Customer Reviews

The Presidio

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's not the greatest thriller out there, but its decent enough to enjoy if you just don't assume that its a bad movie. Sean Connery does an excellent job, and Mark Harmon is not as wooden as other reviews would have you believe; he is at least comparable to his role in Navy CIS on tv. The action scenes are good, especially the foot chase in Chinatown. And the San Francisco locations are used to create a nice atmosphere. Connery and Harmon play off each other quite nicely and there are many scenese of subtle humor...a good movie.

I've seen this film about 20 times and I still love it. The terrific scenery of San Francisco is just one element of a "thinking person's" action film. A movie with a brain. And, probably Meg Ryan's best performance on film. Mark Harmon and Connery are perfectly cast and the script is intelligent and fascinating. I love this movie.

1988's "The Presidio" paired veteran actor Sean Connery with a young Mark Harmon and a younger Meg Ryan in a rather mundane San Francisco murder mystery. The movie was set at the U.S. Army's beautiful Presidio of San Francisco military base and in San Francisco itself.

Connery is Lieutenant Colonel Caldwell, the cantankerous, by-the-book Provost Marshal of the Presidio; Harmon is Jay Austin, forced out of the military by Caldwell and now a hot-headed San Francisco police detective. When a military policeman is murdered during a break-in at the Presidio Officer's Club, the two must cooperate on the investigation. Their difficult relationship is made more challenging by Austin's attraction to Caldwell's beautiful but rebellious daughter, played with aggressive gusto by Meg Ryan.

The murder investigation leads to a conspiracy with ties back to the Vietnam War, culminating in a violent shoot-out in a bottled water warehouse. The plot will seem clumsy to audiences now savy on crime forensics; the even clumsier dialogue sometimes threatens to bury the movie altogether.

The movie has its redeeming features. Connerly and Harmon manage to craft a little "old bull, young bull" buddy chemistry on screen. A scene in which Caldwell impresses Austin by using a little hopkido to clean up a bar with a loud-mouthed drunk may be the highpoint of the movie. The movie makes good use of its location shooting around the Presidio.

This movie is recommended as mild entertainment for fans of Sean Connery and Mark Harmon.

I like what M. Hartmann said> I to just like some movies and don't tear at them much. This is not the best movie ever made but I was involved and enjoyed the plot about past sins, mistakes, and learning from others. After a murder on the Presidio base leads to a chase into S.F. city limits Connery and Harmon(who dislike each other must work together to find the truth. Like I said, nothing special but I was entertained and that's what a movie is supposed to do. enjoy

This is a fabulous movie. I have it on video and decided to replace the video with DVD. Sean Connery, Meg Ryan, and Mark Harmon are amoung my favorite actors and actresses, so to get a great movie with all three of them in it, is a real bonus.
Dee Moffat
Port Angeles, WA

Who wrote this thing? Slow, didactic, banal, tedious, just kill me now... I wanted some vintage action. Instead I got a screenful of dissapointment.

THE BEST Mark Harmon movie ever!! He is fantastic in this. NCIS fans will not want to miss this. Sean Connery is good as always, though it's somewhat hard to believe he's an American Army officer. Meg Ryan is adorable but a little quick to jump into the psyhological stuff (not her fault, she didn't write it). But Mark Harmon outdoes himself. It's so good, they should have made a sequel.

The Presidio was a really good movie when it was released, and it is still good today! If you are a fan of any of the actors, or just like a very good "who done it" without all of the flashy computer generated action scenes of more recent films you will enjoy this.

With Mark Harmon and Sean Connery what more could you ask for? Maybe not one of the top thrillers, but definately worth your time.

Sean Connery plays a gruff Provost Marshall to Mark Harmon's street-wise cop. Overall excellent cast. You can see some of Mark Harmon's NCIS persona in Sean Connery's character. All you can say is fun to watch!