On H List of Movie Reviews
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Hanover Street (1979)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
4/25
4/25:
Hanover Street further solidifies my conviction that Peter Hyams is a mediocre director.
This time, he stinks as a writer. His first mistake is beginning with a declaration that the film presents the
greatest love story of all time. It was hard for me to listen to the rubbish during the first hour with lots of
purple prose, especially from Harrison Ford. I keep looking at his ridiculous hair which isn't becoming
for a military man. He and Lesley-Anne Down have virtually zero chemistry.
Finally, the show becomes better when Harrison Ford and Christopher Plummer flew to France. That should've been
the whole movie. All Peter Hyams has to do is make it an hour long while shortening the backstory to mere fifteen
minutes. Now, that will be something more tolerable to watch on top of David Watkin's excellent cinematography.
While at it, please...pretty please...cut out Richard Masur and the little spoiled girl; they're so damned
annoying. By the way, I didn't realize that was Patsy Kensit of
Lethal Weapon 2.
Love triangle against the backdrop of WWII? It's nothing new, having been done before in a couple of films:
D-Day the Sixth of June and
The Hunters.
Harrison Ford is Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum. Christopher Plummer is Richard Todd and Lee Philips.
Lesley-Anne Down is Dana Wynter and May Britt. The paramour has a change of heart by deciding the husband
is actually a decent man and doesn't deserve it, so he lets the cheating wife go back to him at the end.
All in all, Peeper should've finished Peter Hyams for good.