Ahh, “The Delta Force.” One of my many favorite movies from the 1980’s! Phil Blankenship and Amoeba Music did a midnight showing of this movie the other night at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Although not as packed as usual, the crowd was excited to see Chuck Norris kicking terrorist ass as if he never really stopped. The first time I saw this movie years ago, I was actually surprised at how well made it was. While there are parts of it that are unintentionally hilarious, even more so considering how dated this film has become, the first half of the movie is actually well directed and well written for the most part. The last half of the movie is pretty much what you expected it to be, a cheesy action movie with heroics and explosions. But even on that level, I always thought it was a kick ass experience, and the kind you don’t usually expect to get from Cannon Pictures.
At the showing of the movie, Phil welcomed a very special guest who was in the movie, Natalie Roth. Natalie played the young girl with the Cabbage Patch Kid doll in the movie, and she took the time to take some questions from the audience. She said that Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin were both very nice to work with, and that Lee Marvin was in bad health throughout the shoot (this was his last film before he died). Natalie also talked about getting to see this movie several dozen times to see herself on the screen. Funny how she was let into an R-rated movie considering her age at the time (7 or 8 my guess), but anyway. Today, Natalie still acts and lives out in Los Angeles, and her most recent film is “Forget About It” which is available for rental exclusively at Blockbuster. While a “Blockbuster exclusive” doesn’t really inspire a lot of confidence, it is great to see that she is still around and doing her thing.
“The Delta Force” comes to us from the purported 1980’s king of action movies, Cannon Pictures, led by Menahem Golan (who also directed and co-wrote the screenplay) and Yoram Globus. A lot of their movies would rank in the “so bad it’s good” catalog of films, while other films they released were utter crap that were more depressing and pathetic than laughable. They made B-movie stars out of Chuck Norris as well as Charles Bronson, and Jean Claude Van Damme among others. With all this in mind, you can’t really go into a Cannon Pictures movie with a lot of high expectations (the lower the better actually). That’s why “The Delta Force” is unique in that respect. You don’t expect the writing or the acting to be any good in movies like these, and while there is some laughable overacting to be found here and there, the performances for the most part are spot on.
The film was based on the real-life hijacking of TWA Flight 847 on June 14, 1985, and it uses a lot of those same moments from it like the press conference with the pilot in Beirut. The movie starts off taking some to introduce us to some of the soon-to-be hostages like Shelley Winters and her husband played by Martin Balsam, her granddaughter Ellen whom manages to get her mother to buy that doll she wants. We meet Harry and Sylvia Goldman who are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary, Father O’Malley (George Kennedy) and his two sisters from the church (one played by future “NYPD Blue” star Kim Delaney), and we meet the two terrorists who end up hijacking the plane, and they are played by Robert Forster and David Menachem.
Now having an American actor play an Arab terrorist seems laughable and just stupid, but Robert Forster pulls this role off without it ever being laughable. As Abdul, he makes an excellent villain whose not just another one-dimensional bad guy who revels in what he does. Robert makes him threatening in how much he is willing to die for his brothers, and it doesn’t matter how delusional and crazy he is because he so believes in what he is doing. This movie was made back when Forster’s career was heading seemingly into oblivion, but he did finally make his comeback with Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown,” and we have not forgotten how great an actor he is since.
David Menachem, on the other hand, seems to overact a bit too much to put it mildly. As Moustapha, his eyes open up so wide that I was convinced they were going to pop out of his head and then ricochet off of one of the hostages. He is a kick to watch, but his performance does generate some unintentional laughs from the audience at the midnight showing. Moustapha is always on the verge of shooting someone, but he never does. The one moment he does shoot happens much too late for him.
Another strong performance in the movie is from Hanna Schygulla who plays the head flight attendant Ingrid. She is put in a very difficult position as the terrorists force her to pick out the Jews from the passports taken from all the passengers. This is another actor who shows a lot without saying anything, and her close-ups throughout the film illustrate how she somehow manages to hold herself together in this horrific situation. I love that moment she has with Robert Forster before she leaves the plane. Robert’s character sums her up perfectly:
“Ingrid, you’re a brave women.”
The second half of the movie is probably what you would expect it to be, a kick ass action movie with the good guys easily defeating the bad guys. At this point, the movie does get a little too corny with the Americans being so gung ho and excited about going into action. We see them laying back on their plane as they head to the middle east, some of them chatting and laughing, others reading the latest edition of Mad magazine.
How many times have you heard dialogue like this?
“OK, let’s rock and roll!”
“Let’s do it.”
