Attack Force Z
| Attack Force Z | |
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Region 4 DVD cover for Attack Force Z
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| Directed by | Tim Burstall |
| Produced by |
John McCallum George F.H. Chang Lee Robinson |
| Written by | Roger Marshall |
| Starring |
John Phillip Law Mel Gibson Sam Neill John Waters |
| Music by | Eric Jupp |
| Cinematography | Hung-Chung Lin |
| Edited by | David Stiven |
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Production
company |
John McCallum Productions
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| Distributed by | Jef Films Roadshow (Australia) |
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Release date
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Running time
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93 minutes |
| Country | Australia Taiwan |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $88,000 (Australia) |
Attack Force Z (alternatively titled The Z Men) is a 1982 Australian-TaiwaneseWorld War II film, directed by Tim Burstall. It is loosely based on actual events and was filmed in Taiwan in 1979. It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 1981.
The film is noted for starring Mel Gibson and Sam Neill, who were relatively unknown in the US at the time but who went on to become international stars.
Captain P.G. Kelly (Gibson) leads a team from the elite Z Special Unit. Z Special Unit often known as Z Force, was a joint Australian, British and New Zealand commando unit, which saw action against the Empire of Japan during World War II. Its main brief was for reconnaissance and sabotage, today its role is taken by the Special Air Service Squadrons of Australia and New Zealand respectively.
In the Straits of Sembaleng, five men are dispatched by submarine in Klepper canoes to rescue survivors of a shot-down plane on a nearby island which is occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army. Led by Paul Kelly (Gibson), an inexperienced commando officer, the team secretly lands on the island and hides their kayaks. As they venture in land, Ted 'Kingo' King is hit by fire from an unseen machine gun post, the team quickly eliminates the Japanese defenders and return to their wounded comrade. King has been hit on the leg, the bullet smashing his kneecap. King cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands and compromise the mission under interrogation, and after sharing a cigarette with him, Costello shoots him. The four remaining men return to their search, coming across a rice farmer they learn of the area in which the plane crashed. The rice farmer is also killed in order to preserve secrecy.
But as they near their destination they come across a Japanese squad at a local house, after the Japanese leave they enter the house and meet the local resistance leader Lin, his grown up daughter Chien Hua and her younger brothers and sisters. With a guide to lead them to the plane, they head off to the plane but are attacked by Japanese soldiers at a Buddhist Temple. Separated from the rest, interpreter Jan Veitch ends up returning to Lin's house only for him to be hidden by Chien Hua from the returning Japanese. After the deaths of their soldiers the Japanese officers Watanabe and Imanaka torture Chien to tell them the location of her father, who they believe is hiding the survivors of the crashed plane but Chien Hua refuses. Only for Lin's son Shaw Hu tell the Japanese that Lin, the Z men and the planes survivors are heading for the islands capital (but it is false information). All the Japanese leave except for two soldiers guarding Chien Hua who Veitch kills with help of Shaw Hu.
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Wikipedia