cult film freak: February 2017

Written by James M. Tate / 2/26/2017 / No comments / action , creature , fifties , roddy mcdowall , shark , thriller , victor mature , war

RODDY MCDOWALL WITH LAURETTE LUEZ IN KILLER SHARK

action, creature, fifties, roddy mcdowall, shark, thriller, victor mature, war

RODDY MCDOWALL WITH LAURETTE LUEZ IN KILLER SHARK

KILLER SHARK spends more time indoors than out Year: 1950 Following the bizarre Neo Noir SHARKS' TREASURE and continuing our mont...

CORNEL WILDE & YAPHET KOTTO SEEK THE 'SHARKS' TREASURE'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KGCgzuRE3yU/WIQEAQOzbBI/AAAAAAAAv14/DUODPcdfAYozm7dgW_GIvlSTkpOCtLr0wCLcB/s1600/A70-6453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KGCgzuRE3yU/WIQEAQOzbBI/AAAAAAAAv14/DUODPcdfAYozm7dgW_GIvlSTkpOCtLr0wCLcB/s320/A70-6453.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>Year of Capture and Release: 1975</u></td></tr>
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Cornel Wilde's SHARKS' TREASURE, a Neo Noir in the Ernest Hemingway tradition of the TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT novel-version, centers on machismo verses elements of the sea...<br />
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The title killer fish seems to be intentionally guarding a treasure of golden coins at a location that takes over half the film led by Wilde's semi-famous fortune hunter boatsman, Jim Carnahan, along with the map's bearer, a young man played by TERROR HOUSE actor John Neilson...<br />
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Although Wilde had been a very good actor since playing the talky inside-man to Humphrey Bogart's in HIGH SIERRA followed by the likes of LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, ROAD HOUSE and THE DEVIL'S HAIRPIN, it takes a 1970's acting ace in Yaphet Kotto, as Ben, along with his Vietnam vet buddy Larry, played by sporadic BONANZA guest star David Canary, to make the picture more believable and intense...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>Pulpy Big Box VHS Cover</u></td></tr>
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Well that's the ship's party, and before TREASURE hits the three-fourths mark, the villains arrive: a band of escaped convicts, five of them, though herein only two need naming: Cliff Osmond is a tall, mustached, balding Spanish Alpha Male, cursed within a creepy, bullying love affair with a young blond man you just know was his <i>bitch</i> in stir.<br />
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As an actor, Osmond's turned up as a heavy in Disney movies, which this is anything but... And taking two to tango, Ray Milland's passive, sheepish FROGS grandson David Gilliam plays the put-upon blond punk wherein the most bizarre and sadistic homosexual romance occurs (without sex or kissing, of course)...<br />
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While the main players, who, minutes earlier, were so full of life having just succeeded in finding treasure: dodging sharks by either outsmarting or killing them, and a good deal of suspense relies on how quick those suckers are...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>"This Ain't No Asshead Gamble"</u></td></tr>
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So Al Giddings, the underwater photographer, must be given credit as this particular shark picture, while feeling like a pulpy fortune hunting programmer, looks as good as any documentary on the legendary menace of the deep: A horde of Tiger Sharks as opposed to one menacing Great White. Never have so many sharks looked so pointed, feisty and mean, and all in their natural habitat as opposed to cheating with stock images...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsMfqLHOnSg/WIPkJ0vF7sI/AAAAAAAAv1U/tI50pzL0G8wE7b68T4cQy75-bc8iUBW_QCLcB/s1600/16112604_258943901201460_1884574118810901845_o.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsMfqLHOnSg/WIPkJ0vF7sI/AAAAAAAAv1U/tI50pzL0G8wE7b68T4cQy75-bc8iUBW_QCLcB/s400/16112604_258943901201460_1884574118810901845_o.jpg" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>TreasureTotal: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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With a slash of their tails and a quick bunt of the nose, they guard "their" treasure while the men, hard to discern underwater where plot means little compared to the sport of "sharking," turn into harpoon wielding hunters, doing what some viewers may find cruel and pointless when it's really just plain necessary. Especially dark and morbid is gothic row of dead sharks hooked from ropes, hanging in a sort of underwater gallows from the floaty balloons above. <br />
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So, overall, this forgotten lost TREASURE is a decent yarn despite suffering through many overlong scenes to get to the proverbial gold. Unlike Steven Spielberg's request to never show land, during this Third Act, while the boys are hand-tied and threatened, stretches of land are visible so we don't really feel completely out there like in JAWS. Once a bizarre sadistic fight occurs between the head baddie and his abused boytoy, things get so bizarre it's up to the film's writer/director, Wilde himself, to make things watchable again, bringing back the lean energy from his Film Noir days, remaining cool and calm while playing the long game, getting inside the head of the only vulnerable convict. The man's acting peaks during these 11th hour moments.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sharks hanging from giant hooks to scare off their bitey brethren</u></td></tr>
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A few scenes, using literal inserted photographs of the treasure hunt after the initial discovery has been established (with a cool yet campy song titled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AeTfb5G7cI">"Money Money" by Ken Barrie</a> plays), seems like a cop-out shortcut but looks creative and moves the story smoothly forward despite hitting a dead calm once the antagonists board...<br />
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There's some adventure during the climax but the most fun for the viewer take place during the first half where SHARK'S TREASURE is a bonafide oceanic treasure hunting flick that, like TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, has the men getting more uptight and then at each other's necks... particularly Wilde and his bitter employee Kotto, who's forced not to smoke on deck. The tension is more palpable between the four cohorts than the nine or so captives and captors. And while it's the epitome of an uneven picture, after a few viewings the jigsaw pieces together, and you may just find it a fulfilling experience at sea, deeply rooted even while in shallow regions.<br />
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cornel wilde, exploitation, hostage, neo noir, seventies, thriller, treasure, yaphet kotto