I have to say that Chuck Norris is not a bad actor. Many think he is flat out terrible, but that’s flat out not true. True, he is not a great actor like Laurence Oliver and he never will be (even Chuck himself would admit that), but as a film actor he is excellent even if he does play the same kind of character in all the films he does (let alone “Walker, Texas Ranger”). The strength of being a film actor is in showing things without saying them. If you can telegraph how your character is feeling without speaking, then that is the mark of a very good film actor. Chuck back then had a lot of those moments, and he is easily a more competent screen presence than many that came after him be it Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal, both of who have since been consigned to direct to video hell. Regardless of what you may think of his politics (way too conservative for many), Chuck Norris did have a lot more going for him than many would realize.
Having Lee Marvin in a movie like this certainly gives it more dramatic heft and believability, and that’s even if things get more ridiculous as the movie goes along. His face all craggy gives you all that you need to see how much combat he has been through. It is almost fitting that this was his final movie as he served in the military as a Marine (I believe he was buried in Arlington Cemetery). Lee is perfectly cast as the unsentimental leader of an elite anti-terrorist force who has no time for pity, and who is always looking out for his men. RIP Lee Marvin.
Before I forget, I have to bring up the film score by Alan Silvestri who later went on to compose music for “Back To The Future” and “The Abyss” among others. This is a classic 1980’s score that made much use of synthesizers at the time. It some ways, it is a cheesy score, but I liked it a lot. It hits some strong emotional notes, and the theme song is one that will stay in your head long after the movie is over. I am lucky enough to have this score on audio cassette, and I do listen to it every once in awhile. It was recently re-released on CD as a limited edition, and it was limited alright because it sold out before I got a chance to buy it (DAMN!!!).
“The Delta Force” is easily one of the best movies that Cannon Pictures could have ever hoped to have released. Sure, it led to a lot of crappy knock offs and sequels that were not even trying to be as good. “Delta Force 2” was a direct rip off of Timothy Dalton’s last Bond movie, “License To Kill.” Sure, it had a great and a truly despicable villain in Billy Drago, but jesus this movie was beyond cheesy and stupid! The less said about “Delta Force 3,” the better. Chuck Norris’ film career may have gone to direct to video hell ever since his brother Aaron started directing him in just about every movie he did. But after all these years, “The Delta Force” actually holds up pretty well (that’s probably being a bit generous, but anyway). It has also led to some great retro t-shirts that you can still see popping up on the internet or at the shirt store near UC Berkeley. You may have seen them here and there saying:
“I don’t negotiate with terrorists. I blow them away.”
***1/2 out of ****
At the showing of the movie, Phil welcomed a very special guest who was in the movie, Natalie Roth. Natalie played the young girl with the Cabbage Patch Kid doll in the movie, and she took the time to take some questions from the audience. She said that Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin were both very nice to work with, and that Lee Marvin was in bad health throughout the shoot (this was his last film before he died). Natalie also talked about getting to see this movie several dozen times to see herself on the screen. Funny how she was let into an R-rated movie considering her age at the time (7 or 8 my guess), but anyway. Today, Natalie still acts and lives out in Los Angeles, and her most recent film is “Forget About It” which is available for rental exclusively at Blockbuster. While a “Blockbuster exclusive” doesn’t really inspire a lot of confidence, it is great to see that she is still around and doing her thing.
“The Delta Force” comes to us from the purported 1980’s king of action movies, Cannon Pictures, led by Menahem Golan (who also directed and co-wrote the screenplay) and Yoram Globus. A lot of their movies would rank in the “so bad it’s good” catalog of films, while other films they released were utter crap that were more depressing and pathetic than laughable. They made B-movie stars out of Chuck Norris as well as Charles Bronson, and Jean Claude Van Damme among others. With all this in mind, you can’t really go into a Cannon Pictures movie with a lot of high expectations (the lower the better actually). That’s why “The Delta Force” is unique in that respect. You don’t expect the writing or the acting to be any good in movies like these, and while there is some laughable overacting to be found here and there, the performances for the most part are spot on.
The film was based on the real-life hijacking of TWA Flight 847 on June 14, 1985, and it uses a lot of those same moments from it like the press conference with the pilot in Beirut. The movie starts off taking some to introduce us to some of the soon-to-be hostages like Shelley Winters and her husband played by Martin Balsam, her granddaughter Ellen whom manages to get her mother to buy that doll she wants. We meet Harry and Sylvia Goldman who are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary, Father O’Malley (George Kennedy) and his two sisters from the church (one played by future “NYPD Blue” star Kim Delaney), and we meet the two terrorists who end up hijacking the plane, and they are played by Robert Forster and David Menachem.
