An Unsolicited Review

I recently made another trip to one of the local thrift stores, hoping to find a decent VCR (so that I can have one in the living room and my bedroom as well). I left empty-handed in that regard, but scored in the area of good-looking movies on VHS. The store was clearing out a bunch of them, and so I got three good ones for a dollar in addition to a fourth for another dollar. How three of them are remains to be seen, but I have watched one already.

Entitled "Death Before Dishonor", it comes from that period in the mid-80s when America was terribly aggrieved by the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, and had few outlets for anti-Arab feelings except for the Iron Sheik of pro wrestling fame. To give a brief synopsis, a Marine sergeant is transferred to the security detail of an embassy in an Arab nation called Jemal. His commanding officer is kidnapped, the embassy is bombed and he must face off against the villainous "Abu Jihad".

Movies like this delight me, because I can come in knowing absolutely nothing and having expectations far too low for anything to dash them. I genuinely enjoyed this movie, which presents to us Arab Muslim terrorists who are evidently comfortable working with women as equals, since they employ one as a mercenary and grant their welcome to another who is supposed to be a sympathetic photographer making them look good in the press.

Of course, our heroic Marine sergeant (whose refusal to become an officer is supposed to be endearing) eventually triumphs, many of the characters we thought were bad guys were actually Mossad agents, the ineffectual ambassador is shamed, and the heavy-set, late 50's Abu Jihad proves himself to be a surprisingly formidable hand to hand fighter before being vanquished by the hero. It was a pretty solid film.