Escape to Athena (1979)

It is 1944 in the Greek isles.  The Nazis are pursuing several escapees from the local prisoner of war camp.  Among them are Professor Blake (David Niven), Bruno Rotelli (Sonny Bono), and Nat Judson (Richard Roundtree).  The trio are brought back to the camp and the commandant, Major Otto Hecht (Roger Moore), talks to them like a disappointed father.  The SS Officer, Major Volkmann, would rather they were shot, but Hecht asserts his authority over camp prisoners.  Hecht is an Austrian art dealer who has found himself in the German Army.  In addition to the camp, he oversees the archeological site that provides valuable artefacts for the Third Reich.  Of course, he skims the best pieces for himself.

Charlie Dane (Elliot Gould) and Dottie Del Mar (Stephanie Powers) are American entertainers who were recently captured and routed to the camp.  Otto is quite pleased to welcome Dottie and arranges for her to have a private room where he visits.  Dane, who is obviously Jewish, he allows to arrange a show to entertain the guards.  In the nearby town, Zeno (Telly Savalas) leads the Greek resistance.  He plans to first capture the POW camp, then the town, and finally assault the communication station that has been setup at the monastery on Mount Athena.  Sounds like an exciting action movie in theory, less so in practice.

The movie suffers from too many characters and not a clear villain.  Early on, Major Volkmann is generally the villain.  Then the villain becomes a Nazi at Mount Athena.  Nor is there a central hero.  Though Zeno is the man behind all the action, he is tight-lipped and doesn't tell anyone what is happening.  As such, some events come as a surprise to his allies - Charlie, Bruno, & Nat - though not to Zeno.

Roger Moore is miscast as a German/Austrian officer.  He himself said as much.  However, the movie offered an opportunity to 'vacation' in the Greek isles with his friend David Niven and have nights on the town with Telly Savalas.  I imagine this movie was a lot of fun to make.

Charlie is a fast-talking goofball who somehow transforms into a wisecracking commando.  The transition from one to the other was quite sudden and entirely unbelievable.  Of all the men Zeno could take on his assault on Athena, he chose Charlie?  Of course, Charlie didn't want to be a commando, but there was the promise of vast piles of gold.  Crazy as it was, Charlie proved to be a highlight of the movie.

There are a couple of love stories in the mix.  Major Hecht pursues Dottie, which is awkward considering he is her jailor.  Then there is Zeno and Elena (Claudia Cardinale), the madam of the local brothel.  In addition to his love interest, she plays his conscience.  Yes, she is less than keen on his risking lives of Greeks on his grand designs.

The finale turned into a Bond film, as the Nazis deploy a rocket from a secret base to sink the allied fleet.  What?  As if this film wasn't bonkers already.

Light, mindless, popcorn fun.

The Sea Wolves (1980)

In the Indian Ocean during World War II, the Germans are sinking British ships with astonishing regularity.  It is as if the Germans know when and where to find the ships.  It is suspected that the Germans have a spy in the Portuguese port of Goa on the west coast of India.  Indeed, three German ships are anchored in the harbor but the Portuguese - who are neutral in the war - have removed the radios.  Colonel Lewis Pugh (Gregory Peck) and Captain Gavin Stewart (Roger Moore) travel to Goa to investigate.  While there, attempts are made on their lives and they conclude that a secret radio is on one of the German ships.  Again, as this is a neutral port, British commandos can't just attack.  Instead, Colonel Pugh calls upon the Calcutta Light Horse, a group of retired soldiers who are eager to help the war effort.  Colonel William "Bill" Grice (David Niven) is their commanding officer.  They plan to sail a junker of an Indian riverboat into Goa harbor and assault the German ships by surprise.  Major Crossley (Patrick Macnee) is an explosives expert who will make sure all the German ships are sunk.  Can a bunch of middle-aged and out of shape former soldiers pull off a daring assault?

While Colonel Pugh leads the assault, Captain Stewart and Jack Cartwright (Trevor Howard) plan a variety of distractions for the night of the raid: a high-end party, a fireworks show, and free brothels paid by an eccentric German philanthropist!  Not one to be all business, James Bond... er... Gavin Stewart finds time to romance Mrs. Cromwell (Barbara Kellerman).  Of course, he does not realize that she is a German spy who is having a hard time deciding if she should kill him or not.  Gee, that doesn't sound like a retread of The Spy Who Loved Me.

Made by the same team that produced The Wild Geese, the original casting had hoped to include Richard Burton and Richard Harris as Pugh and Grice.  The movie does have a Wild Geese feel to it with a batch of older men playing soldier in this off-the-books raid.  The movie delivers what it promises, a commando raid by retirees, but it fails to have memorable characters or particularly good action scenes.  The most interesting characters were James Bond... er... Gavin Stewart and Jack Cartwright.  Trevor Howard, who is usually the commander in such films, is here a retiree desperate for action and willing to take any role.  He can be cantankerous, funny, and oddly charming.  Something of a departure for him, at least of the roles I've seen of his.