CORNEL WILDE & YAPHET KOTTO SEEK THE 'SHARKS' TREASURE'

Year of Capture and Release: 1975 Cornel Wilde's SHARKS' TREASURE, a Neo Noir in the Ernest Hemingway tradition of the TO HAVE A...

Written by James M. Tate / 2/17/2017 / No comments / bill paxton , eighties , nineties , seventies , tribute

TRIBUTE TO ADDICTIVELY AWESOME ACTOR BILL PAXTON

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QkkMVIOQo-M/WLOgjZbUBbI/AAAAAAAAwKM/0Bs7m4uzh8IOVVBAT6m0brqBkuIUn7_cACLcB/s1600/16998825_1392471950797081_5991660723793471578_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QkkMVIOQo-M/WLOgjZbUBbI/AAAAAAAAwKM/0Bs7m4uzh8IOVVBAT6m0brqBkuIUn7_cACLcB/s400/16998825_1392471950797081_5991660723793471578_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Bill Paxton Crazy Mama cameo... Post Originally from 2-26-2017</u></td></tr>
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Not many actors equal Jack Nicholson, who, in a technical sense, the recently departed Bill Paxton (who died from complications of surgery on February 26th), replaced in the maligned yet entertaining TERMS OF ENDEARMENT sequel, THE EVENING STAR. And Peter O'Toole said in an interview about THE STUNT MAN, also referring to his string of other accomplishments,  "Great movies make Great Actors." Jack, Peter and many others have been in far greater movies than the late Bill Paxton, whose performances would often exceed the movie itself. He shares Jack's mischievous cat-that-ate-the-canary grin, and seems to have the kind of steady confidence that, if he were a real life friend, you'd feel both amused and completely safe with. But Paxton had a likability factor that trumped many actors. His on-screen style bordered on comedy and drama while his spontaneity made him one of the most unique actors from the 1980's. But our name-dropped buddy, actress Sally Kirkland, said she had coached Bill when he first got into show business. She couldn't remember the picture, and as movie fanatics aka cult film freaks often know more than the genuine article, it was, most likely, a low-budget Roger Corman 1950's-era/1975-shot bank robbing action flick titled CRAZY MAMA, a hybrid of BONNIE AND CLYDE and Corman's BIG BAD MAMA. CRAZY is one of Paxton's first moments on screen. Later, after his fame was well established, features like TWISTER where he starred, or smaller roles like the scene-stealing or rather movie-making turn as bullying older brother Chet in John Hughes's WEIRD SCIENCE, he always left an impression. And while the big time stardom waned a bit after playing a sort of Jacques Cousteau/Geraldo Rivera hybrid in his TERMINATOR, ALIENS and TRUE LIES director James Cameron's epic blockbuster TITANIC (and Cameron's then-girlfriend's rural Vampire yarn NEAR DARK), his last big starring push was on cable television, and that's where, nowadays, the good stuff is. And it takes a great actor to succeed in both venues. And he was that. Great and completely original.

