a_chinn
Silly Cannon Pictures attempt at a "Towering Inferno," "Airport," or "The Poseidon Adventure" type of star studded disaster film, except instead of a fire or natural disaster, it's a terrorist airplane hijacking. A Boeing 707 from Athens is hijacked by middle easter terrorists who demand to be taken to Beirut. Passenger include holocaust survivor Martin Balsam, his wife Shelley Winters, George Kennedy as a Catholic priest, Kim Delaney as a nun, Rat Packer Joey Bishop and Lainie Kazan as Jewish stereotypes, Susan Strasberg as a mother, and Bo Svenson as the plane's pilot. Enter the Delta Force, led by Lee Marvin, in his final film role, and his right hand man Chuck Norris. Robert Vaughn plays the general overseeing the team and other notable team members include Steve James and a young Liam Neeson as an uncredited extra. And in what seems the oddest casting, Italian American actor Robert Forester plays the lead Lebanese terrorist. So, how good or bad is the film? If you know anything about Golan/Globus productions, you know they're not exactly art house films and even by Hollywood standard are pretty low-brow, which is exactly what you get with "The Delta Force." Although I don't think it's quite as bad as Vincent Canby would have it when he wrote that this film would "be the 1986 film all others will have to beat for sheer, unashamed, hilariously vulgar vaingloriousness." It is certainly a ridiculous film about a serious subject, but I can enjoy just about anything starring Lee Marvin, even if it's a goofy action movie where Chuck Norris is his co-star. And although "The Delta Force" doesn't have the same caliber of stars as Poseidon or Inferno, it's still a solid cast of used-to-be-famous Hollywood stars. Also in the film's favor is an excellent grandiose electronic score by Alan Silvestri. Overall, "The Delta Force" is a silly, cliched, reactionary action film that thinks it's far more important of a film than it really is.
RoboRabbit89
I had first seen this back in 2011 when I ordered it through
the library and I really liked it.
Then in 2015 my mom found it on VHS at a flea market
along with two other Chuck Norris movies "Delta Force 2"
and " Bardock: Missing in Action 3".I'm a bit of a Chuck Norris fan, I used to watch his
TV show "Walker Texas Ranger" back when it was
on TV which I'm a fan of.This movie is a lot of fun because you get to see old Chuck
kick some terrorist ass with his squad, I'm a bit fussy on the
details because I haven't watched it often, so please bare with me
as I try to tell you the story.If I remember correctly the terrorists hijack a 747 with Robert
Forester as the terrorist leader (you know for the longest time
I did not realize that he was even in this, it took me two years
to find out! LOL).
The hijackers demand payment or they will kill a hostage every
hour, and so The Delta Force are call in to help stop the terrorists
and rescue the hostages (hope that was helpful)?On to the action scenes, the action is very good and well paced
since this runs at 2 hrs. 5 min. it's done well because it could have been
slow and boring but thank goodness it moves at a brisk pace.
And it also has some pretty good tension in some scenes.Overall a really good movie from start to finish with funny one liners
and cool action scenes. I give it a 5/10. Watch it with friends. It's a good time for sure.
Python Hyena
The Delta Force (1986): Dir: Menahem Golan / Cast: Chuck Norris, Lee Marvin, Robert Forster, Martin Balsam, Robert Vaughn: Resembles every other Chuck Norris movie except that this one is apparently based on fact. It regards the hijacking of a T.W.A. airplane in 1985. The Delta Force is a U.S. commando unit, which specializes in terrorist attacks. Lee Marvin heads the operation with Norris as the plot solver. It loses its luster when it becomes obvious that Norris is going to kick the crap out of dozens of terrorists. In fact the rest of the force might as well order out for pizza or get involved in a really good game of Twister because Norris can handle everything on his own just as long as he can take total credit. That means presenting his name in big bold letters above the title on the advertizing poster. Perhaps write, "I'm the man" underneath. Director Menahem Golan does his best and the action is fast but the screenplay isn't fast in terms of intelligence. Robert Forster plays the menacing terrorist leader who scares the crap out of everyone on that flight. Martin Balsam and George Kennedy also star as passengers wondering why they were filming a shitty movie before they had the opportunity to get off the plane. Robert Vaughn also shames himself as part of the idiot force. It could have been about combat operations but instead it settles for dreary revenge fantasy clichés. Score: 2 / 10
BA_Harrison
When a passenger jet carrying US citizens is hijacked by Lebanese terrorists (led by an almost unrecognisable Robert Forster), commando Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris) comes out of retirement to rejoin his old unit, The Delta Force, who are sent to rescue the hostages and kick terrorist ass.The cover for my DVD of 80s actioner The Delta Force shows tough guys Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin wielding massive rocket launchers (the older star's head clumsily photo-shopped onto someone else's body); it's an image that suggests an excess of poorly executed gung-ho action, a film light on plot but heavy on mindless death and destruction. In the final act, that's definitely what is delivered—logic takes a back seat and lots of s**t gets blown up—but what might surprise many is just how well handled the movie's earlier hostage situation scenes are
Israeli director Menahem Golan—obviously no fan of the Lebanese—depicts his hijackers as utterly wretched scum willing to commit unspeakable atrocities in order to achieve their goals (they don't call them terrorists for nothing!). This level of unflinching realism makes the scenes on board the plane extremely tense and effectively unsettling—which makes it a huge shame when the whole thing devolves into a ridiculous mess of silly shootouts and OTT explosions, all accompanied by one of the most uninspired and repetitive scores imaginable (Alan Silvestri should be ashamed). What starts out as a gripping drama ends with the enemy being wiped out by Norris on a motorbike equipped with amazingly accurate missile launchers, which is nowhere near as much fun as it sounds.
AD
