Product Description

Robert Shaw (The Deep, Jaws) and Harrison Ford (The Fugitive, Air Force One) star as fearless World War II commandos in this thrilling follow-up to The Guns of Navarone. Directed by Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger) and adapted to the screen by Robin Chapman (screenplay) and Academy AwardÂ(r) winner* Carl Foreman (screen story), it's a large-scale action-adventure saga with "remarkable special effects" (Los Angeles Times), a powerful cast and "one hair-breadth escape after another" (Newsweek). In the darkest days of World War II, Hitler's armies are storming through Europe, annihilating all opposition in their path. But US Colonel Barnsby (Ford) plots to strike a crippling blow to the brutal Nazi forces. To succeed, he'll need the help of the most skilled and lethal soldiers in the world: the Force 10 squad, fresh from itstriumphant mission at Navarone. *1957: Adapted Screenplay, The Bridge on the River Kwai

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7705 in DVD
• Brand: FORD,HARRISON/SHAW,
• Released on: 2000-03-28
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.com
Generally underrated by critics, this 1978 sequel to the famous Guns of Navarone finds a miscellaneous group of commandos and spies trying to hinder the Nazis by destroying a bridge between them and the partisans. The story (based on a novel by Alistair MacLean) has nothing to do with the first film, but it is a tightly woven and entertaining piece with sharp performances and delightful character alliances. Director Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger) brings his trademark eye for handsome vistas to the canvas as well, so this is hardly the shoddy and dull knockoff many reviewers have previously suggested. No classic, perhaps, but a lot of fun. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

My favorite WWII movie shines in Blu-ray
You really cannot go wrong with any movie that stars Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford, Barbara Bach and Edward Fox and this movie - although blasted by the critics upon its release - really is a great action adventure war movie. In fact the Jimmy Carter White House picked the movie only weeks before its December 1978 opening to be the Thanksgiving movie to be screened at Camp David.
The movie was previously released on DVD in 2000 in what was a simply horrible transfer with scratches and print dirt all over the place. Even so I would watch it over and over again, reveling in a 1978-era nostalgia when, as a seven-year-old, I would sit in the local town hall (which once a month was converted into a movie theater) wowed by the action unfolding on the screen.
The problems with that release have been mostly rectified for this Blu-ray release which is simply pristine in comparison. It's not the best Blu-ray release I have ever seen, with a large degree of softness and some grain but it does a good job recreating the film stock of the time and is certainly the best the movie has ever looked since its 1978 theatrical release. The Yugoslavian scenery in particular is breathtaking. I did not notice any of the problems that plagued the DVD release and, hey, who can argue with a Blu-ray that features the impossibly beautiful Bach in high definition :)
Many saw this as a disappointment due to its attachment to the Guns of Navarone, but if it is taken up on its own merits then one can see that this is really nothing more than a fun movie for funs sake, no serious character studies here and the movie is all the better for it.
The movie gets its title from the Alistair MacLean book of the same name, but bears little resemblance to the actual narrative of the novel. In fact the differences are so apparent that MacLean would go on to loosely adapt part of the screenplay into his 1982 book "Partisans". Indeed there had been plans to film this movie shortly after the 1961 original with Peck and Niven reprising their roles. Following the success of the original movie producer Carl Foreman asked MacLean to write a hardcover sequel novel on which a follow-up film would be based, but the author was reluctant to write an entire novel and instead delivered a screen treatment. The film was announced for 1967 but after the script got bogged down in studio development hell MacLean decided to develop the screen treatment as a book and "Force 10 From Navarone" was published in 1968.
Throughout the 1970s Foreman tried to get enough financial backing for the movie and eventually patched together enough money to finance the production from no fewer than five different international sources but by the time the movie finally went before the cameras (some 17 years after the original) it was thought that Peck and Niven were too old and the decision was made to recast. In an interesting footnote to this theory Peck and Niven would team up two years later in the excellent World War II action adventure "The Sea Wolves" in which they played retired veterans seeking one last hurrah.
Bond fans will notice a number of actors in this movie that had already occupied roles in the Bond franchise or would go on to appear in the series. In addition to Shaw (from "From Russia With Love") and Bach (who was fresh off playing the Russian spy Anya Amasova in "The Spy Who Loved Me") and Edward Fox (who would go on to play M in the rogue 007 movie "Never Say Never Again") there is also Bach's co-star from "The Spy Who Loved Me" Richard Kiel, who was riding high as somewhat of a cultural icon (hey, he appeared in a Shredded Wheat TV commercial) after playing perhaps the most famous 007 henchman Jaws.
I suppose the Bond connection is most apparent in the choice of director with "Goldfinger"'s director Guy Hamilton handling the honors. His sure direction shows his usual flair and expertise handling action that he so ably previously demonstrated in (perhaps the best of the early James Bond movies) the aforementioned "Goldfinger" and the World War II drama "Battle of Britain." Hamilton does succumb to some espionage cliches at times, such as when one of the characters stumbles across the traitor sending a message, but all of these instances are handled capably and add to the familiar nature of the plot.
As already mentioned the plot of the movie is also very different from the MacLean book, but some good Boy's Own adventure that actually flows slightly better than its literary namesake. Shaw (in his last movie role) plays Mallory (yes the same character that Gregory Peck played in the original) and he and Fox's character (who was played by David Niven in the original) are sent into Yugoslavia to identify and kill a traitor from the first movie. So, they hop a ride along with Force 10 (headed by Ford's character) who are headed to the same location with the mission of destroying a key, strategic bridge. Of course things do not go entirely to plan, and soon the action begins to come thick and fast.
Filmed on location in Yugoslavia (with members of Tito's Yugoslav army playing both partisans and German soldiers), England and Malta the crew had to endure freezing temperatures and even a rash of kidnapping that led producers to limit the actors movements. Shepperton Studios in England (where the original had also been filmed) provided four soundstages for interiors and the largest studio tank in Europe (at the Mediterranean Film Studios in Malta) was used to film the movie climax with a $1 million miniature dam.
As previously noted the critics almost universally hated the movie and the moviegoing audience did not warm to it either with the $10 million production only bringing in $7.2 million during its U.S. theatrical run. Matters were probably not helped when the U.S. distributor American International Pictures trimmed the picture down from 126 minutes to 118 minutes and redubbed some of the scenes prior to the movies release, with an impersonator performing the duties for the late Robert Shaw. However in the 30-plus years since its release the movie has developed a cult following among World War II movie buffs.
In an interesting footnote, Columbia Pictures was the defendent in a 2008 lawsuit brought by the estates of the late producers of the film Carl Foreman, Sidney Cohn and Oliver Unger and surviving producer Peter Gettinger over unpaid money from distribution rights. The New York Supreme Court found in favor of the producers, saying they were entitled to funds that had been witheld for over 30 years by Columbia Pictures.
The one negative towards this Blu-ray release is the lack of special features. All we get is a trailer for the movie whereas the original DVD release featured a sketch (hidden as an "easter egg"), a collectible booklet with trivia notes and two different cuts of the movie.
This movie would get a lot more respect if it didn't have the name "Navarone" attached to it. It's rather strange that a movie which received such a hostile critical reception and low takings at the box office should be one of the early catalog titles in the lives of both the DVD and Blu-ray formats (three years for DVD and just over two years for Blu-ray) and before the original "Guns of Navarone," but as a fan of the movie I am happy to be able to watch "Force 10 From Navarone" in all its high definition goodness. Incidentally here's hoping that 1961's "Gune of Navarone" gets a Blu-ray release soon :)

