Let's Get Harry

Part of the "men-on-a-mission" cycle of the action war films craze during the 80's Era, spreading the jingoistic 'feelgood' of the Reagan Administration, "Let's Get Harry", directed by the veteran filmmaker, Stuart Rosenberg ("Cool Hand Luke", "The Amityville Horror"), tells the story of a group of blue collar workers from the Midwest who hire two Vietnam vets for a mission to rescue the older brother of one of them, held captive in Colombia by a drug dealer.

Rosenberg disowned the film, apparently when the producers took full control over the editing process and the film's direction is then credited to Alan Smithee, the well-known pseudonym used by directors who don't want their involvement in a film.

"Let's Get Harry" starts with a sloppy staged kidnapping scene in Colombia, where Harry Burck Jr. (played by hearthrob Mark Harmon) and an American Ambassador become hostages of Carlos Ochobar and his personal guerrilla, then the movie cuts to a factory situated in Mid-America for the credits roll that looks & feels straight out from a Bruce Springsteen's song.

Harry's younger brother, Corey (played by the 'prince charming' from John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles", Michael Schoeffling), when the U.S. government fails to negociate with the Colombian terrorists, convinces his co-workers and Harry's old buds, Spence (played by the musician / Eagles frontman, Glenn Frey); Kurt (action cult favorite, Rick Rossovich, from "The Terminator", "Top Gun" & "Navy Seals") & Pachowski (Thom "Biff Tannen" Wilson) to "Let's Get Harry" by themselves with the help of an used cars' salesman, Smiling Jack (the scene-stealer Gary Busey from "Big Wednesday", "Lethal Weapon" & "Point Break"), who is funding the rescue, and the guidance & military expertise of a 'Medal of Honor' honoree turned mercenary, Norman Shrike (played by the legendary Academy Award Winner, Robert Duvall).

The movie then moves to Colombia and some of the "Uncommon Valor"'s tried-seriousness went downhill when the things started to look cheap: the sets, the three major supporting actors upstaging the 4 leads (who are the leads anyway ?) and the writing making use of the "suspension of desbelief" to levels beyond imagination (the Duvall character explaining to 3 blue collar guys who had never shot a gun how to fire and 5 minutes later they are all turned into Rambo). It looks like the movie was originally longer to explain some of the plot devices, but key scenes got cut in the editing room for pacing reasons to keep the film in the less than the 100 minutes mark (probably the reason why Rosenberg disowned the film).

It was released in the Halloween day of '86 and was a major flop, both critically and comercially, ending the careers of his rising young stars, especially Thomas F. Wilson and Michael Schoeffling, who had his last breath in Hollywoodland with the sleeper hit, "Mermaids" ('90) before giving up the acting business.

Busey recovered the following year with the major hit, "Lethal Weapon" and Rossovich with "Roxanne". Duvall went unaffected due to his status, but started taking only supporting parts.

In short, "Let's Get Harry" works as a piece of pure escapism (like watching a Cannon Group action flick with a bit more money spent), it got plenty of 80's 'feelgood' moments: the true friendship, the patriotism, the moral, the 'cheese', the 'on-liners' and an adequate synthesizer orchestration provided by Brad Fiedel (from "The Terminator" fame), that all together can put a big smile on the face of an 80's enthusiast.

7.5 / 10 in my book.

A group of Illinois metal workers decide to take the law in their own hands when the brother of one of them is kidnapped in Columbia by drugs smugglers. The government refuses to help so the men decide to launch an operation to free their friend/brother. So the director had his name replaced by the occasionally used Alan Smithee pseudonym. It seems that the director Stuart Rosenberg and the producers got into a fight during post production.

Maybe the producers ( who won) should have listened to the director. Because this is not a very good movie. It would have been interesting to see a seasoned mercenary, played with gusto by Robert Duvall train the Illinois rookies. But those scenes where all cut. The dialogues are not very good but the aforementioned Duvall, Gary Busey and Glenn Frey deliver good performances. But it is all rather mediocre and not very exciting.

Does anyone else feel that Gary Busy was blatantly snubbed for an oscar for his role as the psychopathic, trigger-happy cocaine-fiend in Let's Get Harry? I mean, the man is pure genius. And Alan Smithee's flawless directing cannot be ignored. Let's face it--Let's Get Harry is simply one of the best films ever made. This movie has everything: an inexplicable plot, countless killings, a dirtball Columbian drug dealer who makes a fortune off of the work of an old man with alzheimer's who is happy with receiving a carton of cigarettes for a million dollar's worth of coke, and, of course...Busy, inflamed nostrils and all.

I was Robert Duvall's character coach or model in Harry. He attended my training camp in Alabama in September 1985 before going on down to Vera Cruz Mexico for the location filming.

The major problem with the film was the director(s) and the editing. The actual script wasn't bad. One director quit, and the finishing director cut so much from the film that Duvall tried to keep it from being released, and the director ended up having his own name removed from the film and "Alan Smithee" (a name used to protect the guilty) credited as director.

Virtually all of the training scenes were cut where the plumbers become commandos, and the character development went with it.

Duvall wanted to make a good movie. The script called for his character to give a dying speech after getting shot. When he and I went over the scene, I told him after getting hit the way he was supposed to, he wouldn't be able to say anything. He played it that way.

When I finally saw the film, I was surprised to discover that not only had Duvall followed my advice on how to dress, etc., but that he had adopted my own personal mannerisms and way of talking. He never said anything about doing that.

I was disappointed in the final release, even more than most viewers. I know what's missing.

Frank Camper

The cast and the plot outline suggested an action-packed thriller. Instead, through a lack of intelligence, or just laziness, we get a cartoon,filled with irksome inconsistencies...examples-they're captured and thrown in a hellhole prison, but manage to keep coke, cigarette lighters a large,fresh cigar and wardrobe changes, for later use. with no obvious bulges in their pockets, or travel gear of any kind, they find seemingly endless ammo clips They are able to survive without water(no canteens), and constantly endanger the mission with meaningless tantrums. Finally,successfully, they return home in triumph to be greeted by a bunch of people we've never seen before, or merely in passing. Lives were lost,but no one seems to care or remember.

Even for me, a waste of time.