Comando Delta

The Delta Force proved to be Lee Marvin's final motion picture and a timely one at that. Don't expect any answers to the complex geopolitical problems that are the Middle East, the film has just one answer in dealing with terrorists.

Marvin got second billed to Chuck Norris who was probably at his height as an action star when The Delta Force was made. Marvin is commander and Norris his executive officer of the United States Army's elite Delta Force called in to deal with problems like this hijacking when they arise.

Some Moslem terrorists hijack an American airliner leaving from Athens and do the things that terrorists are known to do. There are a large contingent of Jews on the plane and they look a lot like Hollywood celebrities such as Joey Bishop, Laine Kazan, Martin Balsam, Shelley Winters. One of the passengers is Catholic priest George Kennedy who plays, I kid you not, Father O'Malley. No, he doesn't sing Too-Ra-Loo- Ra-Loo-Ral, but he's a priest with the right stuff nonetheless. His is my favorite performance in the film.

The terrorists are led by Robert Forster and they do prove to be a resourceful group of fanatics, but still no match for The Delta Force.

Of course the film is simplistic, but sometimes the simple answers are the right ones. A lot of people have trouble wrapping their minds around the concept of evil. Make no mistake, the terrorists are evil and at a certain point there is only one thing to do with them.

Which The Delta Force does with zest and abandon.

I have to admit I do love 'The Delta Force', perhaps because it was a favourite of mine as a child or maybe because it's sometimes relaxing to watch a flick which is very rigid in dividing people into black and white, good and evil, and the main focus is providing the audience with plenty of action.

Very loosely based on the true-life 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, 'The Delta Force' sees an airliner bound for America being taken over by Palestinian terrorists, who demand the flight be diverted to Beirut. While the real life event led to the Israeli government being forced to release Islamic political prisoners to appease the hijackers, the hostages on this flight have Chuck Norris to sort everything out. As the hijackers are threatening to kill passengers, the US military send in the elite Delta Force, a team of highly-trained commando led by Colonel Alexander (Lee Marvin) and his second-in-command Major McCoy (Chuck), to retake the plane by force.

This is a film that won't win any prizes for being politically correct since the Islamic terrorists are blatantly depicted to have not one redeeming attribute and are instead nothing more than abusive, greedy thugs who think nothing of slapping around women and hitting old men. That said, surprisingly Hanna Schygulla and George Kennedy, in roles as an air hostess and priest respectively, do give good performances in portraying the idea that not all heroes show their might with guns and martial arts. And there is a saddening insight, until Chuck arrives on the scene, of what it is to be on a hijacked plane as loved ones are separated and people are left fearing for their life and the lives of their loved ones.

However, with Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin in the lead roles, it's obvious from the start that this will be a film primarily involving gung-ho behaviour and over-the-top action from the all-American heroes. Emotion is shoved to the side to make way for the guns, explosions and karate. My favourite example is a scene that sees two or three cars carrying terrorists armed to the teeth and ready for killing only to be stopped by Chuck, dressed in black on his motorbike with a brooding glare! That, and how our team are able to rescue one-hundred-forty-four people (some of whom are strewn across various areas of Buirut) with only two casualties lost on the good guys and Innocent's' team.

Overall though, this film can be quite enjoyable if not taking seriously and is instead treated like the Eighties action flick it is. And, in these post-September 11th times, there is something rather uplifting about the idea that there would be a crack team of specialists able to rescue hostages and shoot the bad guys without breaking a sweat. Certainly, it's almost haunting to reminisce of the days when hostages on-board hijacked planes only had to worry about was when they would get home for dinner rather than whether they panicking over the fear their plane is going to be rammed into a building, killing them and many others.

The Delta Force is a fast-paced, enthralling action film featuring a top-notch cast, great action sequences, and a poignant story line. Chuck Norris and the immortal Lee Marvin headline as members of the elite Delta Force commando unit who are called in to rescue a hijacked airliner heading back to the U.S. from Israel. Cameos by such Hollywood legends as former Rat Packer Joey Bishop and Twelve Angry Men's Martin Balsam abound, as well as a good performance by Robert Forster as our megalomaniacal and stalwart Palestinian madman, Abdul.

Some, including a few on the IMDb, have labeled the villains stereotypical, but I would have to disagree. The terrorists' portrayals were right on target, and true to form. Palestinian terrorists obviously DO NOT like Israelis, or any Jewish people, for that matter. That's not stereotypical, that's the truth!

To see The Delta Force's inspiration, check out Irvin Kershner's Raid on Entebbe from 1977. Based on a true account of the Israeli special forces rescue of hostages at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, you will see eerie similarities.

Both films are highly recommended.

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.

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