Review of Beyond the Call of Duty

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!