Universal Soldier (1971) User Reviews

Easy Soldier

[DC1977 · 5/10 · 3 August 2010]

George Lazenby said that after doing the excellent On Her Majesty's Secret Service, he doubted that the James Bond era could continue much longer with the arrival of new films such as Easy Rider.

This could well be among the worst predictions made in movie history but its an interesting one that goes some way to explaining the thinking behind Lazenby's next project, Universal Soldier.

This film has the influence of Easy Rider written all over it and in trying too hard to copy the style of what was a cinematic one-off, Universal Soldier is prevented from developing into a coherent story.

Very little happens in this film and too little is clearly explained. From what I can put together only a couple of hours after seeing the film, Ryker (Lazenby) is a mercenary soldier in some kind of deal with an African group, represented by Mbote played by none other than Rudolph Walker, better known in the UK as Patrick Trueman in Eastenders. At night Ryker is haunted by the images of violence he has seen in his career.

The accidental shooting of a dog and its subsequent merciful (or is it bloodthirsty?) slaying during a bit of fun target practice seems to trigger Ryker's conscience as he loses interest in the African deal. He rents a basement flat, goes to parties, attends a political meeting, starts dating a schoolgirl(!) whilst his group members wonder what has happened to him.

Once he is found, it is too late. He has decided upon another way of life...

I'm actually making this sound better than it is. For the most part Universal Soldier is incoherent with jarring and misplaced musical interludes (the Easy Rider influence) and it is very difficult to tell what, if anything, is going on.

Despite this, it remains watchable throughout mainly for two reasons; its curiosity value in seeing how Lazenby followed up being 007 and the sheer strangeness of the whole film.

Anyone with an interest in either of these points would be recommended to try and track down this film although it isn't easy to get hold of.

Fans of Open All Hours may also want to watch this as Nurse Gladys Emmanuel makes an appearance and I'm sure its Mr Bronson from Grange Hill working in the airport in the first scene.

Exceedlingly Monotonous

[Uriah43 · 3/10 · 11 January 2024]

This film begins with an extremely influential mercenary known simply as "Ryker" (George Lazenby) coming out of retirement in order to assist an exiled African ruler overthrow the government of that particular country. Naturally, because of his mercenary mindset, Ryker makes it clear to everyone concerned that he is totally non-political and that his only concern revolves around the money--and nothing else. Curiously enough, while in the process of procuring arms in London, he suddenly begins to rethink his position and, together with his colleague "Jesse" (Ben Carruthers) decides to renege on his contract--with devastating consequences for all concerned. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that, in the course of watching this movie, I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. That moment never came as each and every scene seemed even more monotonous than the one preceding it. Likewise, the awful music accompanying many of these same scenes only made matters worse. In short, while there may be a few anti-war movies from this era that might be worth watching, this isn't one of them, and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Universal Soldier was the film that changed my life!

[tim_buk2 · 3 June 2002]

Universal Soldier was aired on British TV around 1980* and I watched it, as a young teenager, in our family sitting room on my own with the lights turned down. It was the first film I can recall having any kind of emotional effect on me (other than fear, which was the usual outcome watching 'scary stuff' like Dr. Who as, say, an eight-year old).

Having not seen the movie since then, this review might understandably be a little shaky in the fact department. All I am writing here is a memory of a film I saw over 20 years ago.

Universal Soldier stars ex-007 George Lazenby who plays a mercenary being hired by some African despot to carry out dirty deeds. The movie opens with him arriving off a long-haul flight and going to collect his pistol from the purser/ customs department in the arrivals hall (you could obviously do this sort of thing in 1971 especially if you had been Bond). Whilst back office he glimpses some long-haired bum having his body cavities searched for illicit substances, and gives him a wry smile. He is living a glamorous lifestyle with flash cars and a bird on each arm but the purpose of this visit is also work related: making contacts for his next assignment, testing some assault hovercraft on a country estate in England, that sort of thing.

Anyway, somehow along the way he meets fellow Australian Germaine Greer, the now-well known feminist, who plays a sexy hippie chick with a cool pad where they can both smoke pot and chill out. They fall for each other; she shows him the light and causes him to reject his immoral and unethical ways.

I am sure the movie is hiply shot and full of devices in fashion with filmmakers at the time, giving it a now much dated feel. (See the incongruous running-around-in-circles 'musical' scene in the otherwise excellent The Swimmer for example). But, at the time, I saw through that (or more likely, obliviously went along with it).

The film made a strong impact on me as a teen full of romantic ideals about love and war. Universal Soldier has many potent ingredients: dashing leads, cool gadgets, interesting plot, soft drugs, a strong female, sex and ethics. (I wonder what my ex-girlfriends think of this review). Incidentally, another film that appealed, viewed several years later, was Sherman's March.

In the days after seeing the film I kept coming back to it in my mind and marvelled at how a mere movie could have such an unexpected impact. From then on I saw all films with different eyes learning to pay close attention to what was going on to get the most out of them.