This is based on a true story and the historical photos of Pugh, Stewart, and Grice are shown in the credits.  Even so, it is just okay.

Magnificent Doll (1946)

John Payne returns home from the Revolutionary War to find his wife and daughter (Ginger Rogers) hosting a party.  He is clearly not in a mood for a party.  He tells how his life was saved and how he promised the man that his daughter would marry the man's son.  Dolly Payne is upset by this arranged marriage but goes through with it.  She and John Todd (Stephen McNally) have a loveless marriage in Philadelphia.  They have a son.  Then, disaster strikes.  Yellow fever sweeps through Philadelphia, killing John and their son.  Dolly and her mother (Peggy Wood) must rent out rooms of their house to make a living.  Their first tenant is Senator Aaron Burr (David Niven), a handsome and charming man who arranges additional lodgers of high office.  He immediately begins to woo Dolly.  Soon after, James Madison (Burgess Meredith) takes a room and begins his own wooing of Dolly.

The story proposes a love triangle among Dolly, Aaron Burr, and James Madison.  Aaron is charming and exciting, taking her on country rides and out on adventurous excursions.  By contrast, James plays chess and convinces Dolly and her mother to host a party where politicking can happen.  Aaron is tall and handsome.  James is shy and cerebral.  It is hard to understand why Dolly would choose James until Aaron torpedoed himself by declaring his plans to overthrow the country and become dictator.  Sigh.  Though she has chosen, there is still more movie.  Now she uses her influence with Burr to get Jefferson the presidency in the contingent election of 1801.  During Burr's treason trial, Dolly once again arrives on scene and talks a lynch mob into sparing Burr's life.  Wow, she really is a Magnificent Doll!

Though it is true that Aaron Burr was a lodger of the Widow Payne and her daughter, Dolly Todd, he was not a competitor to James Madison.  In fact, Burr happily introduced Madison to Dolly.  A few months later, they were married.  The movie compressed the timeline and dumped some important facts.  First, Dolly had 2 sons from her first marriage, only one of which died in the yellow fever plague of 1793.  Burr is miffed that the party set him aside in favor of Jefferson for the 1796 election, which is not the case.  He was viewed as a strong running mate since Jefferson's strength was in the South while Burr was a New Yorker.  Dolly gets undue credit for Jefferson's win in 1801 contingent election by convincing Burr not to lobby his case in Washington.  Madison openly takes the blame for the failure of the Constitution, since he was its architect.  The movie takes all the ambiguity out of Burr's Conspiracy, making it a clearcut effort to make war on the United States.  Niven's Burr calls upon his troops to ambush American soldiers and only their universal desertion of him prevented it.  No, that's not how that went down.

Just okay.

Rough Cut (1980)

A hot air balloon with 'Happy Anniversary' is launched into the night sky from the grounds of a magnificent English mansion.  A beautiful woman kisses an elderly man and announces her joy at their first wedding anniversary.  Among the guests is Jack Rhodes (Burt Reynolds).  He spots a strikingly attractive woman, Gillian Bromley (Lesley-Anne Down), and tries to pick her up with a Cary Grant impression.  She is not impressed.  However, his persistence leads to a lunch date the following Friday.  It so happens that Gillian was sent to the party by Chief Inspector Cyril Willis (David Niven) of Scotland Yard.  Rhodes is a diamond thief who has never been caught and Willis has only a short time to catch him before his mandatory retirement ends his career.  Through Gillian, Willis provides details to a diamond shipment that is sure to lure Rhodes into a prison cell.

This is less of a heist film and more of a romantic comedy with a heist as the setting.  The chemistry between Reynolds and Down is terrific.  The heist is background noise while they flirt and banter, Reynolds with his natural charm and Down with a smile that lights up the room.  The heist is clever, but beside the point.  Inspector Willis was not really a likeable character, and the big twist comes too late to change that.  It was strange to see Sergeant Apone (Al Matthews) of Aliens (1986) as a musician in a Paris disco.  The gold digger wife from the opening is played by Cassandra Harris, future Bond girl (For Your Eyes Only) and wife of future James Bond, Pierce Brosnan.

This was the first Burt Reynolds film I saw in theaters, and I thought it was awesome.  Of course, I was thirteen.  I had always thought it was a big hit back then, but it barely earned back the production costs.  Even so, it's great popcorn fun.

