Force 10 from Navarone

Rating:
Summary: Decent WWII flick
Review: Miller and Mallory, the heroes of "The Guns of Navarone" are back, sort of. We knew them as Peck and Niven, but little else but those two characters connects this movie with the 60's classic. Here, Mallory (Robert Shaw) and Miller (Ed Fox)hitch a ride with an American special forces team into war-torn Yugoslavia on a mission to assassinate a turncoat partisan who is betraying Tito's forces to the Nazis. Force-10, led by Col. Applebee (Harrison Ford), has its own mission and its own ways of getting into the battle zone - neither of which they discuss with Malliry or Miller. On their way to Yugoslavia (actually, on their way to getting their ride to Yugoslavia) the crew picks up Weaver (Carl Weathers) a sergeant on his way to the stockade. Things don't go as planned - even for Force-10's exceptionally pessimistic planning. Mallory and Applebee soon find themselves forced to discuss each other's secret mission and find themselves dependent on each other to carry it out.

This was a sort of good movie - ironically it would do better if we didn't think it had anything to do with the original "Navarone". What otherwise kills the flick is that there's no central villain - Richard Kiel plays a monstrous Chetnick who baits Carl Wethers and the rest of us, but that's about all. There's a high-ranking Nazi who puts in an early appearance and an almost as fast exit. The biggest disappointment is the plot - save the partisans. The partisan commander's antipathy to his Anglo-American allies stems from his suspicion that they consider his war theater a backwater, an idea the script does little to contradict. Still, the flick is definitely worth a look - I actually enjoyed it, especially how it tries to look and sound like a war movie made a decade earlier, rousing music and all.

Rating:
Summary: Okay movie, but the sequel is never as good as the first one
Review: Force 10 From Navarone was a pretty good film, but still was not as classic and as exciting as The Guns of Navarone, which also had some funny scenes in it. Their mission is to blow up a bridge, but it all just comes out in odds and ends, bearing some good action, mostly just crummy stuff. So watch this if you want to, but it's not the best.

Rating:
Summary: Certainly not the original
Review: Being a fan of the original Guns of Navarone, I watched this movie hoping it would at least come close to the quality of the first movie. I was disappointed. This movies seems to be like a lot of those made in the 70's, make it quick, don't worry about accuracy, throw in a little gratuitous nudity (I didn't mind that as much) and a lot of action will make up for the other shortcomings. They even threw in a black soldier in the spirit of appealing to a wider audience. I have to admit, I became turned off by the film immediately when, in the first scene, they used some footage from the original with newer footage added in. It really showed the difference between the two movies, with the newer footage looking cheap in comparison.
If you don't mind the inaccuracies and the completely implausible story line then this is a pretty good action film, of the type I probably would have enjoyed when I was about 12. This was too bad, as I am a fan of many of the actors in the movie, including Harrison Ford and Edward Fox.

Rating:
Summary: Not really a sequel...
Review: Taken for what it is, "Force 10 From Navarone"(1978) is a decent wartime action adventure. It is based on Alistair MacLean's sequel to his highly successful novel, "The Guns of Navarone" which was released a major film in 1961. The movie version though is a "sequel" in name only, and is connected to the original film by just a few plot threads. Recurrent characters bear no resemblance to their previous incarnations. This is understandable, as this movie plays to almost a whole new audience.

None of the principal actors associated with the original film, Gregory Peck (Major Mallory), David Niven (Corporal Miller) and Anthony Quinn, were capable of reprising their roles, some 17 years later. Robert Shaw, replaces Peck as "Mallory", and Edward Fox assumes the role of "Miller", the explosives expert. Their new mission is to locate a traitor named "Lescovar" (Franco Nero), who is operating in Yugoslavia as a member of the Partisans. The pair are attached to a special operations group code named "Force 10", commanded by Lt. Colonel Barnsby (Harrison Ford). The group has their own top secret mission, which begins in Italy by stealing a plane. Sgt. Weaver (Carl Weathers), unexpectedly joins the mission after forcing his way into the plane, and parachutes with Force 10 into Yugoslavia.

Upon landing, circumstances quickly reduce the group to just five men. Wandering the countryside, the group meet up with what they believe are Partisans. When they turn out to be Chetniks collaborating with the Germans, Mallory and the rest find themselves prisoners. Spinning a yarn about hijacked penicillin buys Mallory and Barnsby an opportunity for freedom, and with a little help, the two men are soon free, and able to make contact with the real Partisan group.

Capt. Lescovar occupies a position of trust among the Partisans, and can't be touched for the moment. Force 10's mission is revealed, as they were to have attempted to destroy a vital bridge, and thereby prevent a Nazi advance. Believing that with Miller's expertise the mission might still be accomplished, Barnsby and Mallory head back to the Chetnik camp to free him. After a bloody shootout, the group make a surprisingly easy escape, and Miller and Weaver rejoin their mates.

