Harrison Ford plays scenes with Michael Byrne as the German Major, who would go on again years later to be the German officer who gives Ford a headache or two in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. That little piece of trivia is really about the only thing that stands out in this forgettable and pointless 70's WW2 action piece.
Supposedly a continuation of the Guns of Navarone story, but aside from the characters portrayed in that film by Gregory Peck, David Niven (and Richard Harris?), the link to the 1962 J. Lee Thompson film is in name only. And shamelessly so, as this film could never have survived 3 days at the box office without having 'Navarone' in its title.
Some very questionable and implausible plot devices drive this lacklustre adventure; by the time Ford and Robert Shaw kill the two Chetniks in the facial bandages you know for sure you're watching a bad film, which doesn't get remotely suspenseful or interesting until Shaw and Ford attempt to blow up the dam at the end.
Acting wise? Harrison Ford is competent as Barnsby. Shaw is coasting as Mallory, Edward Fox is flip and annoying as Miller, and Carl Weathers is hopelessly out of place, as well as unneeded, as Weaver. Richard Kiel, in what little screen time he's given, memorably chews the Yugoslav countryside in an over the top turn as the evil gargantuan Chetnik Captain. Barbara Bach provides the shallow cheesecake, and Franco Nero fools no one (as much as the screenwriters tried to twist and drag it out over two and a half acts) as the double agent Shaw is attached to the mission to assassinate.
All in all it's one of the thinnest as well as being one of the last WW2 commandos on a mission movies. Some majestic locations and the odd good line, and Harrison Ford's post Star Wars presence aren't enough to save it. Watchable once to pass the time but nothing you'd want to add to your DVD collection.
Supposedly a continuation of the Guns of Navarone story, but aside from the characters portrayed in that film by Gregory Peck, David Niven (and Richard Harris?), the link to the 1962 J. Lee Thompson film is in name only. And shamelessly so, as this film could never have survived 3 days at the box office without having 'Navarone' in its title.
Some very questionable and implausible plot devices drive this lacklustre adventure; by the time Ford and Robert Shaw kill the two Chetniks in the facial bandages you know for sure you're watching a bad film, which doesn't get remotely suspenseful or interesting until Shaw and Ford attempt to blow up the dam at the end.
Acting wise? Harrison Ford is competent as Barnsby. Shaw is coasting as Mallory, Edward Fox is flip and annoying as Miller, and Carl Weathers is hopelessly out of place, as well as unneeded, as Weaver. Richard Kiel, in what little screen time he's given, memorably chews the Yugoslav countryside in an over the top turn as the evil gargantuan Chetnik Captain. Barbara Bach provides the shallow cheesecake, and Franco Nero fools no one (as much as the screenwriters tried to twist and drag it out over two and a half acts) as the double agent Shaw is attached to the mission to assassinate.
All in all it's one of the thinnest as well as being one of the last WW2 commandos on a mission movies. Some majestic locations and the odd good line, and Harrison Ford's post Star Wars presence aren't enough to save it. Watchable once to pass the time but nothing you'd want to add to your DVD collection.