La fuerza Delta

The second half of Lee Marvin's final film is given over to the stuntmen, special effects team and armourers.

Based on the 1985 hijacking of an American airliner, it's set mainly in Beirut but inevitably shot in Israel - described by Robert Vaughan as "America's best friend in the Middle East" - the dirty dozen this time round being twelve swarthy, sweaty, wild-eyed sadists and psychos under the command of a moustached Robert Forster during the career limbo from which Tarantino rescued him ten years later.

Although Marvin is billed below Chuck Norris it's basically an ensemble piece. Personally directed by Cannon's Menahim Golan himself, it's a triumph of his and Globus's organisation and showmanship rather than actual filmmaking; having assembled an extraordinary cast which includes George Kennedy as a priest called William O'Malley and Martin Balsam in a rare overtly Jewish role. As usual there's a glamorous blonde fraulein aboard, but as played by Hanna Schygulla in her only English-language role she's a stewardess rather than one of the hijackers.

THE DELTA FORCE is an odd movie. The first hour of the film is a well written and directed portrait of an airline highjacking. The music is tense and the performances are solid (especially Robert Forster as the head terrorist). Then, when Chuck and Lee show up, the film turns into a patriotic cheesefest where the delta force whips out the terrorists along to cheesy 80s patriotic pop music. The film definitely goes down from here. The director should've realized that the first half was tense and realistic and decided to keep it that way, even if they were going to have the delta force take out the terrorists. I really dont know why they changed the mood of the film so much, because if they had'nt, this could've been an excellent actioner. The second half is still somewhat enjoyable and very unintentionally funny, but those who think that the second half of the film would be as gripping as the first will be disappointed. 3/5

This was an excellent action movie, and Chuck Norris does a great performance. This movie is based on a real hijacking that happened. The movie seemed to follow what actually happened aboard that TWA flight. The hijackers attempted to hold a press conference with the flight crew as hostages, with disasterous results. Yes, Lebanon at first refused to allow the hijacked plane to land at Beirut, and eventually permission was givin. The hijacked plane was refueled and flew on to Algiers. The only difference between the movie and what actually happened was the rescue. In actuality, the hostages were taken to Damascus, Syria, and released. It would have been great if it had happened the way the movie showed it, where a crack team of commandos were flown in to totally wipe out the terrorists. Still, the movie had great action, especially where Scott (Norris) beats up Abdul (Forster) and eventually blow him up in his limosine. Robert Forster did a great job acting as well.

As a product of the eighties (I had the misfortune to be born at the very beginning of them), I grew up on movies like this.

One has to wonder what went wrong. In the late sixties and seventies, America was putting out some of the best movies in the world. The reason for this, in my opinion, is that Americans (as a people) were suddenly not afraid of having faults. Vietnam and Nixon made America realise that it had a dark side, and this came through in its cinema. The results were some of the most palpable incarnations of the anti-hero ever put to film.

Alas, in the eighties, something changed. Suddenly, American heroes were not only invincible, but ethically flawless and totally righteous too. 'The Delta Force' is one of the pinnacles of the American hero movie.

In a nutshell, some evil Arab types take a plane full of innocent Jewish Americans and it's up to Chuck Norris and his crew of bad-ass GIs (all of whom sh*t stars and bleeds stripes, of course)to save the day. Watching it in the ultra-liberal, post-911 21st century, it's hard to believe this film even got made. It's so un-PC that it make Bill Hicks look like Porky Pig.

But here's the catch, it's so damn refreshing to see a piece of action cinema that serves no purpose but to entertain that 'The Delta Force' becomes a beautifully nostalgic piece of escapism that is hard to resist.

It is certainly a flawed film. The editor and director could sure have used a few lessons in pacing, notably around the totally extraneous character development scenes where we have it reinforced beyond any doubt that Jewish Americans are beyond reproach. However, one is more than willing to forgive this insult when presented with such testosterone-infested action sequences and cocksure pro-Americanism. It's one of those films that is so bad it's good.

'The Delta Force' is a movie that necessitates the disengagement of the brain and the full attention of the balls. If you have the capacity to do this, and overlook the fact that it is a disgraceful tool of American propaganda, you'll love it. I can just imagine this being George Bush's favourite movie...

Chuck Norris is, in many ways, the ultimate American hero; ruthless but virtuous, kind hearted yet bad-as-hell, the underdog yet the victor. After saving American soldiers from those nasty far-Easterners in the 'Missing in Action' series, Chuckie truly outdoes himself here. Taken with a large pinch of salt, or as a very shrewd satire (a la 'Team America'), 'The Delta Force' delivers in ways Bruckheimer and can only dream of.

Lee Marvin was already very ill when he appeared in this movie, and his grave condition sometimes shows onscreen. Still, he's able to give it all that he's got like in his previous films, and it's nice seeing that he went down still a tough guy. The rest of the movie proves to be just as surprisingly enjoyable. It does go on too long (125 minutes!), and there is not as much action as you may be expecting. But the drama portion of the movie proves to be compelling, and the few action scenes there are turn out to be exceedingly well done. Certainly no masterpiece, but it is entertaining. Fans of Norris and/or Marvin, however, should be warned that the two of them don't appear in as much of the movie as they may be expecting.