Cut and Run (1985)

 

This film was originally to be directed by Wes Craven and starring Dirk Benedict!  Instead it's directed by Cannibal Holocaust's Ruggero Deodato - who seems an odd choice to pair with Willie Aames, Richard Lynch, and Lisa Blount.  

Quecho (Michael Berryman) and a band of Indios attack a South American cocaine production facility, massacring all the workers.

The woman (? actress) is brutalized by the invaders.

Quecho deals the final blow

Quecho is commanded by cult leader and coke dealer Colonel Brian Horne (Richard Lynch).

In Miami, Rita (Barbara Magnolfi) smuggles cocaine using a fake baby.

 Barbara Magnolfi played Ursula in The Sister of Ursula (1978)

The tape recorder of the baby crying.  

Drug dealing is a harsh business.  Rita ends up naked and dead on her living room floor.

The camera ghoulishly pans over Rita's body.

 Fran Hudson (Lisa Blount), a reporter, and her cameraman, Mark Ludman (Leonard Mann), are staking out the house when the bloodbath occurs. 

Fargas (Eriq La Salle) is an informant who runs a strip club.  Fran goes to him for information on the massacre.  I have to believe the character of Fargas is named after Antonio Fargas who played Huggie Bear and other similarly audacious pimp characters in the seventies.

Fran shows the TV station a video she uncovered.  It shows the Jonestown Massacre... and in the footage is Colonel Horne as well as the son of the station manager.

Karin (Karen Black) runs the TV station and Bob Allo (Richard Bright) owns it.  His son was last seen ten years ago.  They finance a trip for Fran and Mark to find Horne and return Tommy, his son.

Ana (Valentina Forte) works at s cocaine production facility.  She is the camp's radio operator.

 Valentina Forte was dating Deodato during filming.  Willie Aames has claimed that he suspected she was abused by the director.

Vlado (John Steiner), a sadistic Russian who runs the camp, offers Ana to their drug running pilot, Manuel (Gabriele Tinti).

Ana is raped

Tommy Allo (Willie Aames) is devastated to witness Ana's rape.

Ana takes a shower.

Both Tommy and Ana want to escape.  When Ana receives contact from the rescue mission, Tommy sneaks out to prepare a landing strip.

Fran and Mark are on their way.

Quecho and his murderous jungle natives seize the camp.

Ana crawls to safety, but it's through piles of dismembered bodies.

Back in the states, the newsroom is ready for updates from Fran.

But there's a problem.  The airplane is out of fuel, and all the "good guys" in the area have been killed.  They'll have to travel by foot.

Ana is killed by Quecho.

Tommy's dad speaks with Fargas at his strip club.  He ends up traveling to Venezuela himself.

Fran continues her reporting, even amid danger.  Tommy continues to grab himself inappropriately.

Quecho attacks!

Fran, Mark and Tommy are held prisoner.  Finally, Colonel Horne, presumed dead at Jonestown, shows up.  Evidently, he plans to rule the world and weed out the weak via his cocaine empire.

Bob Allo and a rescue team arrives; a gun battle ensues.  Mortally wounded, Horne orders his goon to chop his head off  - Mark gets it on film.

Bob is reunited with Tommy and they escape.

Fran and Mark escape too, but not before she blows away Quecho. THE END

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I wish Deodato had just done a Cannibal Holocaust sequel like he was requested.  He refused, and we get this milquetoast action movie with sparse moments of dark sleaze instead.  Also, Lisa Blount was a bit of a dud; she was so flat and seemed like she didn't want to be there. 

★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆5/10