at each other. Of course, the enemy cannot hit the side of a barn, particularly when it is a boat traveling at a fast clip down a river. Naturally, it is only a matter of time before the nun in charge of the refuge children gets blasted. She dies when an NVA helicopter sweeps down from the sky above the patrol boat and shoots her to death! We see the Viet Cong in their traditional black outfits as well as the regular North Vietnamese Army blasting away at the South Vietnamese and our heroes. Predictably, since the heroic Americans are confined to a river patrol boat, the enemy cannot blow it out of the water no matter how many rocket launched grenades they propel at it. Just for the sake of good cinematography, the rockets create gigantic geysers of water on either side of the vessel. Eb Lottimer plays Lieutenant Sam Henderson, the commander-in-charge of the boat, who is evacuating Len Jordan (Jan-Michael Vincent), while Jillian McWhirter is cast as Mary Jackson, an inquisitive, blonde American documentary filmmaker who loses her camera. "I cannot do anything. I cannot steer a boat or shoot a gun," she complains with all sincerity. "Look, in wartime people have a habit of rising to the occasion," Henderson tells her. "You do what you have to do and do it well." Later, in the final few minutes, you'll understand why her aforementioned comments have an ironic flavor. The green scenery looks nice, but the characters are pasteboard cut-outs wielding M-16s, M-60s, AK-47s, or rocket launchers. The big finale with our heroes blowing up a bridge caps this mercifully brief Vietnam War epic. Jan-Michael delivers a wooden performance as Len Jordan in s sleeveless blue T-shirt. Inevitably, we have the subplot where a tough G.I. Joe type befriends an orphan child. The North Vietnamese enemy constitutes an anonymous bunch of actors scrambling around in uniforms. None of them stand out as particularly villainous. It looks like the producers spent the bulk of their budget on blank bullets and explosions on land and in the river. The closest thing to commentary on Vietnam occurs during a conversation between Mary and Lieutenant Sam. He observes about the war: "Back home, I don't think people give a damn about this war." In one scene, during the opening half-hour, the closest thing to political commentary takes place when we see a presidential portrait of Richard Nixon hanging metaphorically enough at a skewered angle. "Beyond the Call of Duty" ranks as an okay military epic.

Has a few laugh-at-it moments, but generally skippable

[brainpuddle · 4/10 · 28 November 2020]

Good for some laughs, but someone just threw this together.

Warning: synopsis/spoilers -

A very cracked out Jan Michael-Vincent tries to sneak a case of gold on the last boat out of Vietnam. An Axl Rose look-alike leading lady, making a documentary, convinces the Navy boys to bring along her entourage of Vietnamese orphans (particularly the cigarette and turkey-loaf loving, tongue-wagging Mickey). Insanely edited for first 15 minutes with scenes from various other movies, with no relation to main plot.

arcade - operation wolf

[tom-de-wilde · 1/10 · 4 November 2006]

Avoid !

that says it all. The entire "movie" looks like an arcade-shoot'm-all-up from the period people got tired of playing pacman over & over again.

While the Nva hits only water, bushes & wildlife, the Americans will kill 5 with only 1 bullet. If you don't believe me, feel free to verify yourself.

In general i would say that the boat is the best actor... that one never disappoints. It survives multiple enemy mortars, thousands of ak47 rounds, an entire tank-arsenal & even an air-attack.

No story-line, No dialogs, No Acting, just: NO !

Is this really a 1992 flick? ... i'm thinking that must be a typo. It looks more like 1985 or something.

Why even bother to watch?

[justdc4 · 1/10 · 11 March 2024]

Waste of time; as a vet of the earlier era, before Nixon's war, I'm insulted (Nixon's war started in 1968 when, to win the election, he went behind Johnson's back and told Diem not to attend peace talks because he'd get a better deal from Nixon as president. I hold Nixon responsible for the more than 5K additional deaths of my fellow Americans. Nixon was not only a crook, he was a traitor); no professional acting with Vincent & McWhirter the worst; gun boat never even planed; action scenes are enemy soldiers drop like flies and Americans, especially, Vincent, standing in the open never hit, but the nun shot in the back inside the cabin; a pleasure cruise to the orphans who weren't always below deck and always disembarked to play on the shore whenever the boat stopped - it's not like they would have to make a quick get-a-way in a war zone; an extremely poorly done, obviously untrue event; wasted watch, W-0.

