MovieChat Forums > Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977) Discussion > Ridiculously Far Fetched

Ridiculously Far Fetched

posted 16 years ago by ExGreenBeret
16 replies | jump to latest

I remember seeing this film when I was in high school, funny how believable it was to me at the time. I just saw it again today & thought how absurd and far-fetched the whole thing was.

1.The 4 successfully escaped from a prison while on death row.........riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

2.They bluff their way past guards at a nuclear missile base simply by knowing the SSN's of the relief crew. No photo ID, boots unlaced, long hair, haphazard uniforms..............riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

3.Burt Lancaster is the oldest captain in the history of ANY military branch.

4.Cameras all over the place outside but none in the tunnel leading to the control capsule, THE most important spot.....................riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

5.The silo doors open and the missiles RISE UP?!?!? before launch?!?!? so they make great targets even for small arms fire.................riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

I could go on and on and on and on with this. The whole idea is waaaaaaaaay beyond suspension of disbelief.

Bad acting, terrible dialogue, just awful.

"Do...or do not. There is no try".

[–] phantomsever 16 years ago

Lighten up, Francis!

You can find any number of holes in a techno-thriller from any number of different authors (Ludlum, Clancy, Forsyth, etc). If you didn't enjoy this film then stick with Voltron re-runs on Saturday morning with the rest of the kiddies. I'll stipulate to a significant amount of "editorializing" in the movie's dialogue, but as a vet with two combat tours in Vietnam Republic Of, I thought it entirely apropos given the mood of the country in the post-VN War era. Having trained in "Broken Arrow" exercises I spotted numberous gaffs in the plot line the first time I saw the film in a post theater. Nevertheless, this is both a great film and a significant film re Burt Lancaster's persona......much in the same vein as "Go Tell The Spartans" and "The Cassandra Crossing".

Six Actual......OUT!

[–] ExGreenBeret 16 years ago

Great "Stripes" reference. I always loved Warren Oates.

I too am a combat vet, Grenada w/82nd, Sub-Saharan Africa and Central America with 5thSFG (hmmmmmmmm, I have no knowledge of any such operations, if in fact, they ever existed), and Panama with 2nd Rangers, and while we both may like this film you must admit the points I made above are valid.

I don't expect it to be perfect, just plausible.

By the way, did you read the book? It has a very strange ending that I won't spoil for you if you plan on reading it. Otherwise I will.

Welcome home Brother and thank you for your service to our great nation.

"Do...or do not. There is no try".

[–] phantomsever 16 years ago

I never read the full novel but it was excerpted in three or four consecutive issues of "Argosy" or "True" back in the early '70s (I used to pick that magazine up at the PX at NKP in Thailand). Even then the plot line had several holes in it big enough to drive a deuce-and-a-half through (as you correctly noted). That said, it still made for an enjoyable movie -- which I just ordered on DVD earlier this week.

Hand salute, XGB

Six Actual......OUT!

[–] inneroscator2 14 years ago

I think you are probably right about all the holes in this, exGreenBeret, but the ICBM launch crew in John Badham's silly WarGames is even more laughable.

[–] franzkabuki 14 years ago

Sure it stretches credibility at various points, but that´s all but to be expected - important thing is, it remained at least a plausible enough scenario to swallow for a layperson to get the story going and say what it had to say. And it´s a pretty angry & relevant film of course, generally well acted (Durning´s particularly outstanding... although Lancaster is a bit stiff; he was better in Aldrich´s earlier Ulzana´s Raid) and reasonably suspenseful till the end. Pretty effective use of the split screen, too. A bit overlong and single minded perhaps, but generally a good film. 7,5/10.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] SoTyred 13 years ago

Ridiculously Far Fetched

You mean like 19 "terrorists" who could hardly fly causing the collapse of the Twin Towers AND hitting the Pentagon in an invisible plane AND crashing ANOTHER invisible plane into a field in PA? All the while causing the ONLY collapses of skyscrapers in history (while many planes with as much fuel have crashed into skyscrapers)...you mean THAT far fetched?

In that case I agree :) .

**Skin that Smokewagon and see what happens!** Tombstone

[–] SnoozeAlarm 12 years ago

Why "terrorists" with quotes?

I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man with no sole. ~ Ancient Disco Proverb

[–] carthur27 12 years ago

He writes "terrorists" with quotes because he is a "truther" who believes 9/11 didn't happen the way the U.S. Government says it happened. People like him believe the U.S. Government had ulterior motives and committed 9/11 all by themselves.

[–] SnoozeAlarm 12 years ago

"makes perfect sense to me"

I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man with no sole. ~ Ancient Disco Proverb

[–] sheltonp6 12 years ago

Nothng *ever* happens the way the U S government says it does.

[–] Eric-62-2 11 years ago

Nothng *ever* happens the way the U S government says it does

You mean like "You can keep your health care plan?"

[–] simon359 9 years ago

Yes I agree. Once the missiles were exposed they would have been destroyed, especially as the authorities knew exactly their location. Heck. it's what us Brits did to dispose of the V2's in WW2! But back in the day, when this film was made, films were not as realistic as they are now. Perhaps people are now better educated and informed of what actually can happen in combat situations, what with Youtube and better reporting and smartphone videos, less censorship of war correspondents, and more realistic films. It seems the studios back then were treating people as if they were thick as *beep* As soon as I saw that the missiles rose up, and were not immediately destroyed (easily done even by small arms fire) I stopped watching. It was just not believable anymore.

[–] lrcdmnhd72 9 years ago

Agree. Burt Lancaster's quality of acting fell off sharply after Seven Days in May.

[–] lrcdmnhd72 9 years ago

I agree. A junior officer(captain) in his 60s? At the end of the movie the snipers were poor shots. There were a few seconds when the convicts and the president weren't turning. Instead of a sloppy volley fire, two or three well-placed shots would have gotten the job done and possibly spared the president.

[–] southbase 9 years ago

The movie makes it clear Dell and Powell have their own guns pointed right into the President's gut and the back of his head; not even the world's finest military tactical unit can guarantee their own bullets, hitting their targets, from telescope range, won't completely prevent the assassins from having enough time, strength, and proximity from firing their own weapons into Stevens before they could be killed. Or that any multiple arms fire won't travel through their own bodies and enter the President's (hence the duo's rotation and Stevens protecting his front midsection with his arms).

"A festival is not an opening."-Orson Welles

[–] Inspector2211 8 years ago

He was a GENERAL sentenced to life in prison for murder (manslaughter).
He stole the uniform of a captain on the relief crew.
Not that hard, really.

But, yes, this movie was chock full of ridiculous plot holes.