Review of The Delta Force (1986) by Allan C — 02 Jun 2018

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.