Toy Soldiers is a 1984 action film shot in Mexico which stars Jason Miller, Cleavon Little and Terri Garber. It was written and directed by David Andrew Fisher who wrote and directed Liar's Moon (1982) and produced Bat*21 (1988). This is the story of a group of Caltech students yachting off the coast of Central America who are held hostage by terrorists.
Miller plays "The Sarge", USMC RET., who trains the hostages' friends to become an impromptu special ops force - hence the title. The film climaxes in the bloody attempted rescue of the student hostages from the terrorist compound.