the audience applauded

just watch it!

Crappy film

Admirable film.

Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford, Barbara Bach, Edward Fox, Franco Nero, and Carl Weathers star in "Force 10 from Navarone" based on a novela by Alistair MacLean and a follow-up to "The Guns of Navarone."Mallory is now played by Shaw instead of Gregory Peck and Miller is now Fox instead of David Niven. It seems there was a traitor with them at Navarone, a man they believe to be dead. But it turns out he escaped. He was a German spy. The Intelligence service thinks he is in Yugoslavian with the Partisans, and Mallory is ordered to find him and kill him. Since only Miller and Mallory know him, they are sent along with a unit, Force 10, run by Colonel Barnsby (Ford) who doesn't want either man as he believes they will slow him down.Force 10's mission is to blow up a bridge. En route their plane is shot and everyone has to bail out. They wind up prisoners of German sympathizers. In order to be released, they tell a lot of lies that the commandant doesn't believe. But unbeknownst to them, they have a friend there.I thought this was pretty good and entertaining and boy, could they blow things up! Lots of special effects and good performances. Amazing seeing how young Harrison Ford was! Recommended. It's not a blockbuster but it is good.

It isn't that this is a bad movie...nor is it that good. It's that it attempted to be seen as the sequel to "The Guns Of Navarone". "The Guns Of Navarone" boasted Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, and Anthony Quayle...a tough act to follow. And this film just didn't...follow that tough act. The cast here is good, but Robert Shaw is not Gregory Peck, and Harrison Ford (at this stage in his career) was no Anthony Quinn or David Niven. And, while this is a decent story, it can't compare toe the complexity of "The Guns Of Navarone". It would almost be like comparing an "A" movie with a "B" movie, although I won't be that harsh.Robert Shaw played Robert Shaw in this film. That's not necessarily bad, but I've rarely found Shaw's performances to be very deep. To me he was a flash in the pan propelled by a handful of top notch films including "Jaws". Edward Fox is one of my favorite older British actors, but regrettably, he didn't have a lot to do in this film. A great talent wasted. Harrison Ford, fairly fresh off his first really big pic -- "Star Wars", does okay, but he hadn't really developed a very mature acting style as yet (and just to be clear, eventually he became one of my favorites). Barbara Bach...eh. Franco Nero is interesting here.I was appalled by the role given to Carl Weathers. I guess since it was 1978 there had to be some racist bullcrap here...and this role provided it. Weathers was a pretty decent actor. Too bad he accepted a role like this. More than any other one aspect, this is where the crass aspect came in.There's other crassness here, too, though. The score is less than inspired. The story itself is decent, but there is some immaturity here. Guy Hamilton, the director, is best known for some classy James Bond films, but he had less success in other endeavors...including this one. And by the way, if the bridge is do damned important, why wouldn't they just bomb it from the air? Yes, the film has some good moments and some good action sequences -- particularly later in the film --...but nothing that sets it apart from dozens and dozens of other war films.I should, by my own standards, give this film a "7", but since it tried to win an audience off the fame of "The Guns Of Navarone", when in reality it had nothing to do with that film, I'm dropping it down to a "6". And yes, I know it was the same author. But he didn't insert scenes directly from the original film into the first few minutes of this film. That's crass.

Force 10 from Navarone is directed by Guy Hamilton and adapted to screenplay by Robin Chapman. It stars Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford, Edward Fox, Carl Weathers, Franco Nero, Richard Kiel and Barbara Bach. Music is by Ron Goodwin and cinematography by Christopher Challis.An unnecessary and belated follow up to The Guns of Navarone (1961), Force Ten follows the same formula but doesn't have the class of the earlier movie. It's another men on a mission movie that sees the guys en-route to blow up a dam in Second World War Yugoslavia. Cue a spy in the ranks who needs fleshing out, scrapes and tribulations involving partisans and inevitable capture, and the presence of Weathers' Sergeant Weaver gives the story a whole bunch of racial tension. Sadly suspense is very much lacking within the two hour running time, director Hamilton (probably under orders) just stringing the plot along in undemanding fashion. There's the usual quota of machismo, although Barbara Bach's token female interest tries to lower the testosterone levels, and Goodwin's brisk militarised score is pleasant enough. Cast performances are credible, with Fox the most watchable, and real Yugoslavian location usage is truly a plus point.Not awful, just hackneyed and instantly forgettable. File in the DVD cabinet under title "Disposable Men On A Mission Movies". 5/10

Signor Franco Nero as the brave German spy is the real hero of "Force 10 from Navarone".He must have known his days were numbered as soon as Mr Robert Shaw set his piercing blue eyes on him and seen recognition in them.But he carries on his bloody agenda,only too aware that he might be killed at any minute. Mr Alan Badel as the partisan chief has the juiciest lines and is the best actor by a country mile,leaving young master Ford gasping in his wake.I'm sure his performance must have had Mr Shaw and Mr Fox smiling ruefully as they read their lines which could easily have come from a "Battler Britton" comic. I'm not quite sure why Mr Fox - every inch the Public School officer - should have been referred to as "Sgt Miller" every now and again. Not even the dimmest German- and there are plenty of them in this movie - would have mistaken him for an N.C.O. Mr Carl Weathers does his "blaxploitation" thing looking like George Benson.He'd have been more believable if he'd burst into "Nature Boy". His appearance in the movie is both patronising and an embarrassment to the hundreds of thousands of black G.I.s who were not allowed to fight alongside their white fellow - countrymen by a government that was more than happy to use them as cannon - fodder.As long as they were segregated. Borrowing from more war movies than you could shake a stick at,"Force Ten from Navarone"limps along,tired,old - fashioned,clichéd,with a largely insouciant cast obviously anxious to get back to the caterer's van for a cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich. Leaving aside the ludicrous scenes when the R.A.F's B.B.F. Lancaster is flown by Mr Ford like a veteran with 25 missions over Berlin,the whole movie is very silly.Mr Shaw is clearly poorly and anyway far too old to be an active commando.The Germans so stupid that they would plainly have lost the war in 1941 and saved America the trouble of training up Mr Ford. It was not a great success at the Box Office - a rare exception the the rule that nobody ever lost money underestimating public taste.