Intervention Delta

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.

¨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 .

Pros: Music 9/10 (Lalo Schifrin's music gives more tense especially at the action scenes) Scenery 10/10 (Meteora are really breathtaking... we should see more often this place in movies) James Coburn 8/10 (Cool as always... Classic Coburn) Cons: Scenario: 4/10 (Plain scenario, no surprises... ok it's a 70's scenario but still they could have work it more... I mean James Coburn fighting Leftist terrorists on Meteora?..) Direction 5/10 (Hickox isn't Hitchcock, that's for sure... aerial shootings though where actually good) Conclusion: It's a classic 70's action movie. If you decide to spend your time to watch it you won't regret it. But the next morning you'll not remember a lot. Maybe only the stunning scenery of Meteora. It's 7/10 by me.

"Skyriders" is a typical action film from the 70's that opened and closed within two weeks and your local theater and drive-in. It contains a few name stars (James Colburn, Robert Culp) but let's face it the action is supposed to be the star. On that score the film is not bad. The problem is it takes much too long to get to the action.

Colburn stars as a pilot whose ex-wife and child (along with another child fathered by Culp) are kidnapped by mercenaries for ransom. While Culp works on raising the money and cooperating with authorities, Coburn hires a band of expert gliders to aid in a rescue. All of this could have been told in a clean quick manner but it takes forever to get to the rescue. We even have a silly montage of the skydivers training Colburn. Not necessary. We want the action! Contrary to the first comment the skyrider scenes are not too dark even though the desired effect is for it to night time. Actually I think it was shot during the day and a dark filter superimposed on the film to make it look like night. If you look closely at the rocks you can see the shadows of the gliders. I never saw such pronounced shadows at night.

The gliding scenes are well done and thrilling up to a point. My biggest problem is that the escape plan seems all too easy seeing where the kidnappers are located. Of course it's not all done without a hitch but there are no real twists to keep things exciting. The last part of the film becomes a standard shoot em up film that you have scene hundreds of times before.

The film is mediocre at best. The good talent is pretty much wasted in an action film with not enough action or a smart script.

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.