bill paxton, eighties, nineties, seventies, tribute

TRIBUTE TO ADDICTIVELY AWESOME ACTOR <b>BILL PAXTON</b><br />

TRIBUTE TO ADDICTIVELY AWESOME ACTOR BILL PAXTON

The Bill Paxton Crazy Mama cameo... Post Originally from 2-26-2017 Not many actors equal Jack Nicholson, who, in a technical sense, the ...

Written by James M. Tate / 2/10/2017 / No comments / camp , franchise , horror , lori loughlin , meg ryan , richard fleischer , robert joy , sequel , tony roberts

WHEN SCARY MET SALLY: MEG RYAN BEGINS IN 'AMITYVILLE 3D'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>A glimpse into the brilliant three dimensions in Amityville 3D Year: 1983</u></td></tr>
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It was the best of times; it was the worst of 3D Cinema; or at the very least, the most contrived in its production, perfectibility, and logic...<br />
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Case in point, the first Third Film in The Third Dimension worth noting was JAWS 3D, a campy masterpiece of banality wherein the grownup kids of Roy Scheider's Chief Brody work at a Sea World type locale where a shark gets in past an underwater gate, and without a ticket. Then there's the third FRIDAY THE 13TH where the Effect is actually pretty good, that is, better than JAWS 3D since bloody machetes — as opposed to random sporadic decorations — pop out at the audience (this is Cult Film Freak's favorite F13TH film). And the most bizarre example is directed by our all-time favorite director, Richard Fleischer: Not only is AMITYVILLE 3D no FANTASTIC VOYAGE or SOYLENT GREEN, it's not even RED SONYA...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Regular Score: **1/2 Camp Value: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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Although, surprisingly enough, it <i>is</i> entertaining at times, especially the opening sequence where grieving marrieds Tony Roberts and Candy Clark seek the voice of their deceased son through a clairvoyant couple renting the titular house and — the twist is that they're not married but workmates for a magazine disproving not only ghosts but the shams who con vulnerable families...<br />
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This is followed by an overweight, neurotic real estate agent (familiar looking/always working character-actor John Harkins), interesting for more reasons than being an obvious first victim. He sells the house to Roberts, who wants to write his Great American Novel, and, being in the business of disbelief, he can care less about the house's ghoulish reputation. Meanwhile, Candy Clark's intrepid yet equally superstitious photographer, Melanie — far more important than a very whiny Tess Harper as Tony's separated wife — fills the "investigator" shoes, veering outside the box, an idea that works and doesn't: While we <i>do</i> stray from the usual claustrophobic haunted house template, if elevators and cars are equally cursed, why does the legendary manor mean anything?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Lori Loughlin maybe isn't what she seems</u></td></tr>
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Like AMITYVILLE 2: THE POSSESSION, which is arguably superior than the famous Rod Steiger "Get Ouuuut!" original, involves a young, innocent and downright gorgeous daughter, Diane Franklin, born to be in peril. Herein, another lovely and vulnerable daddy's girl, played by future sitcom starlet Lori Loughlin, is the only character that the parents and the audience seem meant to <i>really</i> care about...<br />
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Scenes with playful friend Meg Ryan, along with two vapid teenage boys, actually work because finally, we're <i>inside</i>. There's an underlying element of suspense, but the 3D aspect is overused to a hilarious level. Practically every object, from a boom mic to a bright red frisbee, makes its utterly contrived way towards the camera so many times there's not enough room for the horror to stretch beyond dated special effects and especially those banal flies buzzing up a ludicrous storm! But, like flies on crap, there's a bigger, campier and more ridiculous beast downstairs, which is supposed to be the end-all, tie-in culprit of all the films, lurking inside a well in the basement that harbors the Gate of Hell...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>When Scary Met Sally: Meg Ryan & Lori Loughlin in Amityville 3D</u></td></tr>
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Like any horror flick that runs out of creative gas by the second or third act, it's up to an actual creature/monstrosity to push the vehicle into fifth gear — but this remains mostly in neutral. When ATLANTIC CITY actor Robert Joy, as a good ghost hunter (what Beatrice Straight was in POLTERGEIST), wrestles with the animated wraith, the camp value rises tremendously. <br />
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And for fans of classic movies, it's nearly impossible to believe that the director, around seventy-years old and having worked nonstop since the 1940's, would stoop so low. But without his guidance, who knows — it might have been so bad there'd be nothing to discuss at all. The fact is, A3D is a painfully worthwhile guilty pleasure that, at times, actually flows.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PCS5bBIpsFs/XWw9a3slRlI/AAAAAAABGn4/FP7h4hr8Zp44Tx-2pEJMSmL1FU5LkBv9wCLcBGAs/s1600/69871708_774970406265471_2888331610678099968_o.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1198" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PCS5bBIpsFs/XWw9a3slRlI/AAAAAAABGn4/FP7h4hr8Zp44Tx-2pEJMSmL1FU5LkBv9wCLcBGAs/s1600/69871708_774970406265471_2888331610678099968_o.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>When Satan Met Sally: Meg Ryan goes Ouiji Boarding with Lori Loughlin in AMITYVILLE 3D</u></td></tr>
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camp, franchise, horror, lori loughlin, meg ryan, richard fleischer, robert joy, sequel, tony roberts

