★ 7 / 10
Cat loving, whisky swigging, woman hating Roger Moore!
hitchcockthelegend
The canteen on the set of North Sea Hijack, there's the principal players sitting around having a drink. James Mason pipes up to say he was nominated for three…
The canteen on the set of North Sea Hijack, there's the principal players sitting around having a drink. James Mason pipes up to say he was nominated for three Oscars, worked with some of the greats. To which Anthony Perkins chimes in, "I was in Psycho!". In strolls Andrew McLaglen, "I used to direct John Wayne movies once", and there's Roger Moore, a smug grin on his face, he doesn't need to say anything, he has got the James Bond franchise to fall back on, North Sea Hijack is merely the chance to have a good time and get paid for it. The others realise this fact and decide the best way to play this is to just run with it, have a good time, and really that is what anyone watching the film should do.North Sea Hijack is a riot, daft but never boring, but not to be taken seriously. The plot has some guff about Perkins leading a bunch of criminals in an attempt to bags load of cash by threatening to blow up a couple of oil rigs. In comes wealthy and eccentric Roger Moore to lead a crack team of commandos to stop the fiendish plan. Cue a deadline to be met, some shouting, some tongue in cheek dialogue and big finale that isn't very big at all. The action is on the tame side but it's honest, and Moore's Rufus Excalibur ffolkes (yes, with a little f) is as fun a character as he ever played. And if you look closely, you can actually see Perkins turning to Mason and saying, "I was in Psycho you know!". 6.5/10
Read full review
★ 6 / 10
Unpretentious, fun actioner.
rmax304823
The plot is a little complicated, but not hard to follow. The characters are simplicity itself. There are the good people and then there are the bad people. Of…
The plot is a little complicated, but not hard to follow. The characters are simplicity itself. There are the good people and then there are the bad people. Of course the real world isn't so structured but it's nice to relax once in a while and allow our heads a playful descent into the vulgate. Why not? Freud called it regression in the service of the ego. The plot of an action movie usually provides a good example, as this one does.
The story involves the extortion of a monstrous amount of money from the British government, primary shareholder in a North Sea oil production platform. The bad guys, led by Anthony Perkins, have hijacked a service ship, planted mines around the bases of two oil rigs, and threaten to blow both of the mega-expensive things up unless they are given the money in 24 hours. Something like that, anyway.
Roger Moore is Ffolks, head of a dozen or so specialists in a private army. The PM hires him to take out the hijacking extortionists. Moore and his team do so, with the help of an Admiral (James Mason) who is there primarily to provide a stiff upper lip and smoldering resentment of Moore's quirky personality. And, man, is it quirky.
Moore is curmudgeonly but in a cute way. His no-nonsense egotism and prejudices make you smile instead of wince. Moore drinks scotch neat four hours after breakfast, sometimes out of the bottle. If his men are slow, he threatens to "have your b***s for breakfast." He does petit point or whatever it is. He loves cats and dislikes women in no uncertain terms. His analyses are wind swift. Mason's admiral grumbles, "I'll bet you're the type who does the Times crossword in ten minutes." Moore is offended -- "I never take TEN minutes." Nota bene: The London Times crossword puzzle is designed by sadistic geniuses for consumption by big league masochists. It must be the toughest in the English language. Example: "A major seaport in the middle of Czechoslovakia." Answer: "Oslo."
Michael Burns, wearing a pair of glasses as thick as coke bottle bottoms, is one of the heavies. I have always admired Michael Burns' work. I like the way he looks. The sole reason for this is that someone once said I resembled him or, rather, the other way round. But, come to think of it, that observation was made by a young lady with whom I'd just had a tiff and now I'm not sure it was meant as a compliment. Ex girl friends can be pretty subtle in inserting the syringe. Hmmm. I don't think I like him so much now.
A couple of other things. The director was a protégé and imitator of John Ford. He's a nice enough guy but, like Ford, tended to use his stock company and he made a couple of poor choices. Some of the supporting players will make you wince. And of course he carries on Ford's least attractive values while missing any of the poetry.
There's also the question of the crew on that supply ship. I spent some time as a seaman on a Coast Guard cutter and it was nothing like this. The crew wear hard hats and international orange vests, and they hustle 50-gallon drums across rusty wet decks. There is no seamanship on display. They might as well be working in a warehouse in Queens.
However, the action scenes are suspenseful and exciting without bathing the viewer in gore. The locations are colorful and evocative, from Castle Urquhart to a heaving ship in a gale. A few inconsequential good guys die, while ALL of the bad guys bite the dust. Perkins' last words to Moore, as Perkins is dying, pinioned to a chair by a harpoon: "I still don't like your face." Don't take it seriously. Just relax and regress in the service of your ego. If you're in a shape that is in any way similar to mine, your ego needs it badly.
Read full review
6.3/10
6.5K
•••
stars the 2nd actor who was chosen to carry the 007 mantle (not counting those 'one and done' fellows) as a British Navy SEAL coommander and the actor who was the 2nd choice as the original version of 007 playing a fleet Admiral. (FWIW, Connery was the 3rd choice after Grant and Mason).