Since then movies have played a small but significant role in my life as I have served on the committee of my university film society, been a buyer for a video club and have over 300 movies at home on DVD and video.

In my memory of over 20 years ago, this is surely a cult classic but when I first looked up Universal Soldier on the IMDb in 1998 the title didn't even exist as an entry and now at time of writing only has 10 votes. If I saw it again would I be disappointed???

Edit 17 Oct 2014 - just found out the actual date this was broadcast due to the BBC genome project: 28 Feb 1981. http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5042eb362d8b4cb89f97531ad4e90615

Almost but not quite a diamond in the rough...

[ramairthree · 2/10 · 29 January 2012]

I have very fond memories of and a fondness for 70s movies.

Either mainstream ones seen on TV as the Sunday night movie, like Dirty Harry or James Bond ones,

or the less mainstream, counter-culture specials aired on Saturday afternoons- like Vanishing Point or Two Lane Blacktop.

After a great job as James Bond, in a completely under rated Bond film which can only be faulted for people mad he was not Sean Connery, he took this role.

A pre-Rambo non-over-the-top special operations vet (much like Billy Jack the Vietnam Ranger/Green Beret), he plays Ryker.

I infer that he was an Australian SAS Vietnam vet with a few more years of merc work and arms dealing under his belt. I say infer because the whole movie is less coherent than the New Orleans portion of Easy Rider.

Now in his thirties, he has an unease with his past. He shacks up with a clichéd (well, now anyways, maybe not in '71) hippie chick that gets her groovy vibe on in decorating his flat, meditates in the way of him, gets him to take out his TV CRT and plant a flower in it, and do "shotgun" hits of grass with her using his .45.

The deal he abandoned when he decided to drop out has left some unhappy associates. The try to do him in. They turn the tables. He ends up with an anti-hero ending at the hands of the corrupt, establishment, industro-military representatives of "the man."

This summary is far more coherent than the actual movie. Despite being a fan of the late 60s and the 70s film of this type, it just did not do it for me.

There was a car chase, but without American cars of the era I was just not into it. There was a fight, but he did not get his kung fu on in a way I was hoping- or at least bring on the nerve wracking serious of some of the old school but less skilled fight scenes we have seen.

The quality of the visuals and sound was a confounding factor. The lack of coherence as well. The non-familiar (to an American) setting was not made up for by beautiful women, exotic scenery, etc. like some other films of this era.

This could have become a cult classic or hidden gem with just a touch more "viewability" that would not have required any more budget.

The 60's are over

[enochsneed · 7/10 · 22 March 2014]

1971 - an interesting year for film; Michael Caine gave up his cheeky Cockney 'Italian Job' persona to become Jack Carter and George Lazenby gave up the glamour of James Bond to become a 'military consultant', in plain words a mercenary killer for hire.

Like another reviewer I saw this on BBC television back in 1980 and for all its flaws it has really stuck with me. It is not a perfectly realised film and its visual style is very much of its time which makes it look dated. I think George Lazenby found improvising dialogue harder than he expected, but it's worth noting that the famous film critic Dilys Powell praised the film and particularly Lazenby's performance which she said was a marked improvement on his "misfire" as 007.

The fact is 'Universal Soldier' is an interesting film to watch. It takes a hard, cynical look at the links between the 'military-industrial complex', government and corruption in the new African states. Everybody has their price and anything can be fixed, if not by using money, then through governments looking the other way (export licenses for arms) or actively supporting corrupt leaders (no prizes for seeing the CIA fingered here). No-one has any sense of moral responsibility - a gun is just an inanimate object, what the user does with it is nothing to do with the dealer.

Unfortunately, coming back to this world after a couple of years retirement, George Lazenby's Ryker is tired of the game and has lost his edge. He wants out, and that will not be easy.

If it had a little more polish and fewer rough edges, 'Universal Soldier' could be as well-remembered as 'Easy Rider' as a piece of the counter-culture of its time. This is the world of the 1970's: we aren't sure who the good guys are any more, and the good guys don't always win. Everything is tainted. This can't be seen as a great film, but it deserves a strong cult following. I, for one, would welcome a good DVD release.

Universal Soldier with George Lazenby

[filmreelriley · 8/10 · 20 November 2010]

Most of my friends think I'm crazy, but I love this film.

Honestly, I don't know what it is about it, but I can't stop watching it. I became a George Lazenby fan when I watched 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' and naturally, I wanted to see what else he had done. I came across a couple footnotes in articles that George had done a film called 'Universal Soldier' instead of 'Diamonds are Forever'. I was curious about 'Universal Soldier' and the lack of information on the internet about it. I decided to try and find a copy. After some research, I found out that the film has been released on VHS twice. Once in Britain, and once in the United States. I found a good U.S. copy on Amazon and bought it for 10 dollars. When I first watched it, I realised that it was horrible, but there was something about it that intrigued me. I watched it several more times, and then it hit me.

