Intervention Delta

Looks cheap, grungy and is thinly plotted, but the cast (James Coburn, Robert Culp, Susannah York, John Beck and Charles Aznavour) along with the Greek scenery and aerial stunt work (hang gliding) go a long way in making this an entertainingly sweeping, old-fashioned action joint with striking showpieces. The opening (the kidnapping) and closing sequences (the in and out rescue at night) do manage to rally plenty of tension especially during the climax set against an isolated medieval monastery in the mountains, but in between that it's somewhat mechanical in its elaborate structure. A waiting game and plans being formulated with some preachy inclusions. Well we have revolutionary terrorists fighting imperialism. Gladly Coburn's hardy presence keeps you hooked for the ride. Director Douglas Hickox paces it rather well and his streamlined handling offers numerous nitty gritty passages, despite some stagy moments. Music composer Lalo Schifrin gives the presentation a bit more oomph with his grand, luxurious arrangement. A tough, but breezy 70-s drive-in action adventure.

The movie starts with machinegun-toting terrorists killing the hired help and kidnapping a wife and child. The husband seeks his wife's former husband's help in getting them back. The gang's hideout territory scenery is breathtaking, an abandoned and isolated monastery in mountainous Greece. The inside of the monastery depicts ancient Christian Orthodox iconography. Coburn lines up a travelling troupe of circus-act type hang gliger performers to teach him how to fly. These are the early design of hang gliders, with a rogallo wing design. The rogallo wing consists of fabric stretched out in a triangle over two leading-edge hollow aluminum spars, with another aluminum tube for a spine, and another for a cross bar, and a lower metal loop for the dangling pilot to grip and steer by. Very much like a modern delta-style steerable kite. These were dangerous but beautiful designs, which are capable of going into a stall and nose dive, straight into the ground from a thousand feet up if you are not careful and experienced, but a delight to watch in flight. Before he approaches them, Coburn watches the travelling aerialists' circus-style open-air act, as the heartstoppingly colorful hang gliders perform aerial maneuvers with breathtaking poise and beauty. There's a pretty girl in the troup. One flyer pretends to lose his grip and plummets dozens of feet into a nearby body of water while his pilotless hang glider drifts lazily down without him. So Coburn approaches them and asks to be taught how to pilot one. Somewhere along the line, while learning to fly, Coburn gets casual and cozy, and proposes to the performers that they join him in the rescue. "If we fail," you get your money back," the teacher volunteers. "Right!" Coburn grins skeptically and knowingly, to which the others laugh. Coburn isn't bitter, but he's no fool, and suddenly they have all been won over to his side and looking at the challenge as a team. Like I said, Coburn at his best. From there on, it's a class act as Coburn and the aerialists make a stealth infiltration of the sky-high monastery via hang glider, and seek to get the woman and child out and escape again on their hang gliders before the terrorists can discover and stop them.

¨Assault on the forbidden fortress¨ or ¨Sky riders¨ is an entertaining film with interesting plot , glorious Greek exteriors and with no depth characterization . Nice and agreeable thriller with a great cast , noisy action , sensational stunts , thrills and suspense abound in this fun movie . Concerning about an industrialist's (Robert Culp) wife (Susannah York ) and kiddies are abducted by a terrorist organization called ¨World Activists Revolutionary Army¨ commanded by two nasty cutthroats (Werner Pochath , Zou Zou) who even pack bazookas , machine guns and dynamite in their mountain retreat somewhere in Greece . How to get at them ? , the surprising solution results to be the following : a nearby group of hang-gliding freaks (led by John Beck) in Greece , as the woman's ex-husband called Jim McCabe (James Coburn) comes to the rescue with a plan involving hang gliders . As the valiant Jim McCabe , supported by Inspector Nikolidis (Charles Aznavour) , recruits a team of volunteers who attempt to outwit the kidnapping rioters . As the brave hang-gilders using their spectacular ¨Delta wings¨ risk it all to take on a bunch of political abducting people . They'll try anything once ... especially if it's impossible!

Good and typical action movie with an amazing as well as startling finale , including a particular novelty : some impressive scenes about sky riding . Expert stunts , moving script by Jack DeWitt and Stanley Mann and acceptable acting make it a fun movie in any era . Breathtaking hang-gliding footage , emotion , thrills and gorgeous locations make up for garden-variety screenplay . And the last thirty minutes is sheer violence , mindless , mayhem and destruction . Fine acting from James Coburn in his usual laconic style as an intelligent he-man who rescues ex-wife from clutches of nasty kidnappers . This tough action well made by Douglas Hickock contains a stirring and rousing score by Lalo Schifrin , adding Greek sounds . Colorful cinematography by Ousama Rawi and Jim Freeman , shot on location in the Varlaam monastery in Meteora, Greece .

The motion picture was compellingly directed by Douglas Hickox in his ordinary cold-blood style . Hickock was an expert at blazing action scenes and realizing acceptable films until his early death at 59 , being his film debut : ¨It's All Over Town¨ and his final ¨Dirty Dozen: The Series¨, TV series . Being father of directors Anthony Hickox and James D.R. Hickox . Douglas began as an assistant director and second unit director in the 1950's . Before working on feature films , he also directed hundreds of commercials . As part of a bequest , the Douglas Hickox Award is given to a British director on their debut feature . Douglas made all kinds of genres and playing them known actors , such as Drama : ¨Sins¨ (85) with Joan Collins , ¨Mistral's daughter¨ (84) with Stacy Keach ; Black comedy : ¨Entertaining Mr Sloane¨ (70) with Harry Andrews ; Monster movie : ¨Behemoth , the sea monster¨ co-directed by Eugene Lorie with Gene Evans ; Thriller : ¨Blackout¨ (85) with Richard Widmark , ¨Sitting Target¨ with Oliver Reed ; Warlike : ¨Zulu dawn¨ (79) with Peter O'Toole ; a Sherlock movie : ¨The Hound of Baskervilles¨ with Ian Richardson , Action : ¨Brannigan¨ with John Wayne , and his best film was ¨Theatre of blood¨ an ironical terror/comedy with Vincent Price .

I don't remember "Sky Riders" ever coming out. I would have been twelve years old when it was released and if I knew about about I would have wanted to see it without a doubt. The poster alone would have been enough for me. Somehow it slipped through the cracks. Well, thanks to YouTube I got to see this movie yesterday. It was an okay watch. It started out pretty good but then it started a fade a little. The aerial footage was pretty impressive but it was also kind of boring. The big raid on the hideout stuff was well done, I guess, but it wasn't that exciting either. All in all, I kind of liked "Sky Riders" but I won't be watching it again any time soon.

James Coburn, Susannah York and Robert Culp star in "Sky Riders," an action film from 1976. Culp's family is kidnapped by terrorists, and Coburn, who is the ex-husband of York and the father of her son, steps in to help. With the help of a photograph of the family sent by the terrorists, he manages to trace their location to an abandoned monastery. The only way to get there unseen is overhead, as it lays on the top of a huge rock formation. Coburn brings in experienced hang-gliders to help him.

Some really nice scenery and hang-gliding sequences are the highlight of this film, along with a good performance by Coburn. The characters aren't really fleshed out, nor are the circumstances of York leaving Coburn for Culp. It's hinted at through the dialogue that Culp wanted to marry York, and in exchange for not fighting the divorce, Culp used his influence to get Coburn less prison time. The boy in the family doesn't know who Coburn is, so the marriage happened when he was very young. There was some rich character material there, but it's not played out in the script.

Ordinary.