Final Mission (1984 film)

Last updated
Final Mission
Final Mission (1984 film) french movie poster.png
Directed by Cirio H. Santiago
Written by
Produced by
  • Cirio H. Santiago
  • Anthony Maharaj (executive producer)
Starring
Cinematography Ricardo Remias
Edited by Gervacio Santos
Music by Georges Garvarentz
Production
companies
  • Westbrook
  • M.P. Film
  • D.S. Pictures
Distributed by
  • Parafrance Films (theatrical, France)
  • Scotia Filmverleih (theatrical, Germany)
  • Succéfilm AB (theatrical, Sweden) [1]
  • Seven Keys (theatrical, Australia)
  • Thorn EMI (video) [2]
Release date
  • 1984 (1984)
Running time
  • 101 minutes (theatrical, US video)
  • 100 minutes (theatrical, France) [3]
  • 98 minutes (theatrical, Australia) [4]
  • 97 minutes (UK video) [5]
Countries
  • United States
  • Philippines
LanguageEnglish
Budget$300,000 [6]

Final Mission is a 1984 action adventure film directed by Cirio H. Santiago and written by Jose Mari Avellana and Joseph Zucchero. [7] It stars Richard Young and Kaz Garas with John Ericson and Christine L. Tudor in supporting roles. [8] [9]

Contents

Plot

Vince Deacon (Richard Young), a decorated Vietnam War veteran and LAPD SWAT team captain, faces suspension after killing a thug in self-defense during a home invasion. To escape the stress, he takes his wife and young son on a camping trip to a lake. Tragedy strikes when their boat explodes, killing both his wife and son. Devastated, Deacon discovers that both, the home invasion and the explosion, were orchestrated by Slater (John Dresden), a former war comrade who betrayed him and his country back in Vietnam. Driven by vengeance, Deacon tracks Slater to Pinesville, a small California mountain town. There, he learns Slater is protected by his brother, the local sheriff (Kaz Garas), despite knowing about his criminal past. As Deacon pursues Slater, he faces relentless opposition from the sheriff and his group of deputies and loyal townspeople, who aim to stop his vigilante mission. He sinks into his warrior madness as his vendetta progresses and victims pile up. The conflict escalates when the National Guard and Deacon’s former commander, Col. Cain (John Ericson), are called in to intervene. Undeterred and convinced that he is back in Vietnam, Deacon uses his combat skills to navigate the hostile terrain, engaging in intense skirmishes. The story builds to a violent confrontation in the dense woods near Pinesville, where Deacon faces his enemies in a final showdown.

Production

Development

Final Mission was the first in a trilogy of films made by producer Anthony Maharaj and director Cirio H. Santiago [10] who first met in January 1982 at the Manila International Film Festival. [11]

Maharaj was impressed with the footage of Santiago's Stryker (1983) [12] that was screened at the festival and came up with the idea of a collaboration. He suggested a story inspired by Ted Kotcheff's First Blood. Santiago hired regular collaborators Jose Mari Avellana and American expatriate filmmaker Joseph Zucchero to write a screenplay based on Maharaj's outline. [11]

Filming

Most of the picture was filmed on location in the Philippines, mainly in and around Baguio [13] and Lake Caliraya. Some second unit scenes were shot in downtown Los Angeles, particularly in the Skid Row neighborhood. [6]

Music

French composer Georges Garvarentz was commissioned to write an orchestral score and to contribute to the title song Always On My Mind, a Soft rock melodic ballad performed by Steve Butler and produced by Alistair Gordon. The soundtrack was released as a Single in France by the Decca label. [14]

Release

Final Mission premiered theatrically in France on July 25, 1984 [15] with 23 prints in the Paris region where it sold 46,923 tickets within two weeks [16] followed by other European countries including Sweden, [1] Denmark, Finland, Germany [17] and Switzerland as well as Australia, [4] Mexico [18] and Peru. The movie received only token theatrical runs in the United States in 1984. [19]

It was released in the United States on VHS and Betamax videocassette by Thorn EMI / HBO Video. [20]

