Hanover Street (released in 1979) - a war movie starring Harrison Ford (set during the second World War)

This is a romantic movie set against the back drop of world war two starring Harrison Ford, Christopher Plummer and Leslie Anne Down. Written and Directed by Peter Hyams it is known for the splendid aerial fight sequences.
Set in London, Lieutenant David Halloran meets Margaret Sellinger at a tea stall near Hanover street and soon are attracted to each other. Margaret is very much married to a simple Paul Sellinger who is away at war; and she is attracted to the charismatic Halloran. Soon Halloran and Margaret meet clandestinely and fall rapidly in love irrespective of their other relationship.
Paul Sellinger is with the British intelligence, and is a simple school teacher who needs to prove himself. and is given an assignment of penetrating Nazi German Head quarters inn Lyons in France. He has to photocopy the list of all the double agents active in Britain. The task of delivering him across German lines falls in to the capable hands of Halloran.



The two men are not aware of each other and travel together to France. Here they are shot down and Halloran needs to help Sellinger who is grievously wounded. He agrees to accompany him on the mission and contact French Resistance troops. They get hold of an uniform and soon penetrate the German defenses and get hold of the papers.
But as luck could have it they are betrayed by a collaborator and flee with the papers with the SS hot on their heels. Halloran has worked out that Sellinger is the husband of Margaret and saves him from tight situations. So after many cliff hanger moments Halloran and Sellinger make it through not before Halloran giving up on his love.
Here Margaret in London comes to the conclusion that both the men she loves are in a mission together. Ultimately she manages to reach a wounded Sellinger and Halloran and has to choose between the two. Well no prizes for guessing who the lucky one is. Margaret says her good byes to Halloran and proceeds to look after her husband and her duties. Halloran who loves her so much to let her go, moves down Hanover street to his place.
Released in 1977 this movie was a commercial and critical failure. It is not hard to understand why, because the movie which harps so much on romance glosses over the attraction felt by the lead pair. The initial meeting scenes between the two doomed lovers are very irritating and clichéd that you feel like hitting them to get it over with. It dwells on the duties of husband and wife and its aerial fight sequences. It seems to have a quite a following for the action sequences, but as a romantic movie it is a dud.
Moreover the story is so predictable and moves at a snails pace that you almost feel sorry for Sellinger to have such a wife and friend. I wouldn't recommend this tale of so called forbidden love, just watch some horror film instead. It will save you from ennui.

Mosquito Coast.(released in 1986) - starring Harrison Ford, the story of the great dream of a driven inventor

This movie is adapted from the classic by Paul Theroux. Directed by Peter Weir, it stars Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and River Phoenix in the title roles. Harrison Ford plays the role of Allie Fox, a genius inventor who gets tired of the the crass commercialism pervading the American Society. He dreams about an ideal world where men live in harmony with what they need and not what they want. Allie abhors the materialism and the schizophrenic pace of the society and says "We eat when we're not hungry, drink when we're not thirsty. We buy what we don't need and throw away everything that's useful. Why sell a man what he wants? Sell him what he doesn't need. Pretend he's got eight legs and two stomachs and money to burn. It's wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong."
To escape from this material world Fox uproots himself and his family, of six from rural Massachusetts to a remote island La Moskitia in south America. Here his wife and 2 sons and twin daughters follow him and his ideals. Initially everything is hunky dory with fox finding the peace of mind to pursue his inventions and trying to better the natives lives. Soon with absolute dreams comes absolute and painful reality. The plan to civilize the natives is also a kind of intervention which is not a natural course of events.



The movie is narrated through the eyes of the eldest son, Charlie who completely admires his father's genius. His love and admiration is mixed and what has the upper hand is evident only at the end of the movie. Mother Fox, Allie's wife is a dutiful spouse following the marriage vows to the end. She moves herself from the comfort of their home to come to a remote clearing Jeronimo to play house and puts up with the ravings of her husbands flawed genius.
Allie on the high for bettering the plight of the natives plans to build a giant ice machine which uses fuel to make ice instantly. His need to awe makes him go to the interiors of the jungle to show off his machine. On his way he meets some dangerous ruffians who follow him back to Jeronimo and set fire to his inventions. As everything goes in to smoke Allie's descent in to chaos happens. In his madness he destroys his family, relationships and a fragile system he tried to nurture. At the very tragic end the movie poses some important questions about his despotic nature and the effect of it on his relationships.
The movie also has amazing philosophical moments when Allie spars with the preacher Spellgood whose fanaticism puts him off. But in the end Allie's contention that progress brings about civilization is as flawed as Spellgood's theory of religion uplifting man. One man's desire to shock, awe and better the natives to ultimately achieve glory and splendor falls flat on the ground. In the end Allie did bring in what he had fled in America, a search for material things and thats is his downfall.
Splendid performances by Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren is the highlight of the movie. This movie failed miserably at the box office but I still recommend it as a must see. It is a thinking man's movie and go with a philosophical frame of mind.

