RED SCORPION (Joseph Zito, 1988)

[Moltisanti]

Your notes were great! Such a cool blu release.

Had a fun time on this podcast again. Definitely look forward to doing it again down the road.

[Jox]

Thanks! I was proud to be part of this special edition to help making the Dolph interview happen.
The only frustration was that I could write the text any longer.
I found out a lot more on the genesis and pre-production of the project since then by the way...

Nameless Media partnered with Splendid Films to release new Mediabook and hard cover editions of RED SCORPION (no extras, and probably still very expensive)
https://www.facebook.com/NameLessMediaF ... =3&theater

See the inside booklet and reproduction of lobby cards that come along with it:

[Jox]

New interview with Joseph Zito in the French mook magazine "Ciné-Bazar" #6

EDIT:

[Jox]

30 years ago, RED SCORPION was still filming after close to 5 months of production in Namibia, wrapping principal photography sometime in February 1988...

[Jox]

BTS pic from Namibian actor Neo M. Matsunyane

[Jox]

BetterBellSaul @BetterBellSaul
a couple of #35mm stills my dad took on the set of the 1988 film Red Scorpion with @Dolph_Lundgren found in the bottom of one of his treasure troves!

[Cinephilx]

Hi,

This expensive NSM bluray edition is the best on the market for Red Scorpion ?
Saw it very young and wanna discover it again with the best conditions
Kind Regards.

[Jox]

The best editions are the Synapse Films (US) and Arrow (UK) editions (both region free).
Note that the Synapse one bears more supplements (+ liner notes by yours truly) and a nicely mixed 5.1 sound track (addition to the original 2.0).

[Jox]

48 Hours of Movies: 1989!
http://www.fthismovie.net/2018/02/48-ho ... -1989.html

3:45 pm - Red Scorpion (dir. Joseph Zito)



Way more competently made but not a great deal more intelligent is Red Scorpion, one of the first starring vehicles for Dolph Lundgren. He plays a Russian soldier fighting in Africa who is left for dead, goes on (in the words of Adam Thas) a vision quest, and joins forces with the African bushmen to fight back against the Russian army. Director Joe Zito knows his way around and action movie and the makeup/gore effects are done by Tom Savini, but it's the movie's politics and unusual setting (unusual setting for an action movie, that is) that set it apart from the countless action films made during the peak of #HeavyAction.

[Jox]

HK or Taiwan Laserdisc





German Mediabook from Nameless Media (booklet and mini lobby cards but no special features)

[Jox]

On a sunny day of the summer '88, about 8 months after my shock theatrical experience of MASTERS, I stumbled upon this awesome cover and my first look at RED SCORPION, which wrapped its tumultuous filming 30 years ago in late February...



Ciné-News magazine made my education on all things Dolph and all, and what I have been doing for the past 15+ years is the continuation of it.

It was the best source on our favorite action stars back then, with a lot of exclusive news, coverage and interviews, as well as 8 posters included or sometimes specials like this one that only featured posters. It ran from September/October of 1985 to January of 1994, pretty much the golden era of action... The French Impact (that was 6 years before the British one - and they were not affiliated) was another very good one, though a little less focused on Sly and co because it ran broader content.

[Jox]

Spanish press flyer

[Jox]

Just read that comment on FB Cannon Appreciation Society:

Red Scorpion shared the same Director, Cinematographer, and Music Composer as “Missing In Action”. This film was essentially a Cannon film in all but name. The character played by Dolph Lungren was basically a Russian Colonel Braddock.

"Basically a Russian Colonel Braddock" is such a narrow, reductive way of apprehending the character and the film... In fact, they don't share much in common in my humble opinion.

I find too many fans and writers on film sites nowadays just like to put everything in the same basket with no care for detail, nuance or distinction and careful analysis (which can make a HUGE difference in what the film is about and how to criticise or appreciate it)...

Or is it me who spent too much time reading film magazines, books, graduating in film studies etc?

[lt.brannigan]

There is no comparison, Dolph's character is in no way a Russian Braddock. Those two characters have completely different arcs... they might as well say he's a Russian Rambo or whatever.

Except for genre there is nothing that these movies share in common.

Russian Braddock? Seriously? That's malarkey and some of the most uninformed BS I have read lately.

[bomaz]

A strong influencer made a tweet about Red Scorpio and its political context.