Force 10 from Navarone

I haven't wanted to "watch" Force 10 from Navarone as much as I wanted to gawk at the trainwreck that I knew it must be. It first got my attention by having Harrison Ford in it, but the rest of the cast is mostly made up of '70s "stars" who were all better known for other, particular roles than they were for actual acting talent. Carl Weathers from Rocky is there. Barbara Bach from Caveman and The Spy Who Loved Me is there. Even Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. All folks who were popular at the time, but who don't exactly scream "quality."

There's also the interview I once read where Harrison Ford admitted that he took his role in Force 10 not because it was a good part or a good story, but because it was a good career move for him. It was the first time he was able to get his name before the film's title in the credits. Purely a career move, and I can't fault him for it, but it didn't bode well that I was going to like the movie.

Surprisingly, it's not all that bad. The worst thing about it is that Carl Weathers' role is forced into the plot for no good reason, but more on that in a minute. The movie is a sequel to The Guns of Navarone (starring Gregory Peck and David Niven) and I was concerned that Force 10 wouldn't have anything to do with Guns outside of trying to capitalize on the name. Fortunately, both films are based on books by Alistair MacLean, so there's continuity between the two. Robert Shaw and Edward Fox take over Peck and Niven's respective roles and the movie becomes sort of "the further adventures of..." with their characters getting a new mission that piggybacks on another Allied mission being executed by a group called Force 10 under Harrison Ford's command.

Carl Weathers is a soldier who gets caught up in the story as he's being escorted to jail by a group of MPs who stumble across Force 10 as they're trying to sneak off on their mission. The MPs misunderstand what's going on and attack the heroes, allowing Carl Weathers to escape and jump on Force 10's plane just as it takes off. It's a silly way to get him involved and then he doesn't really contribute to the story in a meaningful way afterwards. He's there mainly to be racially insulted by the bad guys and to pout about not being treated as an equal with the members of the unit who are, you know, actually supposed to be there. Still, as poorly written as his character is, Carl Weathers is a charismatic guy and I always like seeing him on screen.

Harrison Ford is great as the no-nonsense leader who may not exactly lighten up by the end of the movie, but does find new respect for Shaw and Fox's characters whom he thinks have been forced on him. Shaw and Fox are the real heroes of the movie though, even if they're not the biggest stars. Fox is no David Niven, but he's got his own easy charm and I liked him in the role. Shaw was the big surprise though. Mainly because I didn't recognize him at first.

Even though I sort of had to grimace and bear through the parts of the movie with Richard Kiel (one of the worst Bond villains ever), that's balanced out by the fact that Robert Shaw played one of the best Bond villains ever, the assassin Grant in From Russia with Love (not to mention Quint in Jaws). I caught on to it about five minutes before the end of the movie (he's heavier and less blonde than he was as Grant, and cleaner than Quint) and it made me want to watch it all over again.

Which is something that I never thought I'd want to do going into it.