Na Rota do Oriente

A drunk previous WWI pilot (Tom Selleck) and his underling (Jack Weston) are hired by a young heiress (Bess Armstrong) who must encounter her dad before her contender (Robert Morley) takes over the inheritance . They will face dangerous bandits (Brian Blessed) , numerous adventures and risks .

This exciting story gets an agreeable look and feeling to vintage adventures , exotic places , dastardly nasties and daring getaways than ever before . Packs action enough with explosion galore , especial aerial effects with impressive images of flight and dogfighting , comedy , tongue usefully in in its check , all that make it a cinematic roller coater ride . It's made like a classic's 30s-style adventure reminiscent of early serials and in the wake of ¨Raiders of the last ark¨ . Tom Selleck is a hard-drinking former air ace , he's a dashing and intrepid pilot , Bess Armstrong is perfectly cast as feisty heiress looking for his father , she's continuously irritated with the smooth talker and alcoholic adventurer . Both of whom play a special love story in a screwball-romance style . Besides , displaying spectacular images of Selleck and Armstrong gliding over extraordinary landscapes with musical background by John Barry , perhaps copied by Sidney Pollack in ¨Out of Africa¨ with the couple Redford and Meryl Streep , flying in similar plane and soundtrack . Regular cinematography by Ronnie Taylor filmed in Yugoslavia and England, the colors are worn-out , it's necessary an urgent remastering . The film was lavishly produced by Fred Weintraub and Raymond Chow , producers of ¨Operation Dragon¨ starred by Bruce Lee . This was 27th highest grossing film of 1983 at the American box-office . The picture was frequently considered by the film-going public as being a rip-off to Raiders of the lost ark (1981) when in fact the movie had been in development since the late 1970s , formerly the famous Spielberg adventure.

The film was well handled and professionally directed by Brian G Hutton, however was a flop and failed to give cash . Hutton started his career with little and prestigious films , such as ¨Wild seed¨ and ¨The Pad¨. There after , he veered off into big budgeted and all-star movies, proving which he could handle big scale production , as ¨Where the eagles dare¨, one of the best from Alistair McLean , furthermore with ¨Kelly's heroes¨ added humor to the warlike action . His next picture was ¨High road to China¨ marked a partial return with panache to his previous form but faltered at the Box-office , in spite of being quite amusing and with occasional touch of directorial skill, for that reason is a must for adventure buffs .

Brian G. Hutton's "High Road To China" is a classic example of good old fashioned chemistry. Lost-generation flapper hires boozy WW-I flying ace to help find her father, lost somewhere in China, to avoid losing her inheritance. You just know that they will eventually get together, and plenty of facial expressions and body language promise an ending that eventually delivers. Some great scenery and flying scenes, and burly he-manning from Brian Blessed, keep you in stitches. If this had been filmed in black and white in the 40s, it would have been up there with Casablanca, et al. Lots of low-expectation fun.

It's actually so sad to think they don't make movies like this anymore. 'High Road to China' is an enjoyable action adventure comedy in the vein of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', blending these genres to perfection. The premise is simple, without complicated issues or shocking twists - which seem to be the norm nowadays.

I always find films before CGI to be better film making. Given the fact that actors were shot on location as opposed to a studio with almost everything being added in post-production, I also found the acting to be more natural and realistic.

Romance between the lead characters is predictable and inevitable, but in this instance the chemistry between Patrick O'Malley (Tom Selleck) and Eve (Bess Amtrong) was so endearing (and even funny) that I was hoping for it, and enjoyed it.

The film offers a good dose of humor, action and adventure in equal proportions, and the climatic finale is action-packed and simply put fantastic! I really enjoyed this!

Would I watch it again? Hell, yeah!

With tongue firmly in cheek Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong and the rest of the cast give us a spoof of all those old action/adventure flicks from the 30s and 40s. The film is set in Kuomintang China which has always been a good source for these films, a fluid political situation, a weak central government and a lot of warlords in business for themselves.

Industrialist Wilford Brimley has gone to Asia and vanished, but that hasn't stopped his daughter from spending his money like it had no end. But the end might be coming as his partner Robert Morley wants him declared legally dead and by terms of their partnership he gets control of the company and daughter Bess Armstrong is out in the cold. She might have to do like others do and actually go to work.

Heaven forfend so she hires former air ace Tom Selleck who comes with two World War I era biplanes and a mechanic played by Jack Weston. This partnership takes her to Afghanistan, Nepal, and finally the westernmost province of China Sinkiang in search of Brimley.

Along the way all the old clichés concerning these films is employed and of course chemistry cannot be denied. Selleck and Armstrong become an item and Selleck finds some use for his former aviation combat skills.

By the way I loved and I'm sure you'll love Brimley's explanation as to why Armstrong will be well taken care of despite efforts to the contrary.

Those efforts are being directed by Robert Morley who I can never resist seeing in any film. There's also a nice performance by Brian Blessed as an Afghan warlord.

Tom Selleck's fans should love High Road To China.

Given Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong, Wilford Brimley, Robert Morley, Brian Blessed, and Jack Weston, and a bunch of excellent aerial action scenes, this is a terrific film. So what if there isn't a great message, or outstanding drama. For what this is... a comedy-adventure... it's great. Tom and Bess have always been extremely watchable to me, and they continue that tradition here. A solid 9.