Red Scorpion
Encyclopedia
Red Scorpion is a 1989 film directed by Joseph Zito
starring Dolph Lundgren
.
Spetsnaz
-trained KGB
agent who is sent to an African country where Soviet, Czechoslovakia
n and Cuban forces
are helping the government fight an anti-communist
rebel movement. He fights with dedication for his Soviet commanders, until he is thrown in jail for drunkenly shooting up a bar. During his night in the cell, he meets an American journalist and a resistance fighter whom the Soviet command have designated both as an espionage
/terrorist threat, and Nikolai learns the truth about the Soviet presence.
Nikolai is ordered to assassinate
the movement's leader, but eventually turns against his government by switching sides. Disgraced and torture
d by his commanding officers for failing his mission, he breaks out of the interrogation chamber and escapes to the desert, later to be found by native people. He soon learns about them and their culture, and after receiving a ceremonial burn scar in the form of a scorpion
(hence the title), he rejoins the freedom fighters and leads an attack against the Soviet camp after a previous attack at the rebel stronghold. Nikolai steals an AO-63
from the armoury, fights his corrupt officers and hunts down General Vortek, who attempts to escape in a Mil-24 Hind
only to be shot down after takeoff. Nikolai defeats and kills Vortek, as the freedom fighters finally defeat the Soviet oppression.
and a search for other locations, the film was made in Namibia
. Warner Bros.
, who had a negative pickup deal
to release the picture, pulled out for the breach of their contract with the production. Artists and Athletes Against Apartheid then condemned the production for breaking the international boycott against South Africa
. The film allegedly received help from the South African government as part of its propaganda efforts to undermine international sympathy for the African National Congress
(see International Freedom Foundation
).
With all the delays and productions issues, the film went over budget by 8-10 million dollars (approximately twice the initial amount).
Abramoff later claimed that he did not intend the film to contain so much violence and profanity, blaming the director. He established a short-lived "Committee for Traditional Jewish Values in Entertainment" to release films more in line with his values, but later abandoned the project, feeling it would be unfeasible.
A sequel, Red Scorpion 2, appeared in 1994, although the story is largely unrelated to the first installment.
Months later, Sharpiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment Home Video
released the movie on videocassette and laserdisc. In 1993, a budget tape of the film was released by Starmaker. The movie has had at least two Region 1 DVD
releases. The first DVD was released in 1998 by Simitar
and the second DVD was released in 2002 by 20th Century Fox
. In 2005, Tango Entertainment released a UMD
of the film for the Sony PlayStation Portable. The two DVDs are now discontinued. On November 5, 2010, Don May Jr. of Synapse Films
told Fangoria
of his plans for a 2011 Blu-ray release. It will have new 2K scan. He also revealed that a longer cut has been recently found in a vault. "We're going to search the vaults high and low for the most complete version and the original negative material. It may take a lot of research to find the additional footage on film, but we're up to the challenge. Tom Savini
may have some behind-the-scenes video, and if so, it'll be fun to showcase some of that stuff. We'll have extras, but it's early yet, so we have to wait and see what we can come up with."
The film was directed by Joseph Zito
and represents his first authorial effort half a decade after the release of the Chuck Norris
vehicles Missing in Action
and Invasion U.S.A.
.
Joseph Zito
Joseph Zito is an American film director. He is perhaps well known for directing many low budget action B-movies of the 1980s such as, Missing in Action, Invasion U.S.A., Red Scorpion, and many others. In the mid-1980s, Zito spent a year of pre-production on the Cannon version of Spider-Man...
starring Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.A graduate in chemical...
.
Plot
The plot centers on Lundgren's character Nikolai, a SovietSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz, Specnaz tr: Voyska specialnogo naznacheniya; ) is an umbrella term for any special forces in Russian, literally "force of special purpose"...
