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Enemy Gold
 cast: Bruce Penhall, Mark Barriere, Suzi Simpson, Rodrigo Obregon, and Julie Strain

director: Drew Sidaris

90 minutes (R) 1993
Malibu Bay/Ventura DVD Region 1 retail

RATING: 7/10
 reviewed by Jeff Young
This has not been released in Britain before, so it's a treat for fans of DVD movies to finally get hold of Enemy Gold in quality format. It's similar in many ways to Andy Sidaris' entertaining Savage Beach (1989), as the story concerns a treasure hunt for Yankee gold bullion stolen by Confederates and buried in the Texas hills, and we see most of this in the Civil War prologue. Moving forward to the present, 'Quantrill's gold' has become a Dallas legend, and it's the childhood dream of our macho US federal agents Chris Cannon (Bruce Penhall) and Mark Austin (Mark Barriere) to find it. But first, they must follow orders from Washington to tackle a heroin smuggling operation run by sleazy Bolivian crime boss, Carlos Santiago (Rodrigo Obregon). Joined for this mission by cool blonde, Becky Midnite (Suzi Simpson), the boys are sceptical at first that she can be more than a useful decoy for their sneak attack, but she ends up saving both of them from the villains.
   Santiago is rather upset by this, of course, when hearing of law enforcement's hit on his business from corrupt agency commander, Dickson (Alan Abelew), who manages to get our heroic trio suspended from duty. Then, even as Washington boss Ava Noble (Tai Collins) works to get her team reinstated, Santiago invites his favourite beautiful assassin Jewel Panther (Julie Strain), to help track down and kill Chris, Mark and Becky, who are using their leisure time to go camping in the woods, searching for the legendary gold...
   We first see Becky driving from the Dallas airport to meet with agents Chris and Mark, and she's gloriously sexy in her white corvette. Later, she totes a mean hi-tech crossbow, that fires explosive bolts which blow away one of the pesky bad guys, lurking about and being a damned nuisance, while she's taking a morning shower outdoors at the hunting lodge. There's a dirt bike chase through the same sunny woods that ends with another of Santiago's henchmen killed in an absurdly funny position on a forked branch. Santiago turns up on the rural scene, using a helicopter and a stolen speedboat, accompanied by his sexy leather-clad partner, Jewel. Julie Strain (famously described as "six-foot one, and worth the climb") plays her homicidal bitch character as part campy Amazon, part death goddess, and makes TV 'tough girl' Xena seem like a naughty catholic schoolgirl. As is now a tradition in Sidaris' flicks, there's much gratuitous stripping by the female cast because they always change their clothes on camera. However, what's so amusing about the Sidaris formula of "bullets, bombs and babes" is that the girls always do their share of the action and stunts, and deserve their status as heroines - just like the more famous characters of 'Sarah Conner' or 'Ellen Ripley' in the Terminator and Aliens films.
   This DVD presentation is, as usual for movies in the Sidaris collection, hosted by the man himself, aided (or perhaps distracted) by Ms Strain, who's quick to show her tits (what, again?). The disc extras include a photo shoot, a Sidaris 'film school' featurette, interviews, an stills gallery, commentary by Andy and Arlene Sidaris, and trailers for the Sidaris collection. You also get a foldout insert with more rare photos of the main cast.
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