WHEN SCARY MET SALLY: MEG RYAN BEGINS IN 'AMITYVILLE 3D'

A glimpse into the brilliant three dimensions in Amityville 3D Year: 1983 It was the best of times; it was the worst of 3D Cinema; or at...

Written by James M. Tate / 2/08/2017 / No comments / battlestar galactica , dirk benedict , richard hatch , science-fiction , seventies , tribute

RICHARD HATCH AS APOLLO: HERO FOR THE ZERO GENERATION

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Richard Hatch headlining on the opening credits</u></td></tr>
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Alas to the forgotten, neglected and rejected Generation-X, who isn't lucky enough to be blessedly born into more realistic motion pictures and serialized cable TV shows, catered especially to the all-knowing Millennials... The Xers who are also completely lost beneath the shadow of the prior celebrated Boomer generation, who reared and then named them after basically, nothing...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Hatch, Lorne Green and Terry Carter</td></tr>
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After all, X means nothing, nada, zilch, zero, and hell, who knows, maybe that's what we are... And yet, for ourselves, we hold dear to the things we grew up on, no matter how simplistic and corny: Our memories are everything to us, and we still live in the past — the clouds we turned into dragons are still being battled upon by the knights of our childhood reveries...<br>
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And if what you just read seemed intentionally loaded with over-the-top sarcasm and forced pathos, you're right... After all, most of the wonderful looking new films and shows were created, directed by and star members of the pop-culture-loving Lost X Gen... So now, with all that jazz behind us, Cult Film Freak presents a memorial to one of the heroic and dashing figures of the past: the star of a series that for some gets sillier with age but to others, is still incredible: that being Glen A. Larson's pulpy science-fantasy opus, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poor Apollo, always getting blocked by Starbuck</td></tr>
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A one-season wonder that seemed to have been created merely to quench the STAR WARS fans, dying of thirst a year after the groundbreaking blockbuster that hit theaters with an immense shockwave of epic reverberation... At that point, with a sequel nowhere in sight, a void needed filling...<br>
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With a few members of George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic team, the best thing about BATTLESTAR was the special effects, wonderfully embracing the same kind of grainy "used future" look with dog-fighting spaceships seeming as if they'd been around forever, battling a menacing, destructive foe called Cylons, whose own super-cool vessels are flat, sleek and formidable, looking downright fantastic despite one friend pointing out, as a group of us were watching a retitled VHS copy of THE LIVING LEGEND with Lloyd Bridges as an interstellar General Patton type: "They look like those... Jewish hats." And while this blunt cool-cat always knew <i>just how </i>to rain on the kitschy parade, we all cracked up: for our favorite spaceship would thereafter be referred to as Flying Yarmulkes.<br>

battlestar galactica, dirk benedict, richard hatch, science-fiction, seventies, tribute

