After taking down a drug-smuggling ring, scantily-clad DEA agents Donna (Dona Speir) and Taryn (Hope Marie Carlton) agree to transport an emergency package of vaccine from Molokai, Hawaii to Knox Island. Unbeknownst to them shifty Philippine government representative Martinez (Rodrigo Obregón) has convinced Captain Andreas (John Aprea) of the US Navy to use a reconnaissance satellite to locate a sunken ship filled with the gold stolen by the Japanese in the Second World War. What Andreas does not know is his right-hand man Bruce Christian (Bruce Penhall) is an impostor who eliminated his real navy liaison to enact a mysterious ploy. Ah, but what Bruce does not know is dying Japanese Admiral Kenji Inada (Dann Seki) has sent two agents to retrieve the treasure first. Aha! Except Inada has no idea karate killers Fu (Al Leong, of Die Hard (1988) and Big Trouble in Little China (1986) fame, demonstrating why few filmmakers gave him any dialogue) and Erik (Eric Chen) stole information after murdering his men and are after the gold assisted by the crooked Martinez. Ha-hah! Er, provided Martinez can go five minutes without shagging his sultry girlfriend Angelica (porn star Teri Weigel) who is also up to something. Got all that? Anyway, when a storm strands Donna and Taryn on a remote island they run right into the gun-toting treasure hunters along with a crazy, sword-swinging Japanese soldier (Michael Mikasa) stranded there since WW2.
Following the likable Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987) and Picasso Trigger (1988) low-budget T&A action specialist Andy Sidaris re-teamed Playboy Playmates Dona Speir and Hope Marie Carlton one more time in Savage Beach. As with a substantial portion of Sidaris' output, this was filmed on location in Hawaii. The sun-drenched cinematography by exploitation staple Howard Wexler reflects how by the late Eighties Sidaris' cheap and cheerful sex-and-shoot-'em-up formula had grown pretty slick. Along with re-casting Sidaris regular Rodrigo Obregón as yet another swarthy villain, Savage Beach upholds a running gag established in the last two Dona and Taryn films and Malibu Beach (1985) by showcasing another member of the heroic Abilene clan. This time buff beefcake Shane (Michael J. Shane) introduced doing what else but banging a naked babe in a swimming pool before duty calls. Shane serves as a sort of sexier, muscular equivalent of Q from the James Bond films (a common touchstone for Sidaris) and arms the lovely ladies with their lethal customized weapons.
None of the cast muster a single convincing line reading but exude a certain eager to please charm, particularly amiable wisecracking leads Dona Speir and Hope Marie Carlton, that renders Savage Beach watchable nonsense. To Andy Sidaris' credit his films mostly avoid the easy exploitation route of titillating the audience through the violent sexual humiliation of women. A Sidaris heroine might be improbably pneumatic, often under-dressed and more than willing to shake her stuff for the camera, but routinely calls the shots, proves more than capable in a tight spot, outwits the bad guys and enjoys sex without having to suffer for it. Viewed through the prism of nostalgia films like Savage Beach seem like a throwback to a strangely innocent age, indulging in innocuous sexual fantasy, laden with silly double-entendrés. Here Sidaris concocts one of his more absurdly elaborate set-ups and even tries to pull off a little pathos with flashbacks involving the guilt-ridden Japanese soldier. In interviews Sidaris liked to cite these scenes as proof he could handle 'serious' fare had he wanted too, but in all honesty the plot is at once both over-complicated and irrelevant. His chief aim is to ensure stuntmen get riddled with blood squibs and Playboy Playmates pop their tops for a steamy, story-stopping sex scene every few minutes.
Too much of the film revolves around different characters skulking around the island spying on each other. Sidaris unwisely restricts the gunplay to the third act, perhaps for budgetary reasons, whereupon he breaks into a self-styled tribute to Sam Peckinpah with slow-mo violence and blood squibs galore. However, one imagines Bloody Sam would have found a more cinematic way to get the theme of atonement for past sins across rather than rely on an awkward closing monologue. Despite minor pretensions, Savage Beach is foremost a silly, lighthearted romp with a plot as skimpy as Donna and Taryn's matching tight tops and khaki short-shorts.
