Race for the Yankee Zephyr (1981) YTS

Reviewed by r96sk 6 / 10

'Race for the Yankee Zephyr' is alright viewing

'Race for the Yankee Zephyr' is alright viewing, though its extremely uneven nature makes it difficult to get into. Donald Pleasence gives a rather wacky performance as Barney, it looks like he was having fun acting in this - but, as a viewer, he only adds to the chaotic feel of this movie, which is kinda all over the place. Ken Wahl and Lesley Ann Warren are good, though George Peppard's antagonist isn't the best; Peppard himself is OK. The plot moves at a real meh pace, as it doesn't really leave you a lot to latch on to. It is objectively a quite drawn out way of telling the story, which could've been wrapped up in short film form to be honest! There are worse movies out there no doubt, but this 1981 picture is very much a forgettable one!

Reviewed by Coventry 7 / 10

Ain't no race like a drunken Aussie race!

First and foremost I just have to state that nobody – and I do mean NOBODY – could depict a jolly old drunk like Donald Pleasance could! I already worshiped his alcoholic character in "Wake in Fright" (also an Aussie movie and quite possibly the most underrated film of all time), but that was a serious motion picture whereas "The Race for Yankee Zephyr" is more of a light-headed and comical treasure hunting adventure. Either way, Pleasance effortlessly steals every scene he's appearing in as the unintelligibly mumbling and heavily drinking poacher Gilbert Carson. His delicious and infectious laughter alone is enough reason to seek out this sadly forgotten early 80's flick as far as I'm concerned! Along with his "business" partner Barney, Carson is out in the beautiful New Zealand Mountains when a deer hunt goes awry and he falls from the shoddy helicopter into a lake. When he recovers, he actually notices that he stumbled upon the remains of an old American WWII aircraft named Yankee Zephyr. Now, during the brilliantly nostalgic opening sequences, we learned that this aircraft carried on board the Christmas gifts for all overseas fighting soldiers, including many cases of Whiskey, army decorations and a damn big load of gold bars! Carson hardly has the time to convince Barney and his estranged daughter Sally to help him bring back all this richness, as suddenly the obnoxious British millionaire Theo Brown arrives in town to claim the gold. Carson alone knows the exact location, but he definitely doesn't intend to share the gold – let alone the whiskey – with Brown, thus the race for Yankee Zephyr begins. I've read quite a number of negative and complaining reviews about this movie, but I seriously can't figure out why that is. Sure the production values aren't on the same level as other contemporary adventure movies (like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" or "Time Bandits") but it's nevertheless an exhilarating and enthusiastic effort that put a vicious grin on my face from start to finish. What's not to like in fact? There are numerous chase sequences on the land, in the air and on the water! There are Aussie bar fights and astounding landscapes to admire. And apart from Pleasance delightful over-the-top performance, there's also George Peppard who clearly enjoyed portraying an exaggeratedly stereotypical British villain. Heck, the film even shamelessly copies the legendary theme music from "The Great Escape"! Especially since I've seen the downright genius documentary "Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!" (if you consider yourself to be a cult-movie fanatic and you haven't yet seen this documentary, first of all shame on you and, secondly, hurry up) I've been moderately obsessed with Australian exploitation cinema and this one is a stellar entry. Quite the "dream team" was involved in this, notably writer Everett De Roche ("Razorback", "Long Weekend", "Roadgames") and David Hemmings in the director's chair. The latter is mainly known as a great actor ("Deep Red", "Blow-Up") but he also directed a couple of remarkable titles, like "The Survivor" and of course this little gem. Search for it! Unless you're a sourpuss, I guarantee you will not regret it!

Reviewed by ma-cortes 6 / 10

Adventure movie filled with chases , emotion , sympathetic performances and marvelous outdoors

In a lake high in the mountains of New Zealand hunter Gibbie Gibson (Donald Pleasence) discovers a plane wreck , the contents of the stash in the cargo aircraft comprised a shipment of gold war medals, Christmas mail correspondence, a crate of 100 bottles of Kentucky-made Old Crow bourbon whiskey, 1000 gold-bars in gold bullion and the entire payroll in cash for the American South Pacific Fleet. The value of the cargo in the film's story-line was said to be US $50 million . Finding it after four decades is quite a challenge , but holding onto it is really an adventure . It puts moody Gibson , her daughter (Lesley Ann Warren) and an adventurer , a helicopter pilot (Ken Wahl), chasing the treasure hidden since 1944 in the plane wreck of the Yankee Zephyr and risking their lives thereby. Meanwhile , a nasty gang boss (George Peppard) and his hoodlums on their tails . As a group of crooks follow and threaten them . This exciting film packs thrills , non-stop action , humor , helicopter pursuits , motorboat chases and wonderful landscapes . The picture was originally conceived as being a comic-adventure caper in the style of 1963's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and the film was "New Zealand's first big budget ($6 million) co-production". There's denying the energy in the frenetically paced flick but it remains flawed and sometimes unfocused. One of the big early creative decisions about the picture was whether this action-adventure-race film would be an off-road land or underwater salvage movie . The movie was re-titled 'Treasure of the Yankee Zephyr' for its distribution in the USA and it was first shown in America via pay-cable, where it carried no rating but was preceded with a warning vis-a-vis violence and strong language . The casting is frankly good , as Star Billing the followings : Ken Wahl , Lesley Ann Warren , Bruno Lawrence and special mention to George Peppard as a snarling villain and Donald Pleasence as a likable drunk . Gorgeous outdoors shot in location in the rugged terrain from New Zealand . Although the film was made in New Zealand instead of Australia due to an Australian Actor's Equity dispute , this was due to the refusal to permit four foreign actors to be cast in the film's four top-billed lead roles ,as such, this meant there would be not one Australian actor in any of these parts . Before the picture's setting was located to the South Island of New Zealand due to union disputes, the film was originally intended to be set in the rain forests of tropical north Queensland, Australia, specifically in the region of Cape York. This was second of two Australian theatrical feature films that were directed by David Hemmings in the early 1980s , the first was The survivor (1981) . Both films were made with producer Antony I. Ginnane and both movies featured an airplane as a central story element . David Hemmings replaced Richard Franklin as director. The latter was the film's original director but withdrew from the production when the filming location changed from Australia to New Zealand . This was last cinema movie directed by David Hemmings for around eleven years until 1992's Dark Horse (1992). Hemmings' only other theatrical feature after that movie was 1996's Lone Justice 3 (1996). In between these three pictures Hemmings did direct in television such as A Team (1983), Airwolf (1984), Magnum P.I. (1980) and Quantum Leap (1989).

Race for the Yankee Zephyr

1981

Action / Adventure / Drama

Race for the Yankee Zephyr

1981

Action / Adventure / Drama

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Movie Reviews

'Race for the Yankee Zephyr' is alright viewing

Ain't no race like a drunken Aussie race!

Adventure movie filled with chases , emotion , sympathetic performances and marvelous outdoors

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