RICHARD HATCH AS APOLLO: HERO FOR THE ZERO GENERATION

Richard Hatch headlining on the opening credits Alas to the forgotten, neglected and rejected Generation-X, who isn't lucky enough t...

ROBERT SHAW & HARRISON FORD IN 'FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>FORCE 10 actors Nero, Ford, Shaw, Fox and Weathers YEAR: 1978</u></td></tr>
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Begins as a straight-out action/adventure and gathering espionage/thriller elements along the way,  FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE is a fun, old school World War II programmer but hardly a genuine sequel to THE GUNS OF NAVARONE...<br>
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That movie, deemed a classic by critics and audiences alike, has two (three, actually) main characters played by leading men style actors as Gregory Peck and David Niven (and a Anthony Quinn) are replaced by character-actors Robert Shaw, riding high on his 1975 ignited JAWS fame, and Edward Fox, joining FORCE 10 led by an initially grouchy, and STAR WARS favorite, Harrison Ford, filling in Anthony Quinn's vacant position as third banana despite being on-par with Shaw: this ragtag team is sent from England to Italy and then into Yugoslavia...<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Harrison Ford in Force Ten From Navarone</u></td></tr>
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Ford's mission is, at first, classified to Shaw, who joins to kill a German secret agent played by Franco Nero. The main goal is something that occurs in many war films: blowing up a strategic bridge used by the Germans while the b-story wields a more subtle underline for the tables to turn at any given moment.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Paperback Cover</u></td></tr>
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During the best scenes when the picture really starts to flow, both lead characters band together after their troop are taken hostage: Having despised each other at first, it takes a realistic amount of time to warm up. Ford thaws into a likable American, delivering urgent lines like his STAR WARS rogue did under pressure, and yet, Shaw's underdog gentleman Brit still takes the lead by his experienced, resilient wits. Meanwhile, the viewer must suspend disbelief to truly enjoy the lightweight odyssey...<br>
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Before the bombastic climax, twists begin to settle within the cracks of the somewhat cliche yet spontaneous rollercoaster ride. When the missions of Force 10 and the Nararone vets intertwine, you never really know which peripheral character's on the right side, adding intrigue and a fair amount of suspense. And as a completely unrealistic albeit fun casting bonus, Carl Weathers adds an edgy blaxploitation element, eventually going up against his "rival" of sorts, a formidable Richard Kiel, whose voice was replaced in post production.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Personal Laserdisc Signed by the late Richard Kiel </u></td></tr>
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While it's much too easy for our heroes to traipse around Nazi-ridden Yugoslavia without getting killed...conversing as if taking a stroll down a public nature center.. there are enough snags in their way that you'll either forget or embrace the fact that, for <i>better </i>or worse, this is a fantasy war film...<br>
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A good thing when you have gun and knife fights, grand explosions and an ensemble dream cast banking in on actors from that period's smash hits: JAWS for Shaw, ROCKY for Weathers, and of course, Harrison Ford in STAR WARS and his trusted Reynolds is Angus McGuinness, who was Gold Leader in that same epic's Battle of the Death Star. And the biggest connection has to do with James Bond: One of the franchise's best directors, Guy Hamilton, captains two Bond villains and one Bond girl: Richard Kiel, who played the fan-adored henchman, Jaws, in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (and later, MOONRAKER); that same film's Barbara Bach; and Robert Shaw, the classic heavy from FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford, Barbara Bach and a few expendable Germans in Force 10 from NAVARONE</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford, Barbara Bach in FORCE TEN FROM NAVARONE</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The cool guy 1970's all-stars in FORCE TEN FROM NAVARONE</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Blasting away in FORCE TEN FROM NAVARONE</u></td></tr>
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