ffolkes (1980)

In case you’re wondering, that’s the name of the lead character in this movie, and we are told that he prefers to write it in lower case.  He’s played by Roger Moore, in-between his Bond outings, but looking nothing like James Bond.  He sports a frizzy goatee and has a questionable taste in clothes.  What’s more, he is moody, eccentric, loves cats, despises women, and has a liking for scotch- neat, and anytime after breakfast.  He also happens to be a former naval commando who is called upon to lead an operation against a group of hijackers, who are threatening to blow up an oil rig. 

The movie is a nicely paced, run-of-the-mill thriller that ends up being very entertaining, thanks to Roger Moore and his bantering.  This is one of his finest performances.  James Mason, as a crusty admiral, provides an excellent foil for Moore’s character.  The movie also stars Anthony Perkins.

Here is a link to a scene from the movie.

In researching about the movie, I came to know that critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel listed this as one of the worst movies that they had seen that year.  From their comments, it is clear that they got some of their facts wrong about the movie.  In addition, it seems to me that they were prejudiced against the movie.

I also came to know that the movie was released under quite a few different titles.  Apart from the title above, in the English speaking world itself, it was also released as ‘North Sea Hijack’ and ‘Assault Force’.  My understanding is that there was no consensus among the people behind the marketing campaign on how to pitch the movie.