"Dog Soldiers" is a sadly little-seen Vietnam movie from British director Karel Reisz.

Nick Nolte makes a strong impression in an early starring role. He plays Marine Ray Hicks, a Nietsche-quoting tough guy who is hired by his buddy, John Converse, a photojournalist (Michael Moriarty) , to smuggle a stash of heroin from Saigon to California. Hicks agrees, just for the hell of it, but, upon arriving back in the US, finds himself pursued by various corrupt officials who want to confiscate the heroin for their own purposes. He goes on the run with Converse's wife, Marge.

A slight weakness with the film is that it cannot always decide if it wants to present a truly harrowing story of heroin smuggling at the height of the Vietnam war or just settle down into being a more straightforward action-adventure. Certainly, the climax at an old hippie commune is very exciting.

All the performances are excellent. Particularly enjoyable are Anthony Zerbe as a slimy, corrupt CIA… more »

"Dog Soldiers" is a sadly little-seen Vietnam movie from British director Karel Reisz.

Nick Nolte makes a strong impression in an early starring role. He plays Marine Ray Hicks, a Nietsche-quoting tough guy who is hired by his buddy, John Converse, a photojournalist (Michael Moriarty) , to smuggle a stash of heroin from Saigon to California. Hicks agrees, just for the hell of it, but, upon arriving back in the US, finds himself pursued by various corrupt officials who want to confiscate the heroin for their own purposes. He goes on the run with Converse's wife, Marge.

A slight weakness with the film is that it cannot always decide if it wants to present a truly harrowing story of heroin smuggling at the height of the Vietnam war or just settle down into being a more straightforward action-adventure. Certainly, the climax at an old hippie commune is very exciting.

All the performances are excellent. Particularly enjoyable are Anthony Zerbe as a slimy, corrupt CIA official and Richard Masur and Ray Sharkey as his two goons. These two are often extremely funny in their roles, though we are never allowed to forget that they are really vicious psychopaths.

Some great rock tracks appear in the film, including Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Who'll stop the rain?", "Proud Mary" and "Hey tonight".