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How's this for a dazzling international cast: Roger Moore, David Niven, Stephanie Powers, Elliot Gould, Telly Savalas, Claudia Cardinale, Richard Rountree and Soony Bono? All in one film! There's also the briefest of cameos by the great William Holden. Surely to assemble such talent suggests that this film started out with a promising script. It's a shame, then, that in the final analysis Escape to Athena is such dismal, amateurish junk.
The story takes place on a Greek island during WWII. Various Allied POWs survive under the fairly relaxed custody of German officer Roger Moore, but they begin to form ideas above their station when they hear of a Nazi-occupied monastery nearby which is full of priceless art treasures. A small group of escapees scale the island mountains and attempt to steal the loot from the German forces.
Everyone looks like they're on vacation in this one. Certainly no-one seems to give two hoots about the story. The action highlights are few and far between, and much of the comedy banter - intended to breathe life into the characters - falls horribly flat. Moore gets top billing but has terribly little to do with the story; Gould probably lands the juiciest role, but he overplays it to the point of irritation.
score 4/10
barnabyrudge 23 May 2003
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0167747/ |
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28-2-2021 00:05:07