-trained KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
agent who is sent to an African country where Soviet, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
n and Cuban forces
Military of Cuba
The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces consist of ground forces, naval forces, air and air defence forces, and other paramilitary bodies including the Territorial Troops Militia , Revolutionary Armed Forces , and Youth Labor Army .The armed forces has long been the...
are helping the government fight an anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
rebel movement. He fights with dedication for his Soviet commanders, until he is thrown in jail for drunkenly shooting up a bar. During his night in the cell, he meets an American journalist and a resistance fighter whom the Soviet command have designated both as an espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
/terrorist threat, and Nikolai learns the truth about the Soviet presence.
Nikolai is ordered to assassinate
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
the movement's leader, but eventually turns against his government by switching sides. Disgraced and torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d by his commanding officers for failing his mission, he breaks out of the interrogation chamber and escapes to the desert, later to be found by native people. He soon learns about them and their culture, and after receiving a ceremonial burn scar in the form of a scorpion
Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
(hence the title), he rejoins the freedom fighters and leads an attack against the Soviet camp after a previous attack at the rebel stronghold. Nikolai steals an AO-63
AO-63 assault rifle
The AO-63 is a Soviet two-barrel assault rifle, capable of fully automatic fire, chambered for the 5.45 x 39 mm round. It was designed by S. G. Simonov and P. A. Tkachev, and manufactured by TsNIITochMash....
from the armoury, fights his corrupt officers and hunts down General Vortek, who attempts to escape in a Mil-24 Hind
Mil Mi-24
The Mil Mi-24 is a large helicopter gunship and attack helicopter and low-capacity troop transport with room for 8 passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and operated since 1972 by the Soviet Air Force, its successors, and by over thirty other nations.In NATO circles the export...
only to be shot down after takeoff. Nikolai defeats and kills Vortek, as the freedom fighters finally defeat the Soviet oppression.
Cast
- Dolph LundgrenDolph LundgrenDolph Lundgren is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.A graduate in chemical...
— Lt. Nikolai Rachenko - M. Emmet WalshM. Emmet WalshMichael Emmet Walsh is an American actor who has appeared in over 100 film and television productions.-Life and career:Walsh was born in Ogdensburg, New York, the son of Agnes Kathrine and Harry Maurice Walsh, Sr., a customs agent...
— Dewey Ferguson - Al WhiteAl WhiteAllen "Al" White is an American character actor. He has appeared in various movies, such as Airplane! and Airplane II: The Sequel, and Back To The Future II...
— Kallunda Kintash - T. P. McKennaT. P. McKennaThomas Patrick McKenna , known professionally as T. P. McKenna, was an Irish actor who worked on stage, in film and television in Ireland and the UK from the 1950s.- Film and television :...
— General Vortek - Carmen ArgenzianoCarmen ArgenzianoCarmen Antimo Argenziano is an American actor who has appeared in over 50 movies and around 100 television movies or episodes....
— Colonel Zayas - Alex Colon — Sgt. Mendez
- Brion JamesBrion JamesBrion Howard James was an American character actor. Known for playing the character of Leon Kowalski in the movie Blade Runner, James portrayed a variety of colorful roles in well-known films such as 48 Hrs., Another 48 Hours, Tango & Cash, Silverado, Red Heat, The Player and The Fifth Element...
— Krasnov - Ruben Nthodi — Ango Sundata
Production and controversy
After being denied the right from filming in SwazilandSwaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
and a search for other locations, the film was made in Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
. Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, who had a negative pickup deal
Negative pickup deal
In film production, a negative pickup is a contract entered into by an independent producer and a movie studio wherein the studio agrees to purchase the movie from the producer at a given date and for a fixed sum...
to release the picture, pulled out for the breach of their contract with the production. Artists and Athletes Against Apartheid then condemned the production for breaking the international boycott against South Africa
Disinvestment from South Africa
Disinvestment from South Africa was first advocated in the 1960s, in protest of South Africa's system of Apartheid, but was not implemented on a significant scale until the mid 1980s...
