The Presidio (1988)

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The Presidio (1988)Plot In A Paragraph: A San Francisco civilian police detective is forced to work on a series of murders with his former enemy commanding officer while dating his daughter.The Presidio is a backwards step for Connery, it's pretty predictable, routine thriller that had the potential to be so much more. Thankfully it proved to be only a momentary blip, and is largely forgotten about these days. This was the first time I had watched it since about 1990 (my DVD was still in its shrink wrap) and the main thing I remembered was that Meg Ryan went topless in it during a love scene.I think if Connery had anticipated his Oscar success, he would have chose his next project more carefully, and this would not have been in his filmography. After 3 great performances in a row, he kind of phones this one in.Meg Ryan had nailed the cute blonde prt down in the late 80's early 90's and she looks great here!! Jack Warden has a decent role as an old army buddy of Connery, and he is always worth watching. We get an awful rent a bad guy, but Rick Zumwalt (Over The Top's Bull Hurley) has a role here as 'Bully In Bar, who Connery beats up using only his thumb. The love scene I mentioned earlier is missing from my DVD!! I am not impressed about it. The Presidio grossed $20 million at the domestic box office to end the year as the 48th highest grossing movie of 1988.

This is as painful to watch as it is predictable, clichéd, and completely forgettable. Wasting a fine Actor like Sean Connery is the least offense in this boring, formulaic Film. There is the haircut, pretty Boy Mark Harmon, who has zero Screen presence, along with the Female haircut, pretty Girl Meg Ryan. When they are together in this Dud, one would be hard pressed to find a spark anywhere. The on the hood of the car seduction Scene is only one of the many embarrassments in this wasted effort.The Director, who really should stick to Cinematography, has tried to grow into the Helmsman role from behind the Camera with varying results that have never reached beyond Mediocrity. Here with this awful mish-mash of Reagan era Flag waiving mixed with a Buddy-Cop Formula that is at best forced, there is just nothing here worth recommending.Fans of anyone involved in this Turkey would be better served to avoid, because it is an indefensible insult to Moviegoers from Big-Budget Studio Hacks. Oh yea...the Title, well that's a whole other misstep not worth your time.

When a military police officer is murdered on the Presidio of San Fransisco, a city detective and a provost marshal must form an uneasy alliance as they investigate the case.This is a fair thriller with some exciting elements and is slickly made all round from the always watchable Hyams. It's one of his weakest films though, and I think I lay the blame for that mostly in Larry Ferguson's script. It lacks originality - all the elements of the characters and their relationships come from In The Heat Of The Night, Dirty Harry, Lethal Weapon and a hundred other cop movies. Also, and this bothers me about a lot of Hollywood movies, what is the point of the whole daughter romantic interest subplot ? Unless I'm mistaken, this is a film about diamond smugglers and a murder investigation. I don't really see (or care) what that has to do with Connery's inability to communicate with Ryan. I'm also not very taken with the cast here; Harmon is one-note, Ryan pouts and preens in her usual whiny and annoying manner, and the supporting cast aren't very interesting. Connery and Warden fare better, but both are hamstrung by the predictable story. When it's moving though, it's a pretty good flick - what it has going for it are pleasing Frisco locations, a couple of taut chase sequences, good photography and a moody score by Bruce Broughton. There's one scene I really like - Harmon charms some information out of a dispatcher purely by talking about The Grateful Dead; it's quirky, original and unexpected. The problem with this movie is that every scene in Capricorn One or 2010 is like that. A pleasant way to kill some time, but a rather lacklustre thriller. Trivia - Calfa and DiSanti sort of reprise their roles from The Star Chamber.

If anybody told me 10 years ago that there is a thriller starring (Sean Connery) and (Meg Ryan) together and I won't be able to bear it to its end 3 times.. Maybe I would call him names, smash at least his face, and destroy his future for good !!!Just kidding. But the makers of this movie weren't ! However they made a movie which impelled me to wonder; what's the secret of that one's silliness ??I'm crazy about the queen of cheerfulness (Ryan) and the original James Bond (Connery). And yes, I'm not a fan of (Mark Harmon). But none of them is the one to blame here.Maybe it's the screenplay which was so tense between being a movie about having peace among one family and in one's soul, or being a bang bang action thriller. Both ways I thought it did an accepted job so you can see (The Presidio) as a mediocre social Film or a mediocre action movie !! But I didn't have a real fun while watching. Mainly because some kind of lame direction from (Peter Hyams), so with the low budget you might think it's a TV movie. And a boring one too !The only thing which survived, and still that original till now, is of course the love scene between (Meg Ryan) and (Mark Harmon) IN THE STREET !! When their love was exploding to the extent that they almost made love on the parked cars ! That's the one and only thing to enjoy in such a languid tasteless movie. But knowing that (Ryan) will end up in the arms of (Harmon) kept eating me all the time to tell you the truth. So here's another reason to dislike the whole thing!P.S : I've never ever commented on a movie without finishing it. So I had to watch the end of (Presidio) at last but in the fourth time. Yes, I was that board to death to find any other more important thing to do !!