The Presidio

I haven't seen "The Presidio" for about a decade, so watching it again recently after so many years was almost like watching it for the first time.

Although it's definitely not a top class thriller, more of a low-key crime drama, the final twist in the tale makes it a decent picture. It's got fantastic setting. Peter Hyams, who apart from directing the film also holds a spot as director of photography, shots exteriors stylishly. The slightly cold colours correspond well with Sean Connery's characterisation as a strict man of principles.

In case of Connery it's always as much about the acting as it is about the looks and he looks really good as an MP officer, mostly wearing regular uniforms, prefferably dark blue. If he hadn't succeeded as 007 he would have definitely made a career as a character actor playing officers.

Mark Harmon takes over as an action man from Connery which is a nice change. The chase scene is quite impressive even by today's standards, well done! On the other hand the fight scene with Connery is also well choreographed.

My only complain would be about Meg Ryan's character. She seems too soft, too childish as for a person rised only by a father, who happens to be a rather tough guy, shy of showing emotions. Somehow her character doesn't convince me at all.

In a nutshell: you'll like the film if you like San Francsico and you'll love it if you like Sean Connery. No more, no less.

This story looks like other drama/action movies. The story take place at the Presidio (military base) and is nothing new (a criminal investigation inside military lines) but Meg Ryan, Sean Connery, Mark Harmon plays it so well that the thin story becomes a minimum. Though it isn't a complete love story and have a little attention to it, Mark Harmon and Meg Ryan does it very well. She has a complex since her father (Sean Connery) probably spent more time doing the army instead of his wife (her mother). She cannot concentrate her mind on one man for long. Of course he (Mark Harmon) falls in love with her after a few love scenes, and at a party he get furious when she wants to dance with another gentleman. They come apart. This is when I noticed that this movie was about love. At home she have a little fight with her father over the problem, and as a solution to this she goes back to Mark Harmon's apartment where she apologize. When the story reach top and they solve the puzzle the end comes very quickly, but as they walk away hand in hand I feel like something else has been solved. The love between father and daughter, and of course between daughter and her lover (Mark H.).

See for yourself Meg Ryan is made to be a father's darling.

A Military Policeman investigating what looked like a break-in at the Officer's Club at the Presidio in San Francisco is shot down. The same man also shoots an SFPD officer while fleeing the first crime. This makes the whole thing a dual jurisdiction between the Army and the local law enforcement.

Hard enough normally, but in this situation you have a detective played by Mark Harmon who's a former MP who has a bad history with Sean Connery the provost marshal in charge at the Presidio. Though they hate each other's guts they of necessity have to work together.

Sean Connery is one of those players who just being in a film elevates in class. Without him in the thing this would be just a routine police yarn, might have been good enough for a made for TV film and nothing more. Another conflict in the film is Connery with daughter Meg Ryan who takes an interest in Harmon at first to spite dad, but then finds herself falling for him.

Acting honors in this film go to Jack Warden the retired sergeant major who won a Congressional Medal of Honor saving Connery's life in Vietnam. Warden and Connery keep you interested in the film, in finding out just why the MP and the SFPD officer had to die. Without them, I doubt anyone would care.

This is an enjoyable mystery, crime and action movie, with a good plot. As Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell and Police Detective Jay Austin, Sean Connery and Mark Harman play well off each other, although neither role is outstanding. Meg. Ryan, Jack Warden and the rest of the supporting cast are okay. The script is the weakest part of the film, and seems almost to drag the story along at times. The cinematography is very good, but could have been much better, give the location.

My higher rating for "The Presidio" is because of the film setting, and its historical value in capturing the place and time when the San Francisco Presidio reigned as a renowned Army installation. Many scenes in the film show historical parts of the Presidio then. In 1994, the Presidio was closed as a military base – just six years after this film was made. But thankfully, much of the former Presidio is being preserved as an historical area. In 1996, Congress established a trust to oversee the area. Today much of the Presidio is part of the Golden Gate National Park. Part of the area has a combination of commercial and residential lands with parkland and historical sites maintained by the trust and the National Park Service.

When it closed in 1994, the Presidio was the oldest continuously operated military base in the U.S. Visitors today can enjoy the several historic sites around the Presidio. Its National Cemetery is one of only two cemeteries that remain within the city of San Francisco. And the area has great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay.

Quite enjoyable action detective. Acting by Sean Connery is excellent, as always, but the weak link of this movie is the other leading character, who looks like a desk clerk for a hairdressing salon, meaning he looks bland and dandy, with no screen presence whatsoever. This is troubling because this "hairdressers desk clerk" leading actor has to play a character that opposes Sean Connery and there just isnt any real chemistry.

The biggest mistake therefore is made in casting for this movie. They should have cast a more macho kinda actor, like Bruce Willis or James Woods and not some whimp. On Imdb's Trivia section I read that initially Kevin Costner was casted as the other leading role. But to great dismay of Sean Connery (he was furious) another actor replaced Kevin Costner at the last minute.

This movie is still quite enjoyable, although it could have been a lot better with a different actor opposing Sean Connery.

The whole movie is about two macho guys (one military, one police) butting heads against each other while trying to solve a murder case. There is some charming budding romance plot with Meg Ryan to be enjoyed as well, although it stays somewhat superficial and hasnt any real merit to the story.