. The film allegedly received help from the South African government as part of its propaganda efforts to undermine international sympathy for the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
(see International Freedom Foundation
International Freedom Foundation
The International Freedom Foundation , was a self-described anti-communist group established in Washington, D.C. founded in 1986 by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Its purported aim was to promote individual and collective freedoms worldwide: freedom of thought; free speech; free association; free...
).
With all the delays and productions issues, the film went over budget by 8-10 million dollars (approximately twice the initial amount).
Abramoff later claimed that he did not intend the film to contain so much violence and profanity, blaming the director. He established a short-lived "Committee for Traditional Jewish Values in Entertainment" to release films more in line with his values, but later abandoned the project, feeling it would be unfeasible.
A sequel, Red Scorpion 2, appeared in 1994, although the story is largely unrelated to the first installment.
Release
Red Scorpion had a world premiere at the 1988 MIFED film market, and was released theatrically in Germany and Japan in January 1989, then domestically USA on April 21, 1989. The movie was released theatrically worldwide except in the United Kingdom (where it went "direct to video" in January 1990).Months later, Sharpiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment Home Video
Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment
Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment was a company formed at the height of the home video industry in 1984 by producer Leonard Shapiro and director James Glickenhaus to produce and distribute low-budget horror and action films...
released the movie on videocassette and laserdisc. In 1993, a budget tape of the film was released by Starmaker. The movie has had at least two Region 1 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
releases. The first DVD was released in 1998 by Simitar
Simitar Entertainment
Simitar Entertainment, Inc. was a media company that sold music, videos, DVDs, and computer software. They specialized in compilation albums, special interest video, and urban. Simitar distributed its own label. They were affiliated with Beast, Beast Retro, Pickwick, Plum, and Revival...
and the second DVD was released in 2002 by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. In 2005, Tango Entertainment released a UMD
Universal Media Disc
The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform...
of the film for the Sony PlayStation Portable. The two DVDs are now discontinued. On November 5, 2010, Don May Jr. of Synapse Films
Synapse Films
Synapse Films is a DVD/Blu-ray label owned and operated by Don May, Jr. and his business partners Jerry Chandler and Charles Fiedler. The company specializes in cult horror, science fiction, and exploitation films....
told Fangoria
Fangoria
Fangoria is an American magazine devoted to horror and exploitation films, which has a number of associated brands:* Fangoria Comics* Fangoria Films* Fangoria RadioFangoria may also refer to:* Fangoria , a Spanish electro pop band...
of his plans for a 2011 Blu-ray release. It will have new 2K scan. He also revealed that a longer cut has been recently found in a vault. "We're going to search the vaults high and low for the most complete version and the original negative material. It may take a lot of research to find the additional footage on film, but we're up to the challenge. Tom Savini
Tom Savini
Thomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...
may have some behind-the-scenes video, and if so, it'll be fun to showcase some of that stuff. We'll have extras, but it's early yet, so we have to wait and see what we can come up with."
The film was directed by Joseph Zito
Joseph Zito
Joseph Zito is an American film director. He is perhaps well known for directing many low budget action B-movies of the 1980s such as, Missing in Action, Invasion U.S.A., Red Scorpion, and many others. In the mid-1980s, Zito spent a year of pre-production on the Cannon version of Spider-Man...
and represents his first authorial effort half a decade after the release of the Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
vehicles Missing in Action
Missing in Action (film)
Missing in Action is a 1984 action B-movie directed by Joseph Zito and starring Chuck Norris. It is set in the context of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. Colonel Braddock, who escaped a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp 10 years earlier, returns to Vietnam to find American soldiers listed as missing...
and Invasion U.S.A.
Invasion U.S.A. (1985 film)
Invasion U.S.A. is a 1985 action film made by Cannon Films and starring Chuck Norris. It was directed by Joseph Zito. Both Chuck Norris and his brother, Aaron, were involved in the writing. It was made in Fort Pierce, Florida. Miami landmarks, such as Dadeland Mall and Miracle Mile, can also be...
.