Death on the Nile (1978)

In England, Jackie (Mia Farrow) asks her friend Linnet (Lois Chiles) to give her soon-to-be husband, Simon Doyle (Simon MacCorkindale) a job.  Linnet agrees.  Six weeks later, Simon and Linnet are on their honeymoon in Egypt.  Not only has an insanely jealous Jackie followed them, so has a cast of suspects.  Romance novelist Salome Otterbourne (Angela Lansbury) and her daughter, Rosalie (Olivia Hussey) may be financially ruined on account of a lawsuit by Linnet.  Mrs. Van Schuyler (Bette Davis) is a wealthy woman with a love of jewelry, especially pearls like the dazzling necklace that Linnet wears.  Van Schuyler's nurse, Miss Bowers (Maggie Smith), had been reduced to being a servant on account of Linnet's father's business practices.  Doctor Bessner (Jack Warden) may see his clinic ruined on account of the harsh criticisms that Linnet has leveled.  Andrew Pennington (George Kennedy), who is Linnet's uncle, has been embezzling funds and could be ruined should Linnet discover it.  Even Linnet's maid, Louise (Jane Birkin), is upset at her employer for derailing her marriage plans.  This hornets' nest of would-be murderers has the misfortune of encountering the famed Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov).  Linnet requests his assistance in ridding them of Jackie and he is soon traveling with them and the cast of suspects on the SS Karnak down the Nile.  It is little surprise when Linnet is found dead.  Poirot is joined in his investigation by Colonel Race (David Niven), an old friend and occasional assistant.  As the pair interview all the suspects, additional murders occur.

The all-star cast is terrific in this version.  Poirot is fastidious and has an uncanny knack of being in earshot of all the incriminating conversations, which he parrots back at the enraged suspect.  Unlike the recent remake, this one was filmed in Egypt.  Just this puts it head and shoulders above the Branagh production.  Better still, no anachronistic casting, no efforts to represent this group or that group, just a straight-forward adaptation of the novel.

After watching both versions, I must say that the plan was ludicrous.  A gunshot on a ship the size of the Karnak should have drawn more people.  The idea that there would be no one around seems unlikely.  The stars had to align for the outlandish plot to work.  Also, Hercule Poirot is on the ship!  Are you crazy?  Time to abort the plan and wait for another time.  Heck, maybe wait for whoever pushed the rock to give it another try.

I've not seen the David Suchet version of Death on the Nile.  Until I do, I rate this one the best.  Highly recommended.

The Real Glory (1939)

It is 1906 and the United States Army is withdrawing troops from the Philippines.  The decision has been made that the native forces - The Philippines Constabulary - must learn to defend the country.  However, a batch of American military advisors will be provided to the town of Mysang on the island of Mindanao.  Lt. Bill Canavan (Gary Cooper) arrives at Mysang where he is greeted by Lt. McCool (David Niven) and Lt. Larsen (Broderick Crawford).  Colonel Hatch is in command.  The last of the Americans are Captain Manning and Captain Hartley.

The Moros (Muslim ethnic group in southern islands of the Philippines) are determined to wipe out the forces of Mysang and resume control of the island.  Currently, they hide in the jungles where they are safe.  In fact, they want the Philippines Constabulary to attack them in the jungle where they will have an advantage.  To do this, Alipang, leader of the Moros, sends juramentados (suicidal assassins) to kill commanding officers and trigger a reprisal.

Canavan is a doctor with the assignment of keeping the town healthy.  He gets the opportunity to treat wounds, address a cholera outbreak, and practice psychology.  Of course, like most doctors, he also gets the chance to blaze away with a pistol, blow up a damn, toss sticks of dynamite at charging Moros, raft through rapids, trek through a trap-laden jungle, and romance Linda, the commanding officer's daughter.

Niven is miscast as he is clearly not an American soldier.  No explanation is made for his English accent.  He plays a good friend as well as a potential rival for Linda's affections.  Crawford plays an amiable fellow obsessed with orchids.  Andrea Leeds plays Linda Hartley in one of her last roles.  Despite her father's wish for her to leave for her safety, she insists on staying.  She's no damsel in distress.  During the cholera outbreak, she becomes Canavan's assistant.  During a siege, she provides ammunition and even orders the Constabulary back to their posts.

Though not based on any specific incident in the Moro Rebellion (1899-1913), it does hit the highlights.  The Moros used suicide assassins, tended to be armed with spears and blades, and struck from the jungles.  Cholera was a major issue through the islands in the era, killing an estimated 200,000 people.  Actual combat only resulted in 18,000 to 26,000 deaths.  The US involvement in the Philippines was very similar to Vietnam, with many of the same issues in both conflicts.  Where Vietnam had the My Lai Massacre, the Moro Rebellion had Bud Dajo, which saw many more dead.  It is not a laudable conflict, which is probably why there have been few movies on the subject.

Good popcorn fun.  Recommended.