Colonel Kurtz Jr.

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 13 April 2019]

Under the auspices of Roger Corman, Jan-Michael Vincent takes up where Marlon Brando left off in Apocalypse Now. He plays a version of Colonel Kurtz. Vincent has got his own private army fighting the Viet Cong his way.

But the USA is now pulling out and he won't be smelling napalm in the morning much any more. A Navy swift boat commanded by Eb Lottimer has come to take Vincent. some of his guys, some orphans and journalist Virginia McWhirter.

Both Vincent and Lottimer would love to get something going with McWhirter but the Viet Cong harasses them all the way down the Mekong River and the bulk of the film is the chase.

This reminds me of that Errol Flynn-Ronald Reagan flick Desperate Journey from World War II years with Flynn leading hi s crew from a downed bomber through Germany escaping the stupid Nazis. Something similar here.

Hope no one went above and beyond in shooting this Thanksgiving Day gobbler.

One of the 5 greatest movies concerning the Vietnam War.

[movieguy-36 · 9/10 · 15 April 1999]

Why waste your time with filth like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, or The Siege of Firebase Gloria? Well, I have to admit, too, that those are all great films, but they don't live up to the excitement of Beyond the Call of Duty. Take all of the action of any Hollywood film and times that by two. That's how much action is here. Jan-Michael Vincent even guns down a chopper with an M-60. And that boat takes a beating! Explosions ripping left and right, Vietnamese soldiers flying in the air, squibs all over. You thought John Woo's films had a lot of squibs, think again. This has double that amount. I also love the ending when they must pass under a bridge. Cirio Santiago has created yet another classic. I not only recommend this one, but also check out his Field of Fire. It's even better!

Good Vietnam Action movie!! Jan Michael Vincent....

[robespierre9 · 7/10 · 30 September 2008]

This was a really good, low-budget Vietnam action movie!!! I saw this right after seeing the hilarious Vietnam spoof "Tropic Thunder", and I couldn't help but laugh. This movie had some really decent special effects! I think it's one of the best action-war movie's I've even seen. It didn't go over the top, but it has a very good pace about, suspense is excellent, and when the action does come, it hits hard. The story takes place during the last frantic days of the American presence in Vietnam. Hanoi is falling, and people are trying desperately to get out. Jan-Michael Vincent plays a tough, ex-military man, Len Jordan, who's been lurking in Laos during the war. As Eb Lottimer, who plays Lt. Sam Henderson, prepares to flee down the Mekong with his troop, he's asked to go back up river and get Jordan out. Jordan is accompanied by a woman reporter Mary Jackson, played by Jillian McWhirter. She's a little annoying when she screams (or shrieks!) at gunfire, but overall she does a decent job in this all-male war-fest. The PT boat ends up escorting Jordan, Jackson, and some Amer-Asian children and a nun downriver!!! So of course many adventures ensue as they are chased and hunted by the VC and the North Vietnamese Army. This is a later role for JMV, but he looks very good (and blond!). I think he's still a little coked up, because his eyes look a little whacked every now and then. This was during his major cocaine/alcohol issues, but he (luckily) is able to overcome these problems for the most part during this movie it looks like. I think JMV was trying out for the next Rambo, as he does a lot of shooting with a machine gun in the jungle!! If you can find this movie, and you are a Vietnam Movie fan, this is a good one to add to your collection!

"Without my camera I can't record this damn thing"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 23 January 2021]

A group of American soldiers towards the end of the Vietnam war sail down the Mekong River to the delta harassed by enemy troops. The boat also carries a reporter, a nun, some children and a war hero Len Jordan. If you want action this film is full of it, masses of gunfire, hand to hand combat and lots of lovely explosions. The first fifteen minutes is full of chaotic and confusing action until a story starts to emerge. There is romantic sub-plot that is unnecessary. It is directed by Cirio H. Santiago, an experienced hand in low-budget movie mayhem, who keeps it moving along nicely

Jan-Michael Vincent as the ambiguous hero Len Jordan is the best actor in the film. When he is taking off his sunglasses or blasting away with a big gun he is always watchable. The rest of the cast are serviceable. If you like this kind of thing it is a good example of this kind of thing.