4.0 out of 5 stars
Great cast and plot make this a pleasure not to feel guilty about, September 26, 2008
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. I remember watching this movie on British television in the 1980s and enjoying it. It's essentially a caper movie and a very enjoytable one at that.
In 1977, best selling author Alistair MacLean (of Where Eagles Dare, Guns of Navarone and When Eight Bells Toll) was hired by an American film company to write a series of story ideas centered around the exploits of a fictitious U.N. crime-fighting organization called UNACO. His ideas were later novelized including this one, with the book by John Denis and the movie both released in 1980.
What maves this movie for me is a (rather) impressive cast. This includes Peter Fonda as Mike Graham (the same character that Pierce Brosnan would play over a decade later), the incredibly beautiful Maud Adams as the fun-loving Sabrina, Billy Dee Williams (best known as Lando in the Star Wars movies) as Clarence, Keir Dullea as the villainous Mr. Smith, Britt Ekland (reunited here with her fellow Bond girl and Swede from 1974s THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN' Maud Adams) as Leah and last, but not least screen legend Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as spymaster Philpott.
Philpott's organization (of which Sabrina and Clarence are operatives) has been pursuing the elusive master criminal Mr. Smith for years. In an effort to infiltrate his organization Sabrina and Clarence pose as cat burglar and diamond theif respectively and sure enough when Mr. Smith begins to recruit a team for his next operation, the two are picked.
The tower of the title is the Eiffel Tower and the Hostage of the title is not only the tower but also the visiting mother of the U.S. president, both held for a $30 million ransom. Tha authorities are held powerless in the face of four stolen laser weapons that will shoot anything moving on the tower that is not carrying a special badge.
It's an entertaining movie and cleverly plotted as Sabrina and Clarence (with a third colleague who joins them with his own motivation for catching Mr. Smith) playing a cat and mouse game with Smith and his team. The story is credited to Alistair MacLean, but as mentioned above MacLean had a very limited involvement in the story and it would perhaps be more accurate to say that he suggested the story. Overall, great locations, an appealing cast and an interesting plot make this an easy recommendation.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Not Real Good, April 21, 2007
This picture opened in theaters around the country on May 13 1980 starring Peter Fonda as Mike Graham, Maud Adams as Sabrina Carver and Billy Dee Williams as Clarence Whitlock. The picture opens with a scanning view of Paris France and its countryside. A man with a driver pulls into a mansion through the front gate. Across the ocean in New York City, a man named Clarence Whitlock who's the first recruit is one of the best cat burglars in the city is breaking into a museum through a window. When Whitlock picks up a statue it sets of an alarm, however Whitlock goes out the same way he went in. scales down the building, into a truck and escapes. The second recruit is named Sabrina Carver who likes escapades and is in Amsterdam. Carver is about to exchange some diamonds illegally of course. When the safe opens at 9am Carver come roller-skating out of the safe through the building window into a garage around the corner and comes walking out as the beautiful Maud Adams. Finally, the last recruit is named Grim who's a weapons expert and he's at the Munich US Army Weapons Depot. Grim points a gun at a soldier, takes him behind a truck, knocks him out and takes his badge. Grim then takes the helicopter that the soldiers were guarding and takes of with it. Grim walks into a local bakery in Berlin where Grim is given a special message. The same thing happens to craver in Paris and Whitlock in the UN Anti crime headquarters. If all three specializes except there, assignment they each will be given one million dollars when the job is finished. I bought this movie because of Maud Adams. Even though Maud is a beautiful woman this movie was bad. It didn't have the suspense that most action movies do. Most of all I lose interest in it about a half and hour into it. Only because Maud Adams was in this I will give this movie 5 weasel stars.
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