Political extremists have taken innocent people hostage and only super-soldiers Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin can rescue them in this "astounding mix of fact, fantasy and heavy-duty adventure" (Variety). Co-starring Maltin B... more »alsam and Shelley Winters, The Delta Force is 130 nonstop minutes of explosive, wall-to-wall action! When a U.S. passenger plane is seized by vicious hijackers and taken to Beirut, the president calls in The Delta Forcea crack team of commandos led by ColonelNick Alexander (Marvin) and Major Scott McCoy (Norris). Against all odds, the men blast into the compound andtaking no prisonersrescue the hostages. But the mission is not yet over. A few remaining passengers are being "escorted" to Teheran, initiating a desperate race against time as Alexander and McCoy try to save themand avenge America's honorbefore it's too late.« less
"The only thing I do not like about this movie being on DVD, is that the english subtitles (I.E. the translation of the language used by the hijackers and other foreigners) and the timelines for the movie were left out, whereas they were on the VHS version. If you make another version of this film (I.E. Special Edition, Director's Cut, etc.) please include those items. Other than that, the movie was excellent. I wish all forms of airline hijacking was handled this way."
Great movie but DVD has problems.
Steven Callaghan | Garden Grove, CA USA | 09/23/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Delta Force is one of the better of the handfull of anti-terrorist films that came out in the 1980's. Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin are a great combo. My only complaint is with MGM's production of the DVD. First, it's in standard full frame format. No widescreen version. Second, and more annoying is that MGM left out the English subtitles when the Arabs are speaking. My laser disc version of the film had them, so I know it's a mistake on the DVD. The only subtitles available are French and Spanish."
STANDARD FORMULA BUT EXCITING ACTION FILM
Tim Janson | Michigan | 04/01/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Delta Force came out in 1986, not long after the Bombing of the marine barracks in Lebanon and the release of the hostages in Iran. These two events fuel the Delta Force about a passenger aircraft on its way to New York that is hi-jacked by Arab terrorists and diverted to Beirut. The cast looks like one of those big-budget, 1970's era disater films with Joey Bishop, Shelly Winters, Martin Balsam, Lanie Kazan, and George Kennedy all playing passengers on the flight. The terrorists are led by Robert Forster as Abdul.
With the hi-jacking, the Army puts the Delta Force to work to plan a rescue operation. Overseeing the command is Lee Marvin as Col. Alexander playing the grizzled veteran office not so different than the part he played in The Dirty Dozen. Chuck Norris Major Scott McCoy who is the leader of the team, called back into active action for the mission. The planned rescue mission is aborted when they soon learn that more terrorists boarded the plane when it stopped to re-fuel in Algeria. The terrorists are demanding Isreal release dozens of terrorists from prison or they will kill the hostages. They demonstrate their intentions by viciously beating and killing a young American naval diver as well as holding all the Jewish passengers separate from the rest. The women are eventually released but the men are taken to a prison once they land in Beirut and it's up to the Delta Force to rescue the hostages.
The stereotypes run hot and heavy in Delta Force on both the Arab and Jewish side. And not only that, but there's a German flight attendant who just CAN'T be the one to pick out the Jewish passengers due to her (evidently) instinctive guilt over the concentration camps and holocaust of WWII, and she courageously tries to help the American divers by telling them to hide their Naval ID cards. There's a lot of posturing speeches by both the terrorists and the hostages including George Kennedy who plays a Catholic priest and insists on being put with the Jewish men since Jesus was "King of the Jews". it's all pretty hokey but also great fun. Politcally correct? Maybe not but who gives a damn! It's really not unlike many WWII era war movies. The Delta Force is black and white and you know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. Politics is not even worth mentioning.
Chuck Norris will never be considered a great actor but he also never tried to do too much. He played the strong, fairly silent type of hero perfectly, and with a strong sense of patriotism. The action scenes were very well done and you couldn't help but cheer when the hostages were rescued and the bad guys got theirs in the end. Cannon films churned out the action flicks in the 1980's and this was one of the best."
I LOVE THIS MOVIE !!!
Steven Callaghan | 06/17/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Delta Force" is a classic of the Action/Adventure genre. Karate champ Chuck Norris has been in some pretty cool movies, like "Lone Wolf McQuaid" and "Missing in Action," but this is probably his best one. He's also been in some really crummy ones - the other day I watched a Chuck Norris movie called "Firewalker," and boy was it lame! Anyway, back to "Delta Force." As I was saying, it's a really cool movie. The plot is nothig creative: Norris plays a commando on the trail of a group of Palestinian terorrists who have hijacked a plane. What makes the story so great is that it is grounded in reality. For example, in the beginning of the movie we find Chuck and his Delta Force buddies trying to escape from Iran after a botched attempt to rescue the Ameriocan hostages bveing held there. As you probably know, this episode actually happened in real life (minus Mr. Norris, of course). Another thing that makes it great is the way it shows Middle Eastern terrorists as cruel, Jew-hating cowards, which they in fact are. These days, movies have to be politically correct when they are dealing with Middle Easterners. Actually, I haven't seen a movie since 9/11 that even deals with Middle Eastern terrorists. Bad guys in action movies nowadays have to be white boys so that Middle Easterners will not be offended. In Tom Clancy's book "The Sum of all Fears," the terrorists were Arabs, but when they made the movie they changed them into neo-Nazis. Fortunately, "Delta Force" was made long before all this PC stuff materialized.
As for the action scenes, I think that they can be summed up with the two words "Totally Awesome." "Delta Force" has not only action, buts lots of drama. The acting is very good - alright, so it's nothing that should have been nominated for an Oscar, but it's much better that you would expect. The actors and actersses manage to create scenes that are chilling, adrenaline pumping, and heartbreaking. Chuck Norris plays the hero really well, the dudes that play the terrorists do that really well, but I must say that the hostages steal the show.
So, that's what I think of "Delta Force," and I don't care if anyone tells me that it is corny or overly-patriotic. It's great to see Delta force kicking the butts of the wimpy terrorists, especially after 9/11. Thank you to Amazon.com for offering "Delta Force," thank you to Chuck Norris for doing a cool movie, and thank you to the real-life members of Delta Force for defending the USA."
A REAL STORY
Steven Callaghan | 10/31/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This movie is based on the TWA flight 847 hijacking in 1985. The events on the plane are true and many of the characters are real. The movie takes this real life terrorist event and combines it with exciting action packed patriotic excitement. The music is great and some of the best theme music ever made. The characters are well developed and there are very funny moments and sad moments in this movie. Overall I whole heartedly recommend that people watch this movie because it is a fun two hours of action and excitement."