Say what you will about the artistic achievements of director Peter Hyams, the man always worked steady. In a career that spanned more than forty years and twenty plus films, Hyams was the very definition of a journey man filmmaker. There’s daring, risky or bold in his CV. He specialized in “B+” films, movies that reached for the brass ring but never quite managed to grasp it.
The film that put him on the map was CAPRICORN ONE (1977), the first film to address the conspiracy theory that the moon landing was faked. It’s a good little thriller that manages to play hopscotch with Texas geography. TELEFON (1977) was a solid vehicle for aging action hero Charles Bronson, while THE HUNTER (1980) performed the same function for the late, great Steve McQueen.
Hyams did several science fiction/horror films including OUTLAND (1981), starring Sean Connery, monster in the museum thriller THE RELIC (1997) and the perfectly dreadful SOUND OF THUNDER (2005) which managed to totally desecrate the original, legendary story by SF Grandmaster Ray Bradbury.
And instead of 2001: A SPCE ODYSSEY (1968), Hyams did 2010: THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT (1984), a relatively faithful adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke novel. It’s a handsomely mounted film but no one speaks of it as much as people do for Kubrick’s masterpiece. NARROW MARGIN (1990) with the great Gene Hackman, while fun to watch, is nowhere near as good as the film noir original from 1952 with granite jawed Charles McGraw.
So, Peter Hyams, always a bridesmaid, never a bride.
That’s what I thought while watching THE PRESIDIO (1988), a routine action thriller set apart by the location of the action, the Presidio, a U.S. military base located at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. An MP is gunned down early in the film, an act that precipitates an okay car chase sequence.
San Francisco police detective Mark Harmon butts head with military officer Sean Connery over solving the case. Harmon was formerly an MP serving under Connery’s command. The two are constantly sparring over not only the case but Harmon’s increasing involvement with Connery’s daughter, Meg Ryan.
There is some more okay-but-not-great action set pieces including a foot chase in Chinatown, a barroom brawl with Connery taking out a man-mountain with just his thumb (!) and the climactic shoot out in a bottled water distribution center.
There’s nothing at all wrong with this film. Connery is one of my all-time favorite actors and I will never turn down a chance to see him in a film. Unless it’s another screening of ZARDOZ, which gets a hard pass.
Jack Warden is a crusty, retired soldier who saw action with Connery in Viet Nam. The relationship between Harmon and Ryan spotlights two of the most impossibly attractive people on the planet. It’s on again, off again with Connery trying his best to protect his daughter.
Hyams also served as director of photography on THE PRESIDIO and his work is solid. Again, you could do much worse than spending some time in San Francisco with a good cast, an intriguing mystery and a satisfying ending.
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