This movie is not an Action, nor a Drama. It's a story, maybe not an exciting one, but it's brought to the screen in such a way- with the camera shots, and wonderful music by Phillip Goodhand-Tait- that it seems almost artistic. Also, it's really quite hilarious when you watch it. Pay attention to Smith, Jesse, and Bradshaw's characters, the ad-libbed tongue in cheek humour. I'm sure nobody will agree with me, but that's what I think about Universal Soldier.

Across The Universal Soldier

[seveb-25179 · 6/10 · 12 June 2021]

This film was a lot better than I thought it was going to be and a lot better than its given credit for in my opinion. After leaving the Bond franchise after only one movie (1) George Lazenby was looking for a project that had personal meaning for him, rather than just a paycheque. It was the late 60s early '70s and he was sincerely inspired by the "make love not war" sentiment which defined those times for many. Enough to put his career on the line in order to try and get this message across. His comments at the time indicate that he put his heart and soul into it, but, for whatever reason, the movie critics and the ticket buying public remained unmoved. Looking back, a disheartened and disillusioned Lazenby has been dismissive and disparaging about the project, but I see it as, if not a great movie, at least a very worthy attempt to making one.

Cy Enfield does a good job of directing, in the less stage-bound, semi documentary style of the 60s and 70s, when outdoor shooting became much more common, finding plenty of interesting and imaginative camera angles. I didn't find the plot at all hard to follow, the dialogue is spare, containing little in the way of exposition, and the story is often advanced via musical montage sequences, which I'm not always a fan of, but in this case worked well enough. I particularly enjoyed the music, by a fellow called Phillip Goodhand-Tait, a talented songwriter in his own right who has released numerous albums and been covered by several well-known artists, which I found was nicely representative of the "Hairy rock" sound of those times. Lazenby's own performance is very good, understated and natural, as are those of the other performers involved (including the infamous Germaine Greer and also Lazenby's future wife in real life, who plays his girlfriend in the movie).

The Story is about a former mercenary who has tried to retire, but is reluctantly drawn back into "the life" as he is running out of money. His heart is not in it and, part way through, an unfortunate incident triggers him to abruptly abandon his involvement without completing his contract. He finds comfort among the more bohemian elements of London and hopes to live quietly among them, learning yoga and searching for spiritual peace. However his former associates and employers have other ideas and he is forced into taking counter measures. I won't say any more in order not to spoil it for anyone planning to watch the film.

(1) Re the Bond franchise, did he jump or was he pushed? We will never know for sure, as Bond management always prefer to allow the actors to say they chose to leave, in order to make the legacy seem warm and fuzzy rather than cold and calculating. The decisions a result of artistic differences, rather than driven by economically realities, and all good friends again now, with a vested interest in the continued good health of the franchise.

Last mercenary

[searchanddestroy-1 · 11 March 2024]

Maybe that will sound strange to you, but I have always confounded this movie, made in the early seventies, and the last of director Cy Endfield, with another mercenary tale, also from 1970-71, and also the last of another film maker: Gordon Flemyng, called THE LAST GRENADE. Both anti hero tales, as there were batches in those times, downbeat, gloomy, not for today's audiences anyway. I prefer THE LAST GRENADE, I don't know why....ha ha ha. Gordon Flemyng never gave us the same filmography as Cy Endfield. But of course both films are totally different. This one is a pacifist and totally improvised film in terms of script, not an action flick. Most audiences will find it tedious, because it is. We are here entirely in the seventies mood, hippy and so on...But this one is not charmless for old seventies dramas or thrillers. I don't care if that's not a masterpiece nor Cy Endfield's best work. I like it. Period. I would have imagined Nick cage in Lazenby's role, if it had to be remade. Maybe because of Cage in 2005 LORD OF WAR, also speaking of arms traffick.

A messy relic from a bygone era, though not without some merit

[IonicBreezeMachine · 7 January 2022]

Following George Lazeny's one off stint as James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Lazenby tried to break away from Bond and his second starring film 1971's Universal Soldier was described by Lazenby as "Ant-War and Anti-Bond". The movie is very much defined by the counter culture era that gave us such films as Easy Rider and Lazenby certainly disappears into his role as the mercenary known as Stryker, but its satire is so broad and indulgent the movie really does become a monotonous watch with endless scenes of lingering on weapons with "ironic music" placement and the lack of direction in the movie becomes an endurance test.

At its core the movie is a satire of the military industrial complex and the messy political and economic machinations that keep the engine of warfare running, but that's basically the only real point the movie has as it just endlessly repeats meandering directionless scene after meandering directionless scene. I will say the Lazenby is committed in his performance, but the surrounding movie is just so suffocating it's hard to get engaged in his characters journey through various arms dealers and shadowy political figures because by Lazenby's own words the movie has "no plot" and is "just a series of happenings" so there's nothing keeping you invested. I didn't feel right giving this film a quantifiable rating because it's a loosely structured movie that's lacking a point by design and your experience will be subjective. What others will see as indulgent lack of direction, others will see as daring film making of the era.