The Challenge

I saw this movie when it first came out and have also been trying to find a copy. This is an excellent movie with a great interaction between Mr. McGavin and Mako. The movie seemed to make some bold statements for the time (l970) when it was produced. I definitely look forward to seeing this again. I wonder if anyone knows whether this is still being shown around in re-runs. I highly recommend this movie and feel this might have drawn a type of cult following much the way 'Tribes' did when it was first released about the same time period. I feel that this was an excellent anti war allegory which left the viewer sensing the moral to the story.

I saw this flick when I was a crazy, mixed up 15 year old kid and simply fell in love with it. ABC Movies Of The Week were quite the thing back then, and this little gem was truly a piece of work. Armed with steely ambition, the film's intense performers serve it very well. MCGAVIN, WHITMORE, CRAWFORD, an unknown but outstanding SAM ELLIOT, the Oscar nominated ADOLPHE CAESAR who died before his time, and awesome JOE BERNARD in another fine support bit. Over the years, I've thought about this motion picture and wondered why it stuck around inside me. If only they'd make films like this again. They probably won't. If only conflicts could be settled like this. Perhaps they have. SEE THIS MOVIE!

I saw this movie when it originally aired in 1970, and I loved it. I also remember the trailers from the week before that centered around the weapon Gallery used (a double barreled sub-machine gun),really cool ! The idea that two countries would decide to settle their differences and avoid all out war by choosing their toughest soldier to fight it out on a deserted island was great. Sadly, both sides plot to stack the deck and keep an ace up their sleeve, a starkly realistic twist. I've been trying to get a tape of this movie for twenty years, and will gladly pay a reasonable finders fee for a copy.

I am a 100% combat wounded veteran, and this movie was pretty close, but perhaps this the way we should fight ALL wars from now on!! My 21 year old son found the movie from a man in Canada and I have watched it at least 3 times in the last 2 weeks! GOOD MOVIE. I had been looking for it for about 10 years, now that my son is in computer's at college, one weekend he was home and I ask him to see what he could do to locate this made for TV movie. He did a search and found that a man in Canada said he may have it, would go through his volumes of tapes and send us a copy. Took about 4 weeks, but it got here about 2 weeks ago, and I have it by the VCR to watch it at any time.

I too, saw this movie when it first aired on ABC television as their Movie of the Week. The cast is very strong with some outstanding character actors taking what could have been a very hoaky movie and execute the story with believability. Mako and Darrin McGavin have an interesting relationship and interact well as they try to kill each other. Neither care much for their governments but, fight to win in spite of that. This movie has been highly under rated. I too, would like to see this movie get released, either back out on to syndication or DVD. A good Cold War movie. It's fun to see movies where actors are just starting out, Sam Elliot is the case in point here. He plays the Army's choice (and the ace up the sleeve) for the Champion. He is the by the book professional soldier who follows orders against McGavin as the unorthodox mercenary who is preferred by the State Department. Brodrick Crawford is the General who would rather not play this game and James Whitmore is the political suit who has to make the whole game work.