Thanks for the memories!

Powerful

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

This affectionate wartime thriller sees a bunch of old timers meeting up for one final mission, their aim to destroy a trio of German ships that have been responsible for destroying many allied ships off the coast of India. It's a nostalgic movie that harks back to the good old days of derring-do and stiff upper lips, and I have to say that I enjoyed the feelings and memories it evoked. It's also pleasing to see a film entirely populated (for the most part) by "old" actors who prove themselves just as capable as their younger brethren.The film isn't perfect by any means and in fact it's rather rough around the edges: the running time is bloated and I would have preferred the exclusion of all the sub-plots surrounding Roger Moore's character. Moore is playing a Bond type in rather laborious subterfuge scenes in which he visits casinos, beds a beautiful woman (Barbara Kellerman, who went on to be the White Witch in the BBC LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE), has a few shoot-outs with German henchmen, and tracks a deadly traitor. Sadly, all of these moments are extraneous to the central plot and drag the pacing down. Moore is at his cheesy worst despite the presence of his twinkling blue eyes and he makes half the film feel like a sub-Bond outing.The scenes involving the gang of old codgers aboard their boat are far better and a lot of fun. I loved the way these aged heroes play against stereotype, raring to go and looking for action despite the creaks and groans. Gregory Peck adopts a fine British accent as the chief hero, and he's supported by a quite wonderful cast of familiar British faces: David Niven, Trevor Howard, Patrick Macnee, Patrick Allen, and Percy Herbert to name but a few. The actual storming of the German ship only takes place in the last twenty minutes of the film, but it's a riveting and action-packed climax and one that (rarely) doesn't disappoint.

What great escapist fun! This movie is excellent as long as you don't take it seriously, like the above critics did. Anyone who knows the Brits will understand. The two critics main complaint is that the movie is too slow getting where it is headed. My answer to them is: 'It is not reaching the goal that counts but the journey itself!' Today's 'modern' movies are far too fast-paced for their own good in my opinion.Granted, it is strange to make almost a parody out of a true WW II exploit, but then again, making fun of serious matters and of oneself is the basis of British humor... The cast of course is great, how enjoyable is it to watch the likes of Gregory Peck, David Niven, Roger Moore and many others really having fun filming this flick! I very much enjoyed this cross between 'Bridge on the River Kwai', James Bond and 'Monty Python'. They don't make them like this any more... Highly recommended, as long as you don't expect a 'real' WW II film.

It's one of those very British war/adventure flicks. This one is based on a true story actually. It's a bit of an oddity to find something like this in 1980. I mean you have STAR WARS, INDY, and... ummm... this. It has a distinct 50s or 60s feel to it. It has that GUNS OF NAVARONE feel (in no small part because Peck and Niven are on board) but with what looks like half the budget. And basically all the heroes here are old enough to be collecting social security checks. And yet despite all these oddities and quibbles it somehow feels like a comfortable pair of old shoes. You got stalwarts like Peck, Niven, good ol' Roger Moore (in between his MOONRAKER and FOR YOUR EYES ONLY 007 period), Trevor Howard, Patrick Macnee, etc. It's a boys adventure (errr... old men adventure) and doesn't really offer anything new. No real surprises or twists or really suspenseful moments here. And yet it's like an old friend that you can always appreciate. Not a great film (not even as good as THE WILD GEESE) but good enough to kick back and enjoy on a boring night. About on par with FFOLKES (also with Rog Moore) which came out the same year. Also funny to see 70s fashion in a film which is supposed to be set during WWII. Oops.

Yep, it's another of those trans-generation pot-boilers like 'Cassandra Crossing' and 'Shout At The Devil', enabling a group of superannuated movie grandees to top-up their pension-funds whilst the new generation graduates from drama class.Although loosely based upon a true story, it hardly does the heroes credit. Gregory Peck leads a creaking cast containing Roger Moore (never a good sign), David Niven and many others in such a pedestrian actioner that there are times when it almost needs a Zimmer frame.It's a raid on some German merchant ships interned in Goa harbour. One of them is transmitting intelligence to submarines. Somehow it accomplishes this task without an aerial. That's about it. We only ever see one ship. After attaching external limpet-mines with timers, for some reason they have to board them (it) as well. Quite why is unclear, but it provides a hammy firefight or two. Tension is at best Luke-warm. The script is pretty unimaginative. Directing is by numbers. And as to camera-work - most tourists could match its ingenuity with their holiday films.Directing is the key. All of the leads know how to act. We've seen Peck and Niven working well together in the similar 'Guns Of Navarone'. Yet despite this movie being almost 20-years more recent, it doesn't pack in a fraction of the pace and tension. Old geezers don't need to be, or portrayed as, laughable old duffers. That's patronising and stereotypic. Just check-out Big Larry's Dr Zell in 'Marathon Man'. Serious and scary, or what? And couldn't they have found a couple of genuine old freighters ready for scrap and made some authentic bangs and sinkings? Apparently not; they had to raid someone's Airfix collection with fireworks. There's plenty of good Boys Own actioners out there that are really worth your time and attention. This one isn't.