The Delta Force (1986)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Menahem Golan

Writers:

James Bruner (written by) &
Menahem Golan (written by)

Release Date:

14 February 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

They don't negotiate with terrorists... they blow them away!

Plot:

A 707 aircraft jetliner on its way from Athens to Rome and then to New York City is hijacked by Lebanese terrorists...

Plot Keywords:

Terrorist | Pilot | Beirut | Priest | Delta Force

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Chuck Norris	...	Maj. Scott McCoy
Lee Marvin	...	Col. Nick Alexander
Martin Balsam	...	Ben Kaplan
Joey Bishop	...	Harry Goldman
Robert Forster	...	Abdul
Lainie Kazan	...	Sylvia Goldman
George Kennedy	...	Father O'Malley
Hanna Schygulla	...	Ingrid
Susan Strasberg	...	Debra Levine
Bo Svenson	...	Capt. Campbell
Robert Vaughn	...	Gen. Woodbridge
Shelley Winters	...	Edie Kaplan
William Wallace	...	Pete Peterson
Charles Grant	...	Tom Hale (as Charles Floye)
Steve James	...	Bobby

Also Known As:

Mahatz Ha-Delta (Israel: Hebrew title)
Amerika's nieuwe helden (Netherlands) [nl]
Comando Delta (Brazil) [pt]
Delta Force (West Germany) [de]
Delta Force (Finland) [fi]
Delta Force (Spain) [es]
Delta Force (Italy) [it]
Dynami Delta (Greece) [el]
Força Delta (Portugal) [pt]
Styrka Delta Force (Sweden) [sv]
Zafer topu (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

Runtime:

125 min | 129 min

Country:

USA | Israel

Language:

English | Arabic | Hebrew | Greek

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | South Korea:15 | West Germany:18 (nf) | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 (re-rating) (heavily cut) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:R (DVD rating) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Ben-Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel

Company:

Golan-Globus Productions

Trivia:

Lee Marvin's last film

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When the Delta Force arrives at the airport to leave country, they sneak through a cotton field, Lebanon does not have such fields, Israel does.

Quotes:

Maj. Scott McCoy: [after taking out a terrorist] Sleep tight, sucker.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2006) (V)

Since Norris is on his motorcycle, the action is intense, sweaty, and fast..

Few countries in the world have not suffered from terrorist violence over the past three decades... Domestic and international terrorism is now at the top of the agenda for most nations...

Experts agree that there is almost always a strategy behind terrorist actions... Whether it takes the form of bombings, shootings, hijackings, or assassinations... Terrorism is neither random, spontaneous, nor blind; it is a deliberate use of violence against civilians for political or religious ends...

Terrorist acts are often deliberately spectacular, designed to rattle and influence a wide audience, beyond the victims of the violence itself... The point is as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon one day: "Terrorism must be vigorously opposed and soundly defeated wherever it exists."

The Delta Force was secretly created in October 1977 by US Army colonel Charles Beckwith in direct response to numerous, well-publicized terrorist incidents that occurred in the 1970s.

The number of terrorism attacks was at its highest in mid-1980s... Palestinians have long been associated with terrorism, including suicide bombings against Western targets and kidnappings in war-torn Lebanon during the 1980s...

Menahem Golan's 'The Delta Force' is inspired by the 1985 hijacking of TWA, which featured the famous footage of the plane's pilot leaning out of the cockpit with a gun to his head... The film opens with two fanatic terrorists taking over an American airliner bound from Athens to Rome and New York, diverting it to Beirut...

With no other option, the Pentagon decides to send the 'Delta Force' into the area for an emergency rescue operation...

Colonel Alexander (Marvin) is given the go ahead, and his elite team - specialized in rapid infantry assault, night fighting and airfield seizure - led by Major McCoy (Norris) energetically meets the terrorists...

Since Chuck Norris is on his motorcycle, the action is intense, sweaty, and fast...