Trailer
Plot summary
Five men from a commando unit go ashore by submarine on an island in the Straits of Sembaleng, which the Imperial Japanese Army holds. The team is led by Captain Paul Kelly, an inexperienced officer, with Lieutenant Jan Veitch, Sergeant Danny Costello, Able Seaman 'Sparrer' Bird and Sub Lieutenant Ted 'Kingo' King. They have been sent to reach the survivors of a plane that was shot down. Coming ashore in Klepper canoes, they hide the boats and move inland, where they meet the resistance leader Lin Chan-Lang and his daughter Chien Hua. Their orders also include keeping watch on a defecting Japanese official, who is said to know something that could shorten the war.
Cast
- Val Championas Ed Ayres
- Lung Shuanas Watanabe
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Attack Force Z (1981)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Pre-production ran six weeks in Taiwan, where Phillip Noyce worked on the script with writer Michael Cove. Noyce clashed with the producers - McCallum later claimed he refused to use one of the Chinese actors cast in a small role - and was fired the night before shooting was meant to start, replaced by Tim Burstall in November 1979.
- The film was based on 'The Night the Z Men Landed', written by Gene Janes under his pseudonym Owen Gibson. Janes took McCallum Productions to court over the screen rights, holding up the film's release, and was finally awarded the rights in an out of court settlement.
- The script was based on a real-life commando rescue raid, Operation Opossum, in which a team of commandos rescued the local sultan on the Japanese-held island of Ternate near Borneo.
