THE AMSTERDAM KILL is an action thriller from ENTER THE DRAGON director Robert Clouse. It was put out by Golden Harvest and is an interesting east meets west kind of film, although not an entirely successful one when it comes down to it. That I enjoyed it is more down to that I absolutely love the genre and will forgive just about anything than it being a properly good film.
An aged Robert Mitchum is the hero investigator looking into a number of drug-related deaths taking place in Amsterdam and Hong Kong. I suppose the idea is to do for China what Mitchum did for Japan in THE YAKUZA. His investigations take him on various globe-trotting adventures as he gradually closes in to the heart of the mystery while at the same time interacting with a number of supporting guest actors including Leslie Nielsen, Richard Egan, and Bradford Dillman. Sadly, most of these actors are in those 1970s-style supporting roles where they sit behind a desk the whole time. Some fun comes from seeing old-timer Keye Luke playing a master drug lord who becomes Mitchum's contact.
Meanwhile, Mitchum teams up with a rather dull young Chinese guy played by George Cheung and the two have some adventures. There isn't any martial arts here, but there a few car stunts and fight scenes. I was surprised at how little action there is given that this is advertised as an action-thriller. The first half has a string of violent murders and the second half has some low rent action stuff around the Amsterdam canals. It's only right at the end that it really kicks off in some good large-scale greenhouse locations. Watch out for kung fu stars Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah, who have a bizarre little cameo that involves them getting trampled by stampeding horses!
An aged Robert Mitchum is the hero investigator looking into a number of drug-related deaths taking place in Amsterdam and Hong Kong. I suppose the idea is to do for China what Mitchum did for Japan in THE YAKUZA. His investigations take him on various globe-trotting adventures as he gradually closes in to the heart of the mystery while at the same time interacting with a number of supporting guest actors including Leslie Nielsen, Richard Egan, and Bradford Dillman. Sadly, most of these actors are in those 1970s-style supporting roles where they sit behind a desk the whole time. Some fun comes from seeing old-timer Keye Luke playing a master drug lord who becomes Mitchum's contact.
Meanwhile, Mitchum teams up with a rather dull young Chinese guy played by George Cheung and the two have some adventures. There isn't any martial arts here, but there a few car stunts and fight scenes. I was surprised at how little action there is given that this is advertised as an action-thriller. The first half has a string of violent murders and the second half has some low rent action stuff around the Amsterdam canals. It's only right at the end that it really kicks off in some good large-scale greenhouse locations. Watch out for kung fu stars Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah, who have a bizarre little cameo that involves them getting trampled by stampeding horses!