Sky Riders

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Audience Member Industrialist Jonas Bracken (Robert Culp) lives happily with his wife (Susannah York) and child in Greece. When they are kidnapped by terrorists he turns to her ex-husband, Jim McCabe (James Coburn), for help. His family are holed up in an abandoned mountain-top monastery, placing them out of reach of conventional attack. While Jonas negotiates with the terrorists and arranges for a ransom payment, Jim is assembling a group of hang-gliding circus performers into a rescue team. They figure if they go by air they can avoid detection. The tone is a bit all over the place given the hostage situation. But there's no denying that the flying scenes are so magnificent to look at. This moves by super fast which I do appreciate. They jump right into the nitty gritty of the plot. You hardly know these people but it feels adrenaline filled to have this rescue happen very quickly. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/26/24 Full Review Steve D Simple but fun action flick. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/16/23 Full Review steven a The plot is absurd and feels like it has been manufactured to capitalise on the hang-gliding craze of the day. The opening kidnapping sequence is well-staged, and the protracted rescue finale is excellently shot and full of thrilling action, helped by Schifrin's urgent score and Hickox's clinical direction. There is little in the characters, however, for the audience to invest in, despite the acting credentials of Coburn and Culp and viewers are left simply to admire the spectacle rather than question the story's logic. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review jon c Industrialist Jonas Bracken (Robert Culp) lives happily with his wife (Susannah York) and child in Greece. When they are kidnapped by terrorists he turns to her ex-husband, Jim McCabe (James Coburn), for help. His family are holed up in an abandoned mountain-top monastery, placing them out of reach of conventional attack. While Jonas negotiates with the terrorists and arranges for a ransom payment, Jim is assembling a group of hang-gliding circus performers into a rescue team. They figure if they go by air they can avoid detection. The tone is a bit all over the place given the hostage situation. But there's no denying that the flying scenes are so magnificent to look at. This moves by super fast which I do appreciate. They jump right into the nitty gritty of the plot. You hardly know these people but it feels adrenaline filled to have this rescue happen very quickly. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review delysid d this director made 2 of my favorite films, sitting target and zulu dawn. this one i wasnt as impressed with. the other 2 films he made i have yet to watch, theatre of blood with vincent price and brannigan with john wayne Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/22/18 Full Review Audience Member One of the most overlooked action/suspense films. Terrorists in the seventies? Hang glider action is terrific. [img]https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSfOUoluH4RoyERRYwGM-YaCJTYArnPzlus0qZW2oOiyjnAzJUkoA[/img] Robert Culp left, James Coburn right Sky Riders is a 1976 American action film directed by Douglas Hickox and starring James Coburn, Susannah York and Robert Culp. A woman and her children are kidnapped in Athens and held in a mountain-top monastery as hostages by a revolutionary terrorist movement. A rescue operation is mounted using hang gliders. [img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfSw7fAEtMM/USoAwsnf2oI/AAAAAAAANRc/4Itx0tHI_74/s400/sky+rider+masks.JPG[/img] The kidnappers are terrorists SEE the trailer here for a good look, but the movie itself is sharper visuals than the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii1AFOFe7qs SEE the entire film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLCH9Pg4V5c [img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v0fV15P7uQo/TQOUdTYxFUI/AAAAAAAAIso/HR8rPGk5YKY/s400/sky%2Bglider.jpg[/img] Hang gliders are shown extensivly in the film and to great effect NOTES: 1 The rescue sequences were filmed in Meteora in Greece where the finale of the later James Bond film For Your Eyes Only was set. 2 Film's producer Sandy Howard and Terry Morse Jr. were imprisoned in Greece for an explosion on the set of Sky Riders, when a Greek electrician died. They had to bribe Greek officials so the crew member responsible would not be imprisoned by the military regime. James Coburn - Jim McCabe Susannah York - Ellen Bracken Robert Culp - Jonas Bracken Charles Aznavour - Insp. Nikolidis Harry Andrews - Auerbach John Beck - Ben Zouzou - Female terrorist Kenneth Griffith - Wasserman Werner Pochath - Terrorist #1 Anthony Antypas - Dimitri Telis Zotos - Bracken's secretary Nikos Tsachiridis - Gatekeeper Ernie F. Orsatti - Joe Barbara Trentham - Della Henry Brown - Martin [img]http://ilarge.listal.com/image/3602584/936full-sky-riders-screenshot.jpg[/img] The family is hostage in this abandoned monastery Directed by Douglas Hickox Produced by Terry Morse Jr. Sandy Howard executive producer Written by Bill McGaw Hall T. Sprague Garry Michael White Screenplay by Jack DeWitt Greg MacGillivray Music by Lalo Schifrin (Theme music for TV series Mission Impossible) Cinematography Jim Freeman Greg MacGillivray Ousama Rawi Editing by Malcolm Cooke Distributed by 20th Century Fox Release dates March 26, 1976 Running time 91 min Country United States Language English Box office $1,730,000 (US/ Canada) [img]https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4pqdA-JcXzvJtyNrBLs_oeb5xhKSuWjKGZ-jhaGT0pdUlqp-9[/img] Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Sky Riders

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