David Carradine stars as a colonel in Vietnam assigned to storm a P.O.W. camp and rescue the prisoners. The wily head of the camp (Mako) sets a trap for him, and Carradine winds up interred there too. With the war coming to a close, Mako wants to take off with a bunch of gold and he needs Carradine and his men to cross enemy lines. Naturally, Carradine and the other prisoners eventually escape into the jungle with Mako closing in behind them.
P.O.W. The Escape is one of the better Namsploitation movies of the era. It’s chockfull of action, exploding bamboo huts, shootouts, Jeep chases, great stunts, and bridges being blown up. The plot moves with fierce efficiency and there are more twists than you might expect from a typical genre offering.
The big reason the flick works as well as it does is because of David Carradine. This is one of his all-time best performances and he delivers his lines with great intensity. The opening scene where he receives his orders is particularly great as his “everybody comes home” speech coupled with his charismatic swagger instantly endears him to the audience. I also liked that he wasn’t quite a one-man army like Rambo and still relies on his men to secure their objectives. That of course doesn’t stop him from literally wrapping himself in the American flag while mowing down dozens of VC soldiers during the finale.
Mako makes for a formidable foe. He gives the villain a steely persistence and cold cruelty that makes him an ideal foil for Carradine’s stoic hero. American Ninja’s Steve James also has some fine moments as one of Carradine’s fellow prisoners who acts as his de facto second in command.
Overall, this is one of the best mid-budget Cannon films of the ‘80s. War movie buffs, Carradine fans, and Cannon aficionados will be completely satisfied by this one. In short, P.O.W. is A.O.K. by me.
AKA: Behind Enemy Lines. AKA: Attack Force ‘Nam.
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