This director has several good films to his credit...but this isn't one of them. Some of the bare bones of a decent action/adventure movie appear here and there - interesting stunts, some OK car chases and gun battles, an oddly uncharismatic and ineffective Chuck Connors trying to pretend he's 30 again, a bunch of other action stars you may recognize from other movies, all better than this one...some mildly amusing lines of dialog here and there...but there's no "oomph" to anything, and no reason to care about any of these characters.
I have rarely seen a movie where it was so obvious that everyone involved - actors, director, screenplay writers, etc - was just going through the motions. Glenn Ford, for instance, is here for about 5 minutes...and he doesn't actually do anything but grunt out some lines, look worldly, and wear a track suit. Yes, He's still Glenn Ford, but so what? And wait till you see the scene where Connors and his cohort have an extended conversation in a stage whisper that every single person in the building will obviously able to hear, including their enemy played by Richard Roundtree - who makes no attempt whatsoever to hide. Seriously, he's just leaning on a rail in plain sight.
But mostly, the problem is Chuck Connors. He's in 80% of the movie, and the screenplay tries to make his character an "international man of mystery", mixed with a watered down version of Travis McGee...but it just doesn't work. Connors is too much of an pro to blow his lines, drop character, or look at the camera...but I was still embarrassed for him. He brought TV level acting to a wide screen movie that called for a lot more than he was giving. Of course, so was everyone else, but he bothered me most because Connors was my idol during his "Rifleman" and "Branded" days...and those days were obviously long gone.
To summarize: lot of people get shot and die, a lot of cars crash and explode, a lot of bullets are fired, and a lot of windy dialog is delivered in an OK way. And none of it means a darned thing.
I have rarely seen a movie where it was so obvious that everyone involved - actors, director, screenplay writers, etc - was just going through the motions. Glenn Ford, for instance, is here for about 5 minutes...and he doesn't actually do anything but grunt out some lines, look worldly, and wear a track suit. Yes, He's still Glenn Ford, but so what? And wait till you see the scene where Connors and his cohort have an extended conversation in a stage whisper that every single person in the building will obviously able to hear, including their enemy played by Richard Roundtree - who makes no attempt whatsoever to hide. Seriously, he's just leaning on a rail in plain sight.
But mostly, the problem is Chuck Connors. He's in 80% of the movie, and the screenplay tries to make his character an "international man of mystery", mixed with a watered down version of Travis McGee...but it just doesn't work. Connors is too much of an pro to blow his lines, drop character, or look at the camera...but I was still embarrassed for him. He brought TV level acting to a wide screen movie that called for a lot more than he was giving. Of course, so was everyone else, but he bothered me most because Connors was my idol during his "Rifleman" and "Branded" days...and those days were obviously long gone.
To summarize: lot of people get shot and die, a lot of cars crash and explode, a lot of bullets are fired, and a lot of windy dialog is delivered in an OK way. And none of it means a darned thing.