Verdict
Summary
Franco’s approach is pretty clear-headed and honest, with a plot-heavy, but fairly engaging approach to drama and action, and while the final act utilizes some stock footage from other films for its battle scenes of tanks and armies firing in every direction, the movie remains watchable thanks to its capable cast and a climax that (while a little outlandish with an exploding helicopter and the death of a character by exploding chopper shrapnel) gives the film a solid conclusion
Plot:
A gunrunner, a general, and a president in a small South American country butt heads and agendas while a war, led by a peaceful man, breaks out.
Review:
A corrupt president (played by Fernando Rey) of a small South American country called Puerto Santo is powerless against his general (played by Robert Forster with a thin mustache) who has all the real power in the country. The general is sleeping with a married woman, the wife of an American gunrunner (played by George Kennedy) who has quite a bit of influence in the area and has made a home and built a family in the country, despite the danger all around. The gunrunner realizes that his wife has been cheating on him, but plans an elaborate test to prove her fidelity and whether or not she’s betrayed him to the general who is on his way to becoming a dictator after a coup he’s planning. When his wife fails the test, the gunrunner must try to keep his daughter safe, but he’s too late as the general has the girl kidnapped and tortured, but with a limited time to save her life, he helps a man of peace begin a war against the general, using arms that he can provide, and the general’s plan for a coup is interrupted when war breaks out. Both the president and the gunrunner have a final chance to redeem themselves – not as heroes, but as good men – before their lives are ruined and snuffed out by the cutthroat general.
From exploitation filmmaker Jess Franco, Countdown to Esmeralda Bay might be his most “straightforward” and clear-cut film, with not a single sex or nude scene in the entire picture. Franco’s approach is pretty clear-headed and honest, with a plot-heavy, but fairly engaging approach to drama and action, and while the final act utilizes some stock footage from other films for its battle scenes of tanks and armies firing in every direction, the movie remains watchable thanks to its capable cast and a climax that (while a little outlandish with an exploding helicopter and the death of a character by exploding chopper shrapnel) gives the film a solid conclusion. Luis Bacalov did the score.
Full Moon brings this rarity to Blu-ray and DVD, and the transfer is attractive and in widescreen for the very first time. The disc comes with its original trailer and bonus trailers as well. The film was not released until 1990 (some have it as 1989), but the end credits show the date at 1988.
