An American Vietnam soldier on his way home is left for dead and is saved by a pair of Japanese stragglers from WWII, who train him in the way of the samurai.An American Vietnam soldier on his way home is left for dead and is saved by a pair of Japanese stragglers from WWII, who train him in the way of the samurai.An American Vietnam soldier on his way home is left for dead and is saved by a pair of Japanese stragglers from WWII, who train him in the way of the samurai.
Leon Isaac Kennedy
- McGee
- (as Leon Isaac)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWriter and director Quentin Tarantino has stated multiple times Cirio H. Santiago's movies influence on him. In this movie you can see that huge influence, in what would later be used on Kill Bill: the main character being betrayed by his friends and being left to die; him surviving and swearing revenge; being educated on Samurai culture and preparing his revenge, among many other elements.
- Alternate versionsThe new DVD release by Vinegar Syndrome is the complete 110-minute director's cut, as opposed to the regular 96 minute version on various public domain releases.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Featured review
Cirio H. Santiago strikes again with another mixture of madness
Cirio H. Santiago seems to have been a bit of a legendary Filipino director from the period when many cheap and cheerful genre flicks were being knocked out in the Philippines. From the little that I have seen, his output seems to be a guarantee of a good time on at least some level. One thing I have noticed is that he is fond of throwing everything at the screen no matter how disparate, with Future Hunters (1986) for instance he combined a post-apocalypse, time-travel, religious artefacts, Shaolin monks, neo-Nazis, dwarfs and Amazonian women. With the earlier TNT Jackson (1974) he simply combined martial arts with Blaxploitation, which was a tactic he returned to with Fighting Mad, with the added bonus of a vigilante revenge story and Hell in the Pacific thrown into the mix as well. The story itself has a lot going on in it. Three Vietnam veterans steal a cache of gold and then two of them double-cross the third by killing him and throwing him in the sea. Trouble is he doesn't die and winds up on a tropical island inhabited by two Japanese soldiers who are still fighting World War II in the late 70's. They nurse him back to health and train him to be a martial arts expert and samurai sword master. He eventually ends up back home in L.A. and seeks out his ex-buddies - who are now crime lords - for a slice of violent revenge.
It would be churlish to complain too much against a movie which has a synopsis like the above. In true Santiago style its attempt to mash genres up does result in something a little bit different for sure. It's full to the brim with fighting, training montages, heads and ears being lopped off, soul singing, 70's hats and Afros. So while it's not always entirely engaging stuff it tries its best to deliver a bit of stupid fun and you really can't argue with that too much.
It would be churlish to complain too much against a movie which has a synopsis like the above. In true Santiago style its attempt to mash genres up does result in something a little bit different for sure. It's full to the brim with fighting, training montages, heads and ears being lopped off, soul singing, 70's hats and Afros. So while it's not always entirely engaging stuff it tries its best to deliver a bit of stupid fun and you really can't argue with that too much.
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- Red-Barracuda
- Jun 21, 2017
- How long is Fighting Mad?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
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- Also known as
- The Force
- Filming locations
- 19500 Mayall Street, Northridge, Los Angeles, California, USA(Interior & Exterior. As McGee's home)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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