Attack Force Z

Attack Force Z
Region 4 DVD cover
Directed byTim Burstall
Screenplay byRoger Marshall
Produced byLee Robinson
Starring
CinematographyHung-Chung Lin
Edited byDavid Stiven
Music byEric Jupp
Production
companies
Distributed byRoadshow Film Distributors
Release date
  • June 1, 1982 (1982-06-01)
Running time
93 minutes
Countries
  • Australia
  • Taiwan
LanguageEnglish
Box office$88,000 (Australia)

Attack Force Z (alternatively titled The Z Men)[1] is a 1982 Australian-Taiwanese[2] World 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. The plot concerns Captain P.G. Kelly (Gibson), who leads a team from the elite Z Special Unit against the Empire of Japan during the Second World War. The film fictionalises the exploits of the Z Special Unit, which was also known as Z Force. It was a joint Australian, British and New Zealand commando unit. Its main brief was to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage missions throughout Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia.

  1. ^ Hal Erickson (2007). "Attack Force Z (1982)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 November 2007. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  2. ^ Lee, Daw-Ming Historical Dictionary of Taiwan Cinema Scarecrow Press, 8 November 2012, pp. xxxix-xxxx