Now having an American actor play an Arab terrorist seems laughable and just stupid, but Robert Forster pulls this role off without it ever being laughable. As Abdul, he makes an excellent villain whose not just another one-dimensional bad guy who revels in what he does. Robert makes him threatening in how much he is willing to die for his brothers, and it doesn’t matter how delusional and crazy he is because he so believes in what he is doing. This movie was made back when Forster’s career was heading seemingly into oblivion, but he did finally make his comeback with Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown,” and we have not forgotten how great an actor he is since.
David Menachem, on the other hand, seems to overact a bit too much to put it mildly. As Moustapha, his eyes open up so wide that I was convinced they were going to pop out of his head and then ricochet off of one of the hostages. He is a kick to watch, but his performance does generate some unintentional laughs from the audience at the midnight showing. Moustapha is always on the verge of shooting someone, but he never does. The one moment he does shoot happens much too late for him.
Another strong performance in the movie is from Hanna Schygulla who plays the head flight attendant Ingrid. She is put in a very difficult position as the terrorists force her to pick out the Jews from the passports taken from all the passengers. This is another actor who shows a lot without saying anything, and her close-ups throughout the film illustrate how she somehow manages to hold herself together in this horrific situation. I love that moment she has with Robert Forster before she leaves the plane. Robert’s character sums her up perfectly:
“Ingrid, you’re a brave women.”
The second half of the movie is probably what you would expect it to be, a kick ass action movie with the good guys easily defeating the bad guys. At this point, the movie does get a little too corny with the Americans being so gung ho and excited about going into action. We see them laying back on their plane as they head to the middle east, some of them chatting and laughing, others reading the latest edition of Mad magazine.
How many times have you heard dialogue like this?
“OK, let’s rock and roll!”
“Let’s do it.”
I have to say that Chuck Norris is not a bad actor. Many think he is flat out terrible, but that’s flat out not true. True, he is not a great actor like Laurence Oliver and he never will be (even Chuck himself would admit that), but as a film actor he is excellent even if he does play the same kind of character in all the films he does (let alone “Walker, Texas Ranger”). The strength of being a film actor is in showing things without saying them. If you can telegraph how your character is feeling without speaking, then that is the mark of a very good film actor. Chuck back then had a lot of those moments, and he is easily a more competent screen presence than many that came after him be it Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal, both of who have since been consigned to direct to video hell. Regardless of what you may think of his politics (way too conservative for many), Chuck Norris did have a lot more going for him than many would realize.
Having Lee Marvin in a movie like this certainly gives it more dramatic heft and believability, and that’s even if things get more ridiculous as the movie goes along. His face all craggy gives you all that you need to see how much combat he has been through. It is almost fitting that this was his final movie as he served in the military as a Marine (I believe he was buried in Arlington Cemetery). Lee is perfectly cast as the unsentimental leader of an elite anti-terrorist force who has no time for pity, and who is always looking out for his men. RIP Lee Marvin.
Before I forget, I have to bring up the film score by Alan Silvestri who later went on to compose music for “Back To The Future” and “The Abyss” among others. This is a classic 1980’s score that made much use of synthesizers at the time. It some ways, it is a cheesy score, but I liked it a lot. It hits some strong emotional notes, and the theme song is one that will stay in your head long after the movie is over. I am lucky enough to have this score on audio cassette, and I do listen to it every once in awhile. It was recently re-released on CD as a limited edition, and it was limited alright because it sold out before I got a chance to buy it (DAMN!!!).
“The Delta Force” is easily one of the best movies that Cannon Pictures could have ever hoped to have released. Sure, it led to a lot of crappy knock offs and sequels that were not even trying to be as good. “Delta Force 2” was a direct rip off of Timothy Dalton’s last Bond movie, “License To Kill.” Sure, it had a great and a truly despicable villain in Billy Drago, but jesus this movie was beyond cheesy and stupid! The less said about “Delta Force 3,” the better. Chuck Norris’ film career may have gone to direct to video hell ever since his brother Aaron started directing him in just about every movie he did. But after all these years, “The Delta Force” actually holds up pretty well (that’s probably being a bit generous, but anyway). It has also led to some great retro t-shirts that you can still see popping up on the internet or at the shirt store near UC Berkeley. You may have seen them here and there saying:
“I don’t negotiate with terrorists. I blow them away.”
***1/2 out of ****
Anything with Lee Marvin rocks my world!!!
Excellent review.
Lee Marvin still rules.
The man was amazing.
I try to buy every dvd he's in.
hamlet