Escape to Athena

A great cast cannot save this poor film. It is meant to be set in WW2 but everyone appears to have 1979 hairstyles and talk in 1979 language. It was meant to be tongue in cheek I think but it just comes across as over the top and not even remotely realistic. When the Germans are setting up their rocket towards the end the operators have crash helmets with obviously 1970's reflective mirror visors. None of the starry cast can really say they put in a half decent performance. Elliott Gould in particular hams it up for all he is worth and at least he looks like he had fun making it. Roger Moore as a German is not realistic either. At least he (sort of) attempted a German accent. Telly Savalas was maybe just getting over the disappointment of Kojak finishing as he was uncharacteristically poor in this. Even Richard Roundtree, so cool as Shaft, looks like he couldn't be bothered. Overall a poor film with poor performances and very much lacking in realism.

George Cosmatos directs a World War II action yarn involving prisoners of war in Greece, archeology, a super-secret missile base, SCUBA diving and Greek partisans. Cosmatos directs this rather flabby melange of elements competently. He was a reasonably successful action director in the period. He combines these elements using some mildly anachronistic joke, fine camerawork by Gilbert Taylor, and a cast of competent stars who have slightly exceeded their sell-by date: Roger Moore (as a Nazi officer), Telly Savalas, David Niven, Stephanie Powers, Claudia Cardinale, Richard Roundtree, Sonny Bono, and Elliot Gould all appear for the benefit of an audience nostalgic for the 1960s. There's nothing particularly wrong in this movie, but there's nothing particularly compelling about it either.

No one likes this film. Why not? It is a remarkably good film, with an excellent cast. Telly Savalas seems to be remarkably at home in this film; he is very natural. I also think that it is good to see David Niven in a different setting to his usual role as the English gentlemen. However, Roger Moore's German accent is appalling. The character of Charlie is also well imagined, and the motorcycling stunts are first class. There are some great one-liners: "I think your defection to the Allies must be taken as something of a mixed message." And did I mention the soundtrack from Heatwave (at the end of the film) ...

This movie was blasted by the critics but who cares? It's not exactly a comedy, not a drama, but it does have a lot of action and adventure plus an all-star cast that all play wonderfully off one another, notably Elliott Gould and Stephanie Powers, who always have great comic timing anyway, but here they're a delight together, especially in the "stripping" scene on stage. It's got some good chases and gorgeous scenery of the island of Rhodes. Give it a whirl!

This film came free with today's paper, so perhaps I'm in an indulgent frame of mind. However, much as I admire the wit shown by IMDb members in panning this film, I have to disagree with them. Escape to Athena is a very enjoyable romp indeed, with all sorts of excellent stylistic touches, some really gratifying explosions, humour that is a trifle dated but not so bad if you lean back and accept it, and an interesting plot. I don't know why people require a movie to go all the way in one direction, ie be edge-of-the-seat suspense, or cataclysmic tragedy, or roll-in-the-aisles hilarious, or weepie romantic etc. etc. Why can't it be a bit of everything? I think we're far too used to the extremes that have become fashionable of late. Forget Daniel Day-Lewis bursting a vein, if just for one evening. You'll feel better for it. However, Telly really can't dance. That I must agree with.