Force 10 from Navarone (released in 1978) - Robert Shaw, Edward Fox, Harrison Ford, Carl Weathers, Barbara Bach, Franco Nero and Richard Kiel

This movie is a sequel to the highly popular 'Guns Of Navarone' and is loosely based on Alistair MacLean's novel of the same name. Directed by Guy Hamilton and stars Robert Shaw,Edward Fox, Harrison Ford, Carl Weathers, Barbara Bach, Franco Nero and Richard Kiel.
Miller and Mallory are back from Navarone and are sent on a mission to Yugoslavia to assist the war efforts and to neutralize a spy who escaped from Navarone. The German spy Nikolai is posing as Captain Lescovar and has infiltrated the Partisans and is undermining the war efforts of the allies in Eastern Europe. They join effort with the Force 10 unit headed by Captain Barnsby. They are air dropped over Yugoslavia and are captured by the Germans and their allies the Chetniks lead by Captain Drazak.
Drazak brings them before Captain Schroeder and the prisoners present themselves as Allied deserters who were court martialed. Schroeder is skeptical and opens their suitcase which is supposedly filled with Penicillin. To their surprise the suitcase contains wooden logs and they concoct a story about burying it on their way to capture. So Schroeder sends Mallory and Barnsby along with his trusted lieutenant Maritza and two other soldiers to retrieve the Penicillin. Maritza proves to be a partisan spy, and helps them to escape and meet Colonel Petrovich, the Partisan leader. Here Mallory recognizes Captain Lescovar and informs Petrovich about the spy. But Petrovich is not impressed and informs Mallory that the spy Nikolai was killed by himself. He asks them to focus on destroying the bridge to avoid attack by the German forces.



Mallory informs Petrovich that Miller is the real explosive expert and is held captive by the Chetniks. He forms a plan to rescue them along with Maritza. They infiltrate the camp and help Miller and others to escape. Miller informs them that the bridge is impregnable to explosives, but the force of tons of water from the dam nearby could do the trick. So Force 10 plans to destroy the dam instead and ask for supplies. But a sabotage by Lescovar foil the plan and Maritza is killed before she can stop him.
Miller and co plan to raid the German Yard for explosives while a dejected Petrovich plans to return to the head quarters. A daring raid which is suicidal in its planning with a spy Lescovar thwarting their actions is hell enough but the team is successful in the end. Lescovar is killed by an enraged Barnsby and they leave to destroy the dam. With German forces closing on them the bombs are set at a short fuse which makes their survival doubtful. But as they walk away the bombs detonate bringing the dam and the bridge down washing down the enemy hopes. The protagonist trapped on the wrong side of the river start the perilous journey home through enemy lands.
The movie was a box-office and critical disaster and even Ford is said to have disliked his role. I would prefer the book which has better action sequences compared to the insipid sequences in the movie. Just watch it to complete the Navarone Saga.

Heroes (released in 1977) - A comedy starring Henry Winkler, Sally Field and Harrison Ford

This movie directed by Jeremy Kagan starred Henry Wrinkler and Sally field. The other notable name was Harrison Ford who played a disturbed Vietnam veteran before his big box office draw days. This movie portrays the angst and depression faced by the veterans who are forgotten after the pageantry of war.
Jack Dunne played by Henry Wrinkler is a Vietnam veteran who is haunted by the depressive memories of the war. He is confined to a mental asylum from where he breaks out to go on a journey in search of his war time buddies. The film starts with a clownish Dunne pottering around in Times Square, where he tries to stop a sergeant in enlisting some kids. He is sent back to the asylum from which he breaks out to go on a road trip. He plans to establish a worm farm along with his veteran buddies.
Dunne the clown meets the Miss proper, Carol Bell who is also in the bus just to think about her engagement. She is unsure about her goals and about her relationship. Dunne initially gets on her nerves by his happy go lucky ways but soon Carol develops a soft corner for Dunne. She soon supports and encourages him in his ventures. And Dunne confides his plans and fears to her.



But the world around them has its horrors from which even they are not immune. Dunne reaches each buddy who has fallen prey to depression, sadness, suicides and disappearances and he just cannot take it any more. His dreams of a worm farm above all a shared world with his comrades in arms are in tatters. Only Carol who comes to the reality that she does not love her fiancée anymore is with him.
Harrison Ford plays a small part as his distant buddy Ken Boyd who is a stock car driver who is in his extreme mania keeps a stolen machine gun in his vehicle. A tender moment happens with friends when they share once again their friendship by building a small rabbit cage. But largely the film belongs to Wrinkler who had immortalized himself as “Fonzie” in the TV sitcom Happy Days. Both Sally Field and Henry Wrinkler with this movie move on to the serious actor roles.
The most memorable part of the movie is the song which plays at the ending - “Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas. For many the movie is worth watching for this haunting rock melody and the recent DVD raised quite a storm for editing out this song. This movie is considered one of the war time classics and earned Henry Wrinkler a Golden Globe nomination.
All said and done this movie moves the viewer to the plight of men who have demons raging within them, men who fought the worst things in life, men who see others die, men who have to kill to survive and men who survived to be haunted by brutal memories. A movie for the real world even today.