The Hostage Tower

A master criminal takes over the Eiffel Tower, holding the mother of the President of the United States hostage. The criminal demands a $30 million ransom or the tower will be blasted into oblivion Smith threatens to blow the tower and First Mum up if they don't pay 30 million. Smith doesn't realise that Sabrina Carver (maud Adams) and CW Whitlock (Williams) are undercover agents for a peacekeeping organisation called UNACO led by Malcolm Philpott (Douglas Fairbanks Junior) who have been tracking the villain for years and they begin to sabotage the heist.

A more lighthearted UNACO thriller ( based on Alistair Maclean's story idea) when compared with the ones starring Pierce Brosnan, which were more serious and intense and action-packed. Hostage Tower doesn't have much bullets flying, but it's more of a caper, and is too leisurely in pace and casual in attitude. It's not a great adaptation of a solid book, but it isn't entirely bad. It features some exciting climbing down the tower sequences and good villainy by Keith Dullea. Billy Dee Williams as CW Whitlock is good, so is Maud Adams as Sabrina Carver, however Peter Fonda looks a bit ill at ease and looks like he doesn't know why he's there. Douglas Fairbanks jnr adds a dash of style as the UNACO leader.

In this partly written Alistair MacLean adaptation, Mr Smith (Keir Dullea) gathers a team together to capture the Eiffel Tower and kidnap the mother of the US President. Among the team are Mike Graham (Peter Fonda), Sabrina (Maud Adams) and CW (Billy Dee Williams). Unknown to Mr Smith, Adams and Williams characters are undercover for Philpott (Douglas Fairbanks Jr) who has been trying to capture Mr Smith for some time. Graham, who is a bit of a renegade helps Sabrina and CW rescue the President's mother and stop Mr Smith from blowing up the Eiffel Tower.

Whilst nothing exceptional it is nevertheless entertaining enough and perfect for a Sunday afternoon.

Though the book was better, Hostage Tower is not a bad movie. It has an orignal plot, interesting characters, and lots of plot twists. The effects were not bad, for an 80's movie. While good, Hostage Tower doesn't hold a candle to the later UNACO films, Death Train and Night Watch, staring Pierce Brosnan. I wouldn't rent or buy it, but if Hostage Tower is on TV and you have a little time to kill, it's worth watching.

This picture opened in theaters around the country on May 13 1980 starring Peter Fonda as Mike Graham, Maud Adams as Sabrina Carver and Billy Dee Williams as Clarence Whitlock. The picture opens with a scanning view of Paris France and its countryside. A man with a driver pulls into a mansion through the front gate. Across the ocean in New York City, a man named Clarence Whitlock who's the first recruit is one of the best cat burglars in the city is breaking into a museum through a window. When Whitlock picks up a statue it sets of an alarm, however Whitlock goes out the same way he went in. scales down the building, into a truck and escapes. The second recruit is named Sabrina Carver who likes escapades and is in Amsterdam. Carver is about to exchange some diamonds illegally of course. When the safe opens at 9am Carver come roller-skating out of the safe through the building window into a garage around the corner and comes walking out as the beautiful Maud Adams. Finally, the last recruit is named Grim who's a weapons expert and he's at the Munich US Army Weapons Depot. Grim points a gun at a soldier, takes him behind a truck, knocks him out and takes his badge. Grim then takes the helicopter that the soldiers were guarding and takes of with it. Grim walks into a local bakery in Berlin where Grim is given a special message. The same thing happens to craver in Paris and Whitlock in the UN Anti crime headquarters. If all three specializes except there, assignment they each will be given one million dollars when the job is finished. I bought this movie because of Maud Adams. Even though Maud is a beautiful woman this movie was bad. It didn't have the suspense that most action movies do. Most of all I lose interest in it about a half and hour into it. Only because Maud Adams was in this I will give this movie 5 weasel stars.

i came across a copy of this film at a used video store in philadelphia.several things make this movie a rather enjoyable crime caper.the french location shots,the overall acting and the basic plot.the plot involves a plan by a master criminal to hold hostage the eiffel tower! the overall look of the film is good,the producers chose wisely in having a decent budget,and it shows all the way through.too many films like this always have budgets that are too small.anyway, the terrorist employ a bevy of high tech gadgets to keep the authorities at bay during the siege. one of these are laser beams.this gives parts of the movie a little bit of a science fiction flavor .the film is also enjoyable because it bothers to show the large amount of prep work our villains have to go through to gain their objective. in a worse film ,the bad guys just show up with their hardware ,and the audience is just to accept that these guys have this stuff just lying around. although the premise of the movie is a little over the top ,the film does not employ a great deal of sex ,blood ,or violence.film stars big name actors and you can't go wrong with a big name or two.overall this film is a good time filler.i have never seen this on television ,but at one time it was available on video in the 80's. it's currently out of print find a used copy and enjoy.