The Delta Force (1986)

I had first seen this back in 2011 when I ordered it through the library and I really liked it. Then in 2015 my mom found it on VHS at a flea market along with two other Chuck Norris movies "Delta Force 2" and " Bardock: Missing in Action 3".I'm a bit of a Chuck Norris fan, I used to watch his TV show "Walker Texas Ranger" back when it was on TV which I'm a fan of.This movie is a lot of fun because you get to see old Chuck kick some terrorist ass with his squad, I'm a bit fussy on the details because I haven't watched it often, so please bare with me as I try to tell you the story.If I remember correctly the terrorists hijack a 747 with Robert Forester as the terrorist leader (you know for the longest time I did not realize that he was even in this, it took me two years to find out! LOL). The hijackers demand payment or they will kill a hostage every hour, and so The Delta Force are call in to help stop the terrorists and rescue the hostages (hope that was helpful)?On to the action scenes, the action is very good and well paced since this runs at 2 hrs. 5 min. it's done well because it could have been slow and boring but thank goodness it moves at a brisk pace. And it also has some pretty good tension in some scenes.Overall a really good movie from start to finish with funny one liners and cool action scenes. I give it a 5/10. Watch it with friends. It's a good time for sure.

I watched this movie for the first time over 30 years after it was produced. Considering its age, the fact that it is essentially a Chuck Norris film (whom I really never liked), and the numerous clichées in the premise and story-line, this motion picture was a rather pleasant surprise. It was decently scripted, decently acted (except for Mr. Norris, of course) and well filmed. Even the cheesy special effects don't take away too much from the overall viewing experience.Do not misunderstand me, this is no masterpiece by a long shot, but it definitely makes for some decent escapist entertainment on an evening with nothing much better to do. Definitely above average.

During the failed Iranian hostage rescue, Captain Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris) disobeys order and goes back to pull a comrade from the wreckage. He quits in disgust. Five years later, two terrorists hijack an American plane leaving Athens forcing it to land in Beirut. Colonel Nick Alexander (Lee Marvin) leads Delta Force and McCoy is recalled on a mission to rescue the hostages. On the plane, the terrorists separate three Navy sailors and Jewish men from the rest of the passengers.Other than Norris being heroic in Iran, the first half is mostly about the harrowing hijacking. It's uncomfortably scary and a little too real. It has a couple of effective turns. The rescues are a little too convenient considering the way the movie is set up in the first half. Any realism is gone. The story would probably work better if everybody stays on the plane and they never leave Beirut.

Here we have Cannon's masterpiece, directed by Menaham Golan himself. A combination '70s disaster movie and '80s actioner. A group of Lebanese terrorists, led by Robert Forster (!), hijack an airliner and demand to be taken to Beirut. Little do the terrorists know an elite squad of commandos known as Delta Force are on the job, led by Lee Marvin (in his final film) and Chuck Norris (with a rocket bike that is the stuff of movie legend).Great supporting cast of familiar faces. A "Love Boat" cast, if you will. Despite Norris being the star, the movie doesn't really become a full-on action flick until the last 1/4. The first 3/4 is more like a dramatic disaster type movie, like the Airport films. But it actually works to the movie's favor in the long run because it allows the tension to build so that when the Delta Force start kicking terrorist ass, it's much more rewarding. There are some unintentionally hilarious moments, of course, since this is a Cannon film. Such as the stewardess distraught over being asked by the hijackers to single out the Jews ("No, not me! Don't you see? I'm German!!!!") or George Kennedy's classic "I'm Jewish just like Jesus Christ." But these elements only add to the enjoyment, as any fan of Cannon's films can attest.As for the elephant in the room, let's tackle that head-on. You won't see a movie like this made again today in the same way. If the terrorists in an action movie today were actually allowed to be of Middle Eastern origin (unlikely), there would have to be a qualifier of some kind. Like there would have to be a white American traitor working with them or there would have to be a "good" Muslim/Arab character to remind all us dumb American hicks that they're not all bad. And, of course, there would have to be some not-so-subtle propaganda in there as well to suggest that America or Israel deserved whatever they were getting.Throughout the '80s, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus ran Cannon Films. They were responsible for what I would consider the last great hurrah for quality B movies. Most of their output were action movies, from ninja films to Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris shoot 'em ups. They also did comedies, sci-fi, horror, and even some dramas. Most of their movies were watchable, some were even good. Yes, some were terrible but a lot of those have a so-bad-it's-good quality about them today. Out of all the movies Cannon put out, to me Delta Force is their best overall production.