Reception

In its contemporary review, Variety called Final Mission "a routine action drama about a war vet out for revenge". It noted the heavy First Blood influence and mentioned that "as usual with a Santiago film, technical credits are good. Acting is okay, with a guest appearance by John Ericson as a military expert who helps Vince figure out who had the explosives expertise to help the punks blow up his boat." [8] [9]

VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever gave Final Mission a one-bone rating (on a scale from zero to four bones) and wrote: "Sounds like First Blood though obviously less grand and glorious." [21]

Daniel R. Budnik wrote in his review in 80s Action Movies on the Cheap: "Solid storytelling and good action make the film worth a watch" and concluded "The film is good but that ending is fantastic". He critized Georges Garvarentz's score "The orchestra rises up high and makes all the action scenes rousing and brilliant, except when they're not. The they end up looking overdone, which happens on more than one occasion". He praised the theme song as being "straight from the Foreigner playbook and it's cool." [22]

References

  1. 1 2 "Final Mission (1984)". Svensk Film Database. Retrieved April 24, 2025.
  2. ↑ "Final Mission (1984)". VHS database. Retrieved April 24, 2025.
  3. ↑ "Mission Finale" [Final Mission]. La Revue du cinéma (in French). No. 407–411. Ligue française de l'enseignement et de l'éducation permanente. 1985. p. 23.
  4. 1 2 "Final Mission (1984)". Australian Classification. Australian Government, Department of Infrastructure, Communications and the Arts. Retrieved April 24, 2025.
  5. ↑ "Final Mission". Melon Farmers BBFC Cuts. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Renske, David (2020). "Interview with Richard Young". Cirio H. Santiago - Unbekannter Meister des B-Films[Cirio H. Santiago - Unknown Master of B-Movies] (in German). CREEPY*IMAGES. pp. 49–50. ISBN   978-3-00-066074-0.
  7. ↑ "Final Mission (1984)". British Film Institute . Retrieved April 24, 2025.
  8. 1 2 Variety's Film Reviews 1985-1986 Volume 19. RR Bowker LLC. 1988. ISBN   978-0-8352-2799-5.
  9. 1 2 "Final Mission". Variety . November 26, 1986. p. 18.
  10. ↑ "Trinidad+Tobago Film Festival: Pioneers of Caribbean Film". Apr 12, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
  11. 1 2 Andrew Leavold (June 26, 2010). "Interview with Anthony Maharaj" . Retrieved April 24, 2025.
  12. ↑ Renske, David (2020). Cirio H. Santiago - Unbekannter Meister des B-Films[Cirio H. Santiago - Unknown Master of B-Movies] (in German). CREEPY*IMAGES. p. 98. ISBN   978-3-00-066074-0.
  13. ↑ "Entretien avec Henry Strzalkowski" [Interview with Henry Strzalkowski]. Retrieved April 24, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Georges Garvarentz, Patrick Shart – Mission Finale". Discogs . 1984. Retrieved April 24, 2025.
  15. ↑ Fiches du cinéma: Tous les films 1984[Fiches du cinéma: All films 1984] (in French). Office catholique français du cinéma. 1985. p. 248. ISBN   978-2-9025-1603-2.
  16. ↑ "Box Office Paris 25/07/1984 au 31/07/1984" . Retrieved April 24, 2025.
  17. ↑ Film-Dienst (in German). Vol. 38. Katholisches Institut für Medieninformationen, Katholische Filmkommission für Deutschland. 1985. p. 279.
  18. ↑ Cartelera cinematográfica, 1980-1989 (in Spanish). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 2006. p. 299. ISBN   978-9-7032-3605-3.
  19. ↑ Jeremy M. Devine (1999). Vietnam at 24 Frames a Second: A Critical and Thematic Analysis of Over 400 Films About the Vietnam War. University of Texas Press. p. 226. ISBN   978-0-2927-1601-8.
  20. ↑ Santiago, Cirio H. (director) (1984). Final Mission (VHS). Thorn EMI.
  21. ↑ VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 2008. Thomson Gale. 2007. p. 327. ISBN   978-0-7876-8981-0.
  22. ↑ Budnik, Daniel J. (7 April 2017). 80's Action Movies on the Cheap. McFarland & Company. p. 68. ISBN   978-0-7864-9741-6.
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