Stewart Raffill isn't a namemuch beloved by auteurists but he definitely had a singular vision for a while there - adventure films about families and animals. When the market for that dried up he moved more to action, such as this.
It has a high concept-y premise - four friends decided to parachute into Columbia to stealoff a drug lord and have adventures. Raffill keeps it at a light touch, the production values are strong and the acting is good - there are cameos (or roles that could be shot in 2-3 days, anyway) from Ernest Borgnine, James Coburn and Anthony Quinn, and energetic lead performances from James Brolin (who looks great with a beard), Linday Wagner (great shoulders, and her hair always seems wet), Cleavon Little, Bruce Davidson, and Chick Vennera.
The tone is never completely right - it's a little bit jokey but a little bit serious. These people are in over their head but you never get the sense they are in danger. Some people die, but it doesn't seem to mean anything. I don't know - it's hard to describe. A film about amateurs taking on drug lords and revolutionaries feels as though it should be a bit more serious. But maybe that wouldn't have worked. Maybe if the characters had been all ex military or something like The A Team? I don't know.
I do wish more work had been done on the characters - it was hard to tell the four leads apart, except Little was black and Brolin glowered. Wagner at least had a character - a drug taker who'd been arrested.
I kept wishing for extra plot complications - for two of the heroes to be brothers, say, or for someone to turn traitor or have a personal vendetta against Coburn, or for Coburn's mistress to come along, or a love triangle. I expected Wagner and Brolin to hook up but they have barely any scenes together - its her and Vennera which isn't very exciting. Anthony Quinn's revolutionary looks as though he's going to be really interesting but he isn't.
I would have been easy to give the leads more sympathy - like say Coburn kidnapped one of them or they had kids on drugs. As it was they just want the money, which even though its stealing from a drug dealer feels a little lazy.
This feels like a Howard Hawks film where Hawks didn't direct. Still it's not bad and is easy to take.
No comments:
Post a Comment