Rating: ***
Review Date: 10/5/26
Music: John Barry
Cast: Tom Selleck, Bess Armstrong, Jack Weston, Wilford Brimley,
Robert Morley, Brian Blessed, Cassandra Gava
"The ox is slow, but the earth is patient."
Rich socialite Eve Tozer (Bess Armstrong) is living the party life in 1920s Istanbul, when she learns that she's about to lose her family fortune if she can't produce her missing father within twelve days. She hires a drunk WWI pilot named O'Malley (Tom Selleck) to fly her to China in search of him, which is an arrangement of shear desperation for both of them. Then they proceed to yell at each other for the rest of the film, which is neither endearing or amusing. Danger lies around every bend, but the stakes never seem to be overly high, and O'Malley weaves his way in and out of trouble with ease.
Films like this are infuriating. It looks great and sounds great, it's well-made, the location footage is fantastic, the acting is good, and the cast is talented and charismatic, but the action is limp, the humor falls flat, and the two antagonistic leads are extremely unlikable and unsympathetic. While the film ends with a hint of romance, there's no doubt that any potential relationship between them is doomed. It's particularly frustrating because the location footage, aerial photography, and plane stunts are simply amazing.
Clearly riding the wave of "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" imitators, it fails to provide any thrills or sense of adventure, and suffers from a sterile "made for TV" mentality. It's interesting that Selleck was originally intended to play Indiana Jones, but couldn't due to his commitments to "Magnum P.I." After his performance in this film, I simply can't see him pulling off what Harrison Ford was able to bring to the character. The constant yelling between Eve and O'Malley is tiresome and tedious, and the machine guns with infinite ammo become increasingly annoying as the film wears on. Sadly, apart from the beautiful scenery, I found very little enjoyment or entertainment value in the film.