On Nov. 29 at The Sentient Bean, the PFS of Savannah’s ongoing weekly Wednesday night series of overlooked movies from around the world continues with an ultra-obscure Italian-made action flick from 1983 that has never been released in the U.S. “Thunder” aka “Thunder Warrior” is a rather shameless knock-off of the basic plot from the first Rambo movie “First Blood,” but that’s where the similarities end.
In this fast-paced revenge movie, the long-haired Vietnam vet who returns to his hometown only to find that corrupt local officials have been disrespecting his kinfolk is a Native American quick to oppose the crooked sheriff who’s been messing with his tribal lands and relatives. Instantly run out of town, he returns to wreak all kinds of retribution on the racist bullies profiteering off his family’s heritage.
Shot in Arizona on an extremely low budget by director Fabrizio De Angelis (best known to genre movie fans as the producer of such infamous Italian exploitation and horror flicks as “Zombie Flesheaters,” “1990: The Bronx Warriors,” “The Beyond” and “The House by the Cemetery”), “Thunder” stars the momentarily famous, untrained leading man Mark Gregory (aka Marco Di Gregorio) who was discovered selling shoes at a shopping mall and made a handful of trashy, drive-in-style pictures before mysteriously vanishing in 1989. He’s joined by B-movie favorite Bo Svenson (“Kill Bill,” TV’s “Walking Tall”) as the evil lawman and Antonio Sabato (“Gang War in Milan”).
Folks who appreciate the simple pleasures of cheesy dialogue, bare-knuckles fight scenes and amateurish acting should find plenty to like about this legitimately unknown slice of Euro-action. This uncut print is in spoken English. 7 p.m. showtime, with discounts on craft beer and organic wine during the show.