Presidio: Base militaire, San Francisco

Despite what some people have said about this movie, I must tell you I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sean Connery, as always, gets into his character Lt. Col. Caldwell very well (he should be cast as a military officer more often). Meg Ryan, though limited in screen time, shines as his daughter Donna...they're father-daughter sessions make for some good drama.

Mark Harmon, who for some reason hasn't received many offers to star in big movie roles, plays Jay Austin. He's a cop who used to be an MP at The Presidio, the base at which a murder takes place. Harmon does an excellent job, both as Donna's lover and Caldwell's unwanted partner.

The fact is, the performances are wonderful, the story is fascinating, and the chase scenes create pulse-pounding excitement. If you like action, romance, drama, and a little humor every now and then, I recommend The Presidio.

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.

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.

I've always like this film. I was a huge Sean Connery fan, and this film is no exception. I also think Mark Harmon is a very good fit for his character. Jack Warden is also very good as the Sergeant Major. The film is a good length, not too long and briskly paced. No city anywhere can beat shooting a film on location in San Francisco.

A break-in at a military base leads to a murder; the perpetrators' escape causes the death of a cop outside the base, so the case will involve both the San Francisco P.D. and the military police. Former MP Jay Austin (Mark Harmon) is now a detective who will butt heads with his old commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Alan Caldwell (Sean Connery). They'll argue about methodology, and jurisdiction, and other such things, and Jay will naturally fall in lust with Caldwells' conveniently cute daughter Donna (Meg Ryan).

Although there are some good moments for the main actors - Jack Warden also among them, as Caldwells' longtime friend Ross Maclure - this movie is more entertaining during its murder investigation scenes. It IS played awfully straight, with not much in the way of humour, but then, this is more of a serious thriller than the typical buddy-cop action film. It does also have, however, a ridiculous scene that serves no real purpose to the plot other than to show how bad ass Connery is, as he beats up Rick Zumwalt (as a bully in a bar) with his THUMB. Slickly made, with capable direction by Peter Hyams, who again serves as as his own cinematographer (and does a better job of lighting the proceedings than usual). The location work in SF is excellent, fortunately.

The handsome Harmon is passable as our likable good guy protagonist, but he doesn't have much chemistry with either Connery or Ryan. The supporting cast is solid: Mark Blum, Marvin J. McIntyre, Dana Gladstone, the much too briefly seen Jenette Goldstein, Don Calfa (in a quick cameo), John DiSanti, Robert Lesser, Patrick Kilpatrick, etc., but Connery is the principal reason to watch "The Presidio". His effortlessly strong presence lends itself well to the role of a career military man.

This is easy enough to watch, but also easy enough to forget.

Six out of 10.