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USA 1983
Director: Rod Holcomb
Cast: George Peppard, Tim Dunigan, Mr. T, Dwight Schultz, Melinda Culea, Sergio Calderon
Rating: TV-PG
Release Date: January 23rd 1983
Running Time: 1 hour 32 minutes
The Movie Review
Dragon and Cigar...? I'm in!
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The A-TEAM:
MEXICAN SLAYRIDE
Season: 1 Episode: 1 & 2 |
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Since in this couple of weeks everyone is on the craze of The A-Team (2010), that is still playing on cinema, so Movielogy publishes a different review, which is about an 80s TV Series. More precisely the 1st episode of the 1st season of The A-Team TV series titled "Mexican Slayride". Its running time is just as long as any other big screen movies and it's also known as the pilot episode of The A-Team.
The A-Team is a team consisting of 4 Soldiers of Fortune, and they all are Vietnam War Veterans. The leader is the Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith, a man with cunning mind, a great strategist whose ways of solving problems are just as unpredictable as their missions. And then there is Captain H. M. "Howling Mad" Murdock, an awesome pilot who can fly just about anything with wings but has been declared insane. The muscle of team would be the burly Sergeant B. A. "Bad Attitude" Baracus who excels in mechanic and often solves the problem with his clutched fists, he is well known for his Mohawk hair style. The last one would be the con-man Lieutenant Templeton "Faceman" Peck, a man who is great with the ladies and the one responsible for getting the supplies for the mission.
And if you notice something different, in this very first episode of The A-Team, which was aired in the States in year 1983, Faceman was played by Tim Dunnigan. But starting with the 3rd episode, Face is played by Dirk Bennedict until The A-Team series was ended in 1987. Furthermore to erase all confusion, there are total 13 episodes (13 different stories) in Season 1. But since some refer to this Pilot episode as 2 separate parts, namely Mexican Slayride: Part 1 and Mexican Slayride: Part 2, then it's sometimes said that Season 1 contains 14 episodes. Whew..., Ok now... let's just hop on to the story!
 "B. A.'s rare sincere chuckle"
In this episode, The A-Team is hired by a female reporter, Amy Amanda Allen (Melinda Culea), who has lost contact with her colleague, Al Massey (William Windom). Al was captured by a gang leader named Valdez (Sergio Calderon) in the town of San Rio Blanco, a little town in the hills of Acapulco, Mexico. To hire The A-Team, Amy has to go through unusual way. She first meets Captain Murdock at the Psychiatric section of a hospital only to be sent to a dark seedy place in town. There, she's tested twice by Hannibal who disguieses as a Hobo and Mr. Lee. Hannibal than regroups his team to fly to Mexico, of course the plane will be flown by Murdock, much to B. A.'s total objection.
"A man's gotta shave what a man's gotta shave"
But their mission is not going to be very smooth with their nemesis Colonel Lynch (William Lucking) is on their tails and it turns out that Valdez has much bigger power than Hannibal had estimated. Could this Awesome Alpha Team complete their mission?
What's so great about The A-Team? Plenty and plenty. If I remember it right, The A-Team is aired in Jakarta, Indonesia around the late 80s. At that time the kids used to see TV together, it's kinda friendship habit if we didn't have anything to do outdoor. There are many action adventure Television series at that time, including Airwolf, MacGyver and Knight Rider. But what sets The A-Team apart is the comedy aspect. It's cartoonish, easygoing and very amusing. It would at least make the poker face audience smile and tickle the expressionists to laugh out loud!
 The original members of The A-Team
The history of The A-Team is slightly different with the one you will see on the Cinema. The A-Team is convicted for running away Yen, while in the cinema it's Dollar, although it's set in Iraq. The A-Team has been together for 10 years, while in cinema it's 8 years. The 4 members of The A-Team had been together since in Vietnam, but in cinema, B. A. Baracus is the newest member to join them in Mexico. And the last one would be Amy Amanda "Triple A" Allen who joins them from this very first episode, but in Cinema, there is no Amy Amanda Allen.
If you believe in the saying "First impression is everything" then probably so did the filmmakers of this series. This first episode is great! We've got a lot of action scenes going on including gun fights, choppers pursuit, armored bus, blown up cars and even the duel of B. A. and the Mexican tough dude. It doesn't really feel like a small screen entertainment.
You can get this pilot episode in one package with the rest of the other 12 episodes. And this 1st episode is one of the best of all and historical of course. And so while waiting before this TV Series got revived with new actors and fresh stories, this original is definitely a must-see for its everlasting entertainment value.
© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com
posted: June 21st 2010 11:08 pm
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