February 12, 2009

Indians in Fantasy Mission Force

Correspondent DMarks reviews one of Jackie Chan's early martial-arts movies for his readers:

Fantasy Mission ForceOne review summarizes the film saying "That right there should clue you in on what sort of movie this is. Plot? Jimmy Wang Yu is a super soldier who assembles a team of misfits and renegades for a suicide mission. Yeah, familiar plot. Their mission is to rescue the leaders of the Allied Powers during World War II, all of whom have been captured by Nazis. One of the leaders is Abraham Lincoln. They are being held in Luxemborg, Canada. Jimmy Wang Yu has to go because Rambo, Snake Plisskin, and Baldy (Karl Maka’s character from the Aces Go Places films) were all busy."

The first of the weird enclaves they find is inhabited by Native American-type Amazon women who fly through the air, walk on water, strangle people with very long scarves, and try to cook them. I guess there is a male fantasy about being the only man among Amazons, and sure enough there is a guy who is apparently the leader. He says to the band of heroes as they arrive: "Of ten men nine are dirty! You have dirty language, and dirty minds. I am an artist. I worship beauty. I will destroy everything that is imperfect in my eyes, bit by bit and slowly."
Comment:  For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.

1 comment:

dmarks said...

I also just re-watched "Rumble in the Bronx", and one of the gang members has a sort of Native look, with headband and buckskin jacket. As he was constantly being punched and thrown around, I did not get a good look at his face to see what ethnicity he was.