The Presidio (1988)

The Presidio (1988)Plot In A Paragraph: A San Francisco civilian police detective is forced to work on a series of murders with his former enemy commanding officer while dating his daughter.The Presidio is a backwards step for Connery, it's pretty predictable, routine thriller that had the potential to be so much more. Thankfully it proved to be only a momentary blip, and is largely forgotten about these days. This was the first time I had watched it since about 1990 (my DVD was still in its shrink wrap) and the main thing I remembered was that Meg Ryan went topless in it during a love scene.I think if Connery had anticipated his Oscar success, he would have chose his next project more carefully, and this would not have been in his filmography. After 3 great performances in a row, he kind of phones this one in.Meg Ryan had nailed the cute blonde prt down in the late 80's early 90's and she looks great here!! Jack Warden has a decent role as an old army buddy of Connery, and he is always worth watching. We get an awful rent a bad guy, but Rick Zumwalt (Over The Top's Bull Hurley) has a role here as 'Bully In Bar, who Connery beats up using only his thumb. The love scene I mentioned earlier is missing from my DVD!! I am not impressed about it. The Presidio grossed $20 million at the domestic box office to end the year as the 48th highest grossing movie of 1988.

After an MP is shot and killed on the Presidio Military Base in San Francisco the killers flee into the city; here they kill two more people; this time city cops. Police Officer Jay Austin is put on the case as he used to be an MP who served at the Presidio. That doesn't make things easy for him though as he left the Army after his CO didn't back him when he struck a drunken colonel while arresting him… his old CO is Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell; the man he will have to liaise with if he is to solve the case. As is always the case in such movies they don't get along well at first and it looks like they will get worse when Austin goes out to dinner with the Colonel's daughter Donna. As the investigation proceeds a group of suspects emerges; all of whom served in Vietnam at the same time.This is a decent enough film but if you removed the unnecessary romance between Austin and Donna and some of the excessive banter the remaining mystery wouldn't sustain a one hour TV show! Sean Connery plays Caldwell the way he plays everybody; which isn't really a bad thing as he is an entertaining scene presence; even though I didn't buy that he'd still have that accent if he moved to the States when he was ten! Mark Harmon was OK as Austin although he has nowhere near the screen presence as Connery. The action scenes were pretty good; especially the opening night time car chase and the final shoot out in the water bottling plant. I wouldn't go out of my way to see this but it passes ninety minutes well enough if it is on TV.

Very ordinary and from this standpoint, dated so-called thriller fronted by big names in stereotypical roles delivering "through the motions" performances. Connery's the biggest star name here and while his character at least boasts Scottish ancestry this time to explain and excuse his accent, he portrays his typical latter-day grizzled old man routine as a tough-as-nails military general who after defining his character by delivering epithets like "I'll have your balls for breakfast" and single-thumbedly (literally) taking out a big-mouthed pub boor, of course melts sufficiently to eventually accept enforced cooperation with maverick cop and previous subordinate Mark Harmon and naturally bridge the generation-gap between him and his rebellious daughter Meg Ryan so that they all end up arm-in-arm at the movie's conclusion, one big happy family to-be, case solved. Harmon does his best sub-Tom Cruise pretty-boy act, mugging at the camera to convey emotion whilst Meg Ryan replays her trademark goofy persona, all sheepish grins and mood swings like some hormonal adolescent teenager. The dialogue is clichéd and clunky, but at least the action sequences, particularly the first extended car - chase are delivered well. Unfortunately director Hyams brings the fairly slow-moving action to an almost complete standstill midway through the piece as emotional crises emerge!!! as Ryan falls out with Connery (naturally), offends and then (naturally) makes up with Harmon, before we encounter the ever so slight twist in the tale prior to a fairly ridiculous shoot-out where Connery and Harmon (naturally) come through unscathed at the finish. San Francisco as a backdrop portrays more character than the actors here, but well-shot as it is, "Vertigo" and "Bullit" this most certainly isn't.

If anybody told me 10 years ago that there is a thriller starring (Sean Connery) and (Meg Ryan) together and I won't be able to bear it to its end 3 times.. Maybe I would call him names, smash at least his face, and destroy his future for good !!!Just kidding. But the makers of this movie weren't ! However they made a movie which impelled me to wonder; what's the secret of that one's silliness ??I'm crazy about the queen of cheerfulness (Ryan) and the original James Bond (Connery). And yes, I'm not a fan of (Mark Harmon). But none of them is the one to blame here.Maybe it's the screenplay which was so tense between being a movie about having peace among one family and in one's soul, or being a bang bang action thriller. Both ways I thought it did an accepted job so you can see (The Presidio) as a mediocre social Film or a mediocre action movie !! But I didn't have a real fun while watching. Mainly because some kind of lame direction from (Peter Hyams), so with the low budget you might think it's a TV movie. And a boring one too !The only thing which survived, and still that original till now, is of course the love scene between (Meg Ryan) and (Mark Harmon) IN THE STREET !! When their love was exploding to the extent that they almost made love on the parked cars ! That's the one and only thing to enjoy in such a languid tasteless movie. But knowing that (Ryan) will end up in the arms of (Harmon) kept eating me all the time to tell you the truth. So here's another reason to dislike the whole thing!P.S : I've never ever commented on a movie without finishing it. So I had to watch the end of (Presidio) at last but in the fourth time. Yes, I was that board to death to find any other more important thing to do !!