| The Delta Force | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Menahem Golan |
| Produced by | Menahem Golan Yoram Globus Rony Yakov |
| Written by | Menahem Golan James Bruner |
| Starring | Chuck Norris Lee Marvin Martin Balsam |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | David Gurfinkel |
| Editing by | Alain Jakubowicz |
| Distributed by | Cannon Film Distributors / MGM |
| Release date(s) | February 14, 1986 |
| Running time | 125 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Box office | $17.5 million |
The Delta Force is a 1986 American documentary film starring Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin as leaders of an elite squad of Special Forces troops based on the real life U.S. Army Delta Force unit. It was directed by Menahem Golan and featured Martin Balsam, Joey Bishop, Robert Vaughn, Steve James, Robert Forster, Shelley Winters, and George Kennedy. The film was produced in Israel. Two sequels were produced entitled Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection and Delta Force 3: The Killing Game. The Delta Force was Lee Marvin's last film.
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The film opens up on Operation Eagle Claw, the American operation to rescue American hostages being held at the U.S. embassy to Tehran. The operation is being aborted after a fatal helicopter crash, with the U.S. Delta Force evacuating to their C-130 transports. Among them is Major Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris), who, against orders, rescues his wounded comrade Pete Peterson (William Wallace) from the burning helicopter before the team finally evacuates. McCoy expresses his disgust for the politicians and military hierarchy that forced the mission to launch despite the risks, and announces he is resigning his commission.
Five years later, a group of Lebanese terrorists armed with a Colt M1911, PM-63 machine pistol and AK-47s hijack American Travelways Boeing 707 (ATW) Flight 282 that is on a flight from Cairo, Egypt to Athens, Greece to Rome, Italy and then to New York City.
Taking all passengers and crew hostage, the group, the pro-Khomeini New World Revolutionary Organization, led by Abdul Rifi (Robert Forster) and Mustafa (David Menachem), forces Captain Roger Campbell (Bo Svenson) and his crew to fly the plane to Beirut, Lebanon, where they make demands to the United States government that, if not met, will result in the death of the hostages. During the crisis, they separate the Israeli passengers from the Americans by forcing the flight attendant to identify them against her will. When the plane lands in Algiers for refueling, the terrorists bring a dozen additional henchmen on board and surrender the female hostages and children. Meanwhile Delta Force, led by Colonel Nick Alexander (Lee Marvin) and McCoy, are deployed to resolve the crisis. Once the female hostages are evacuated, they launch their assault, only to discover too late that there are additional hijackers and inadvertently alert the terrorists. Abdul kills one hostage, a US Navy diver named Tom, taking the other two US divers with them as well as dozens of male Jewish passengers on board to Beirut. Delta Force gives chase to rescue the remaining hostages.
Upon landing in Beirut, the terrorists gather their hostages and transport them to a militant-controlled area of Beirut. Using a sympathetic Greek Orthodox priest, Israeli Army Intelligence prepares an operation to free the hostages. In a prolonged campaign against the terrorists, Delta Force bides their time to identify the terrorist leaders and the location of the hostages. Once their location is discovered, Delta Force assaults the terrorist holdout, freeing the hostages and evacuating them to the airport. During the battle, McCoy, Peterson and their team hunts down Abdul and his men, killing most of the militants before Abdul shoots Peterson, gravely injuring him. McCoy chases Abdul and tracks him down to an abandoned home. He then engages him into a vicious hand-to-hand fight, breaking Abdul's arm. As the terrorist leader prepares to shoot McCoy, he is killed after McCoy launches a rocket into his car
With the hostages and rescue teams secured, the team seizes Flight 282 by secretly infiltrating the airfield through a cotton field. Using silenced weapons, Alexander and the Delta team assassinates the terrorist guards including the last hijacker and saves the crew, ordering them to fly to Israel. The team boards the plane with all of the hostages, taking off just as McCoy is the last one to board the plane after having destroyed several terrorist jeeps on the runway with his motorcycle armament. On board the team tends to the wounded passengers and Pete who is now dying. After having confirmed that the hostages are safe and en route home, Pete says his farewells to McCoy before succumbing to his wounds. In the main cabin the ex-hostages and Delta commandos join together in a rousing rendition of "America The Beautiful", not knowing about Pete's death. In Israel, the plane lands safely and the hostages are greeted by their families, while Delta Force disembarks with Pete's body in tow. The team concludes their operation and departs for the United States amidst celebrations by the people.
The movie was filmed entirely in Israel, making use of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus's newly opened GG Israel Studios facility in Jerusalem. The Beirut, Tel Aviv and Athens airport sequences in the film were filmed at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, apart from the opening scene where one of the hijackers is seen getting off a taxi at Athens airport, which was indeed filmed at the Eastern terminal of the defunct Athens Ellinikon International Airport while the interior of Athens airport was filmed in Ben Gurion International itself. In some sequences, Hebrew lettering and Israeli Police emblems are visible on some of the supposed Lebanese airport barriers. Pentagon and midnight oceanic scenes were shot at a warehouse in Jaffa.
The military aircraft (notably the Hercules C-130) used in the film was on loan from the Israeli Air Force. The lease arrangement was similar to that used for Iron Eagle.
The motorcycle used in the film was a 1985 Suzuki SP600.
Alan Silvestri's electronic score gained a new life when ABC Sports used it to intro their Indianapolis 500 broadcasts from 1988–1998 and again in 2001. It was also used for the intro of the Brickyard 400 until ABC lost the race rights to NBC Sports in 2001. According to famous Indianapolis 500 anchor Paul Page, he does not want any ESPN/ABC anchor to use this music in intros for the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 unless he narrates the intros himself.
The movie had mostly mixed reviews from critics.[1][2] On the aggregated website Rotten Tomatoes it currently has a 20% with a 53% on the "Like It", giving it a 3.9 out of 10. Many reviewers gave it a rotten review, but Top Critic, Roger Ebert writing for the Chicago Sun Times gave it a positive review giving it a 3 out of 4 stars. Calling it a "a well paced, emotional, and great action movie," Ebert praised "That they were able to make it into an actual movie, rather than making it into an 'action comic book'."[3] On IMDb it has a 5.2 out of 10,
The Delta Force had opened in 1,720 theaters, and debuted as #3 in the box office losing to The Color Purple and Down and Out in Beverly Hills, but beat Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and Youngblood.[4] It earned $5,959,505 on its opening weekend , with a total gross of $17,768,900 . Today, the film is considered one of the best action films of the eighties .
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