A Father's Revenge

Like a great number of the more dutiful denizens of Dennehy county, I humbly consider his exciting 1988 offering from the charismatic, much loved character actor to be one of Dennehy's very best! This pacy, above average revenge thriller has angered patriarch, Paul Hobart (Brian Dennehy) desperately taking the law into his own hands when his only daughter, Karen (Helen Patton) is held hostage by increasingly murderous leftist terrorists in Frankfurt, Germany. Acting alongside the burly Dennehy is a juicy-looking, Joanna Cassidy, an oleaginous, Ron Silver, and, Anthony 'Callan' Valentine is on especially menacing, fleet-fisted form as stilleto cool, ex-SAS operative Vickers. Herzfeld's gritty, pulse-quickening drama 'A Father's Revenge' remains a compelling 80s Euro-thriller!!!! The darker than expected tone, moody cityscapes and sporadic brutality lend an additional gravitas to Herzfeld's gripping, far from humdrum 80s TV Movie! The agreeably synth heavy soundtrack is by notable German film composer, Klaus Doldinger.

A fundamentally dry political thriller TV movie programmer boasting fine performances and on-location (Germany) action. Nothing particularly gang-busters here, as it steers towards dramatic tension, verbose conversations and character pathos before going in all guns blazing for its climatic payoff.

Two American parents, Paul and Anne Hobart travel to Germany when their stewardess daughter is kidnapped by home grown terrorists. She along with other flight crew members are being used as bargaining tools for the release of two prisoners.

The script does go down a predictable path. The ins and outs of political red tape getting in the way. There's a good hour of built up frustration, hopelessness and ponderous talk which feels like it's going nowhere in spite of the urgency of situation. This kinda gave it a realistic and calculative approach, although not a exiting one. And the lack of progress and information eventually sees the father seek outside help (mercenaries) to rescue his daughter. This is when the script begins to question what lengths someone would go to see it through. To the point of pushing aside their own morals. Brian Dennehy is perfectly cast to bring that to the fold. But by this point, certain actions by high brass become questionable, especially the twist at the end although its sort of telegraphed in the early stages. Ron Silver and Joanna Cassidy provided solid support, yet Dennehy pretty much holds it together.

"You... are just means to an end".

Sometimes movies made for TV, like this one, are by far much better than movies made for theaters. A Father's Revenge is a fantