SNMR 1.23: "Hanover Street"

The second of this weekend's SNMR double feature is "Hanover Street" (1979, PG, 109 minutes), starring Harrison Ford, Lesley-Anne Down, Christopher Plummer, Alec McCowen, Richard Masur and Michael Sacks. The film was directed by Peter Hyams.

This is one of Harrison Ford's older films that I am viewing for the first time tonight. I bought this DVD on ebay because now it's hard to find in regular stores, since it's not one of Harrison Ford's better known films. I thought at first this film would be interesting, even though war films aren't my favorite genre. I've seen Leslie-Anne Down in the superb television miniseries North and South (1985) based on John Jakes historical novels.

From the DVD's dust jacket:

War-torn Europe is the setting for this romantic action/adventure about the fateful entanglements of two men in love with the same woman.
Lt. David Halloran (Harrison Ford), a courageous American bomber pilot, and a British nurse (Lesley-Anne Down) accidentally meet during an air raid and fall instantly in love. Committed to an assignment, David asks her to meet him two weeks later, in spite of the fact that she's married. And she does. Her husband (Christopher Plummer), is a British intelligence officer in charge of a special, dangerous mission behind enemy lines. As fate would have it, Halloran is chosen to fly Sellinger on the task. When their plane is shot down, the two must work together to complete their mission - and it is only then that Halloran discovers who Sellinger is.

From Martin & Porter's DVD and Video Guide 2006, p. 480:

Action director Peter Hyams is out of his element with this melodramatic World War II drama, which consists mostly of an unlikely tryst between American soldier Harrison Ford and (married) British nurse Lesley-Anne Down. Overblown and mawkish.

I thought this movie was okay. Not great but not horrible either. The storyline was a bit predictable and I didn't like the way it ended. The writing was choppy and the film dragged for the first hour or so. All I could think of was Harrison Ford as Han Solo, as he had the same hairstyle and look of Solo. Star Wars IV was only two years old and The Empire Strikes Back was a year away from release and the First Indiana Jones film was two years away. This certainly is not my favorite Harrison Ford film and neither will it be yours, unless you like WWII movies of any type. Though it is a must see for true HF fans - at least once, anyway.... I'll give this film 2 1/2 out of five stars.