Red Scorpion

I looked every where for this movie and couldn't find it. Then I went to amazon. The price was GREAT and it arrived early. I plan to do all of my movie shopping here. Thanks again!

bottom of the barrel action with one of dolgh lundgren's worst preformances(so you know it must be really bad) as a soviet officer sent to kill an african leader. when he gets there he changes sides and helps the african people against the soviets.
sounds much better than it really is ,the action is flat as is the whole movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!! skip it!!!!!!!!!!!

It is rumored that Jack Abramoff earned roughly ten million dollars (after taxes) in his first and apparently only movie production. In other words, he was already a wealthy man before entering the political world of Washington, DC. Abramoff even wrote the screenplay along with another member of his family, Robert. Alas, this movie concerning the Cold War battles fought within the African hemisphere leaves much to be desired. Dolph Lundgren was still somewhat a major name in 1989 and could basically carry the movie all by himself. As matter of fact, that's precisely what he does! Red Scorpion was modestly successful only because of his involvement. Lundgren plays the role of a Russian special ops soldier who eventually sees the light and becomes an arch foe of the evil USSR. Character actor M. Emmet Walsh is a journalist willing to take great chances to get the story out about the viciousness of the Soviet empire. T.P. McKenna, Carmen Argenziano, and Brion James fill out the rest of the "name" cast. The plot makes little sense. It is the never-ending violence and action scenes which might halfway satisfy an unsophisticated audience. No, this movie doesn't even come close to winning any major motion picture awards.

Who should see this so-so action film? I would recommend only those who find the Jack Abramoff aspect of particular interest. Perhaps it might help one better understand his ultimate fall from grace. The man didn't create a cinematic masterpiece. Nonetheless, he deserves credit in sensing how best to make sure it turned a healthy profit.

David Thomson
Flares into Darkness

I think this was one of Dolph's better movies. It does a pretty good job of representing the factions in Angola. It has a solid plot. Red Scorpion does what its supposed to do, which is make Dolph the savior of the people in Angola while showing off his body. Its unrealistic that one man is going to come along and single handedly end a war thats been going on for years (especially in Africa) but thats why its only a movie.

Interestingly, this pro-apartheid film was produced and written by Jack Abramoff, now famous for pleading guilty to fraud and tax evasion in the course of orchestating the biggest American congressional corruption scandal in a generation.
Yes the same man who bribed over 60 congressmen and senators, robbed several native american tribes blind, tried to take out life insurance policies on tribal elders with himself as the beneficiary, and called the Choctaw tribal council "Monkeys" and "troglodytes", had an interesting earlier career.
He was disqualified from the student government election in his Beverly Hills elementary school for exceeding spending limits.
He took over the young republican movement in college with his schoolmates including Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition, and longtime republican insider Grover Norquist.

But more relevant to this movie, well into the 1990's while actively working in the Hollywood film industry he worked both covertly and overtly to support the racist whites only Apartheid Goverment of the old South Africa, and to oppose and discredit Nelson Mandela and the ANC's struggle for majority rule and racial equality.

During this period, he conceived this piece of bizarre propoganda, paid for by the Apartheid government in the old South Africa, equating the struggle for black liberation in South Africa with communism and the Soviet Union, and openly placing his sympathies with the racist minority Afrikkaner government.
The hero of the film is based on the many mercenaries, or so called soldiers of fortune, as they are called in their trade magazine which like the makers of this film, were also enthusiastic about private killers being hired to murder activists fighting against apartheid.

An amazing historical anomoly, this piece has even more significance in the wake of the currently unfolding scandal which promises to be one of the largest in history, involving bribery,favors, protection of sweatshops (in US colonies where women are forced into having abortions), fraud, the chritian coalition, pitting one tribe against another to essentially steal money from native america, and possibly the gangland style murder of his former business partner, the owner of Sun Cruises, when he complained about being defrauded in the sale of his cruise line.

My advice, buy it used for historical purposes, not new. This guy has made more than enough money off the backs of the American people. Let's not forget how fear of communism was used to justify murder, racial segregation, perversion of the constitution, police state style abuses of civil rights, and many other crimes against humanity. Let's learn the lessons of history and preserve what is good about the USA. Let this movie be a record of the power of Hollywood to either perpetuate lies that are used to kill and abuse people, or to turn away from evil and tell the truth. Let's make a different legacy this time around.