Operation Paratrooper (Private War) (1988) - HRS Funai Japan VHS

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I must apologize for my daytripping in Japan this week. You see, I've caught an especially bad case of Far East tape fever as of late while trolling around eBay. So it's safe to expect more scans of new arrivals popping up in the near future. Frank de Palma's Operation Paratrooper starring Joe Dallesandro of Paul Morrissey Trilogy fame was chosen today due to Jack over at When the Vietnam War raged... in the Philippines mentioning BoGD in his latest entry about Phantom Raiders (1988). Just playing the nice gesture forward by featuring another combat quickie in the spirit of his great Filipino war blog. There's little on the 'net about Operation Paratrooper, besides this IMDB listing, but the cover features all of the patented traits. Barbed wire, huge fiery explosion, chopper, pensive looking hero with a gun, Apocalypse Now-like black and white photo of better times, and action stills of actors in bulky camo. It called out to me through the screen...

Here's the seller's detailed description: This is a little seen Yugoslavian/U.S. produced war actioner. The plot concerns this deranged 'Nam vet sergeant Vince Rayner (ANDY WARHOL cult actor JOE DALLESANDRO) who is torturing his own troops because of his own guilt. After he kills a person, he chops off their finger; second victim - 2 fingers, third victim - 3 fingers. And so on. Grim stuff. Well, one of his comrades in arms is out to stop the madness... and is out to get the Sarge. There's also a subplot about high-ranking weapon deals between the U.S. military and organized crime. Directed by FRANK DE PALMA (FUTURE TENSE, TV shows TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE, LAND OF THE LOST, MONSTERS, EARTH 2, CHICAGO HOPE). Starring JOE DALLESANDRO, MARTIN HEWITT, KIMBERLY BECK, REGGIE JOHNSON, GEORGE SHANNON, SAM HENNINGS, B.J. TURNER, ROBERT J. BENNETT, CURT LOWENS, and FRANK ANDRADE.