Underrated?
I admit I have had a soft spot for this movie ever since I saw it during its theatrical run when I was 8 which is why I give it four stars instead of three. But I've always felt it is a fun action-adventure film with a great cast and fantastic vistas of the Yugoslavian countryside. Critics have lambasted it as being a highly inferior sequel to one of the classic war movies of the 60's, and maybe some of that criticism has some merit. Yet "Force 10 from Navarone" as viewed on its own merits without the comparisons to "Guns" is not too shabby. A straight-foward action story of an Allied force consisting of two British commandoes (Robert Shaw and Edward Fox), an American Ranger (Harrison Ford), and an escaped American prisoner (Carl Weathers) trying help Yugoslavian partisans blow-up a bridge to foil a German offensive. It's not Oscar material, but it is fun and definetly not as bad as the critics claimed.

A Good MacLean Sequel
This sequel to "The Guns of Navarone" (1961) did not come out until 17 years later, though it had been in the planning stages not long after the former. By the time "Force 10 from Navarone" was going to be filmed, both Gregory Peck who played Mallory and David Niven who played Miller were considered too old to play their respective roles as they did on "The Guns of Navarone". The roles were then portrayed by Robert Shaw and Edward Fox. Sadly, Shaw did not live just before its release.

Also starring is Harrison Ford who played Lieutenant Colonel Barnsby in command of "Force 10" whose mission was to blow up a bridge in Yugoslavia to prevent the Germans from crossing at all costs. Mallory and Miller who would tag on with "Force 10" had a mission of their own - to kill a German double agent working among the Partisans who were fighting against the Germans. Barbara Bach stars as Maritza Petrovich who was assigned to infiltrate the Chetnik camp run by the ruthless Chetnik leader, Captain Drazak (Richard Kiel of Jaws fame on two of the James bond movies) allied with the Nazis under the command of Major Schroeder (Michael Byrne). Carl Weathers (best known as Apollo on the first two "Rocky" movies) stars as the fiery Sergeant Weaver who accidentally becomes part of the mission.

A good fictional World War II movie with a lot of good action, the effects were very good, especially the dam scene where it eventually breaks apart in slow motion, after Barnsby and Mallory set off the charges, causing catastrophe with several million tons of water rushing downstream and destroying the targeted bridge. This would be an ideal movie not to miss for any fan into World War II action.