Realizing that destroying a nearby dam would release tons of water that would undermine the bridge's foundation and take it down, the group is in desperate need of some high explosives. Treachery abounds as the group attempts to get the supplies. An attempt to airdrop them has disastrous results, so the team decides to get what they need by raiding a German ammo dump. After another close call, they succeed in securing the explosives. Leaving the depot by train, they take time to clean up a loose end, before heading for the dam and their final mission. For this task, it does seem odd that the "expert" Miller, is not called on to place the explosive charges. The job instead is left for Barnsby and Mallory (bad leg and all). The slightly built Fox, who plays Miller as a cartoon character, is just not hero material.

Much is made in this film of the fact that Weaver is a black man. He is the brunt of jokes, and suffers racial slurs and other harassment from his own side as well as the enemy. The leader of the Chetniks, played by Richard Kiel (Jaws from the Bond films), makes a special point of harassing the Sergeant, and calling him "blackie". Was all this really necessary? Carl Weathers gives a dignified performance under the circumstances. He brings a much needed rugged physical presence, to a cast primarily consisting of older actors.

Director Guy Hamilton, a veteran of several Bond films, is a man accustomed to executing a script with loaded dialog. The story for the most part entertains (minus the racial aspects), and moves along at a steady pace. At first glance, the assembled cast may not appear to be the most cohesive group, but their overall performance is actually not bad. The scenes of Yugoslavia may have added interest in light of recent events there. Ron Goodwin's soundtrack is good, with a rousing main title theme, but the music is ever so reminiscent of the work he did on "Where Eagles Dare", another MacLean creation. The special effects scenes related to the dam and floodwaters bring to mind scenes from Earthquake, minus the motorcycle.

The DVD transfer is good but the poor quality of the original material shows through at times. You have a choice between the widescreen and full screen versions of the film. The sole extra, is a tattered example of the original trailer. The booklet provided with the disk is very informative, discussing the background surrounding the sequel and the efforts of producer Carl Foreman to get the story to the screen. While too much time had passed for it to be a true sequel, "Force 10" stands on its own merits as a solid wartime adventure worth at least one viewing.

Rating:
Summary: DVD is good
Review: The DVD release of this mediocre sequel to THE GUNS OF NAVARONE is of good quality. One side offers the 126 minute TV edited, letterbox edition of the film with 8 minutes of footage missing from the original. However, a few brief portions of scenes, music and dialog were deleted for TV viewing and not included in the longer side of the DVD. It's worth it for the added footage, however. The other side offers the 118 minute, full screen version. The picture quality is of somewhat lower quality than the 126 minute version. The sound quality is average quality -- 2.0. One can also a view a full screen and (and unrestored) theatrical trailer. All in all an average DVD put out a low price by MGM

Rating:
Summary: CHECK OUT FOR YOURSELF!
Review: this movie was excellent for its time and story.
Loved the character Miller and his drool sense of humor and the combination of Shaw and Ford was actually very, very good. A very good indication of Ford's heading for stardom. He just needed and got the right vehicles. [stories]
The color, the backgrounds, the acting was well worth a second and a third viewing.
Was appreciative of Carl Weathers combination [again] with Ford and loved Nero's eyes, they speak to you without words, this is a sign of an excellent actor.

Probably shouldn't say it but I love a movie with horses [of any kind] in it. It was a speaking contrast in the lives of the people.

Please do not take into consideration poor CA's comments as he had a bad product and has nothing to do with the movie. His voting is not worthy of the movie.

Excellent movie for 1978 and the subject matter - I will definitely be watching it again. Not on par with the classics but worth recommending.

Rating:
Summary: WW2 MOVIE WITH A TWIST!
Review: This film, a sequel to THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, is a remarkable film. It has great acting, visual effects, and action sequences, and does tend to surprise you in some scenes. For example, I had seen it several times on TV, that when I saw it on Video for the first time, Barbara Bach's breast-exposing bathtub scene caught me off guard (the first thing I said after seeing this scene on Video was "Lord Have Mercy!" But I do have to admit, she's a good-looking woman). Also, the Dam sequence was awesome! Recommended to all history buffs. Grade: A-

Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS DVD!
Review: This movie has the worst picture of any DVD I have purchased. The frame jiggles and the picture itself looks as if it was mastered from a video source; i.e., the picture is blurry and the colors run together. The dialogue and stunts are laughable!
This DVD was so bad that I returned it for a refund.

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: Everyone I know who has seen this movie hates it. Trust me, with so much hilariously bad dialogue and action, you'll find yourself laughing,too.

Rating:
Summary: Fun enough to be entertaining
Review: There was no reason to declare this a sequel to "Guns of Navarone." There was no reason even to have the word "Navarone" in the title, since the movie goes nowhere near the location of the first movie.

The story is ludicrous (of course), the special effects cheesy (the oh so phoney-looking flood that destroys the bridge), a post-Star Wars Harrison Ford barely registers as a character and Carl Weathers plays Apollo Creed again, this time in Army green. Most of the other actors are pretty good, Robert Shaw and Edward Fox especially, and Barbara Bach looks luscious (and as a bonus, she gets about as naked as you can get in a PG-rated movie).

In short, this movie is clearly inferior to the original "Navarone" as well as other MacLean-inspired movies like "Where Eagles Dare" and "Ice Station Zebra." Inferior doesn't mean bad, but it's still the worst movie that I've ever seen more than 5 times.