High Road to China (1983)

It's been 3 years since socialite Eve Tozer (Bess Armstrong) heard from her wealthy father Bradley Tozer (Wilford Brimley). His business partner in London is trying to declare him dead. She has only 12 days before the partner steals the family business and the entire fortune. Her only option is hiring drunken war hero Patrick O'Malley (Tom Selleck) and his mechanic Struts (Jack Weston). Under fire from pursuing gunmen, they fly two biplanes from Turkey to Afghanistan and eventually China where Bradley is leading villagers in a battle against a local ruthless warlord.It's a rather simplistic 'road' movie. It's an action adventure following the successful footsteps of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The characters are simply drawn. Certainly, Selleck has a bit of Indy in him. The romantic chemistry is also drawn from that road map. I do like the flying although action is not always there. At least, that's what I remember most before watching it again recently. Of course, it's inferior to Raiders but it still works.

I'll say flat out that "High Road To China" is a lot of fun to watch. It features pretty decent performances from the two leads: Tom Selleck as ace pilot Patrick O'Malley and Bess Armstrong as rich girl Eve Tozer, and it has some good photography and camera work, and some decent action scenes. Unfortunately, the story itself leaves much to be desired. Predictable almost from the start, it doesn't provide enough "meat" to really captivate a viewer.Eve is a rich girl in the 1920's who stands to lose everything unless she can find her father (played by Wilford Brimley once he's discovered,) who was last seen three years before in Afghanistan. She hires O'Malley to take her to the region, and the pair begin their search, complete with a bit of a love/hate relationship with each other (it starts with more hate than love, then evolves.) To make their search more complicated, Eve's father's former business partner (played by Michael Morley) - who stands to take over the business (and thus Eve's money) unless her dad is found quickly - has people out trying to stop them. There were problems with the story. The efforts to stop them never really seemed threatening - actually, none of the predicaments they found themselves in seemed threatening; there was never any real sense that Eve and O'Malley were in any real danger. It was far too easy to find Eve's dad. True, they had to make a lot of stops, but every time they stopped they found someone who knew just who to go to for information. Interestingly enough even though I thought Selleck and Armstrong gave pretty good performances, I also didn't feel that they sparkled with chemistry together - the "romance" elements of the story seemed forced and insincere to me. (I confess that I did like the last line of the movie, given to Selleck, who closes by admitting to Eve that he had made a mistake. When she asks what it was, you expect him to say "falling in love with you." Instead he admits essentially the same thing, but by way of a joke - "I should have sold you as a slave when I had the chance!" The line has to be seen in its context to really be appreciated.) It's a bit of an escapist movie, I suppose - and nothing wrong with it in that sense, but it's not very meaty, it's far too predictable in every way and it won't leave you breathless. 5/10

We have loved this movie since we first saw it years ago. We enjoy the story line of a young girl searching for her long gone father half way around the world. The scenery in the movie is incredible and adds so much to the story. There are also some good cultural lessons in the movie which come about in the different countries they are in. We were able to tape it off of TV and have watched it over and over. We don't understand why it isn't mentioned more and available in the stores on DVD. We did just purchase it on DVD on-line and the copy we received is a very bad copy. We hope we can get a refund or a good copy as it is one of our favorite movies. We have recommended this movie to many friends and will plan an evening to just sit and watch it once again, even if it is on VHS and not a great copy!

This is one of those films I never tire of. I watched it several times during the 80s, then laid off it for a while during the 90s (mostly due to a long stint without cable), and have recently rediscovered it since getting satellite. I am glad I gave it such a long time before going back to it, because I had forgotten the gorgeous scenery, the snappy one-liners, and the dead-on acting. Everyone is believable and several scenes, such as when O'Malley explains his theory on Eve's family genetics, verge on hysterical. The romance isn't overdone, and the language is fairly mild, with no references to feces or intercourse to be found. Even by 1983 standards, it's pretty tame.All in all, if not an excellent film, a competent one, and eminently suited for filling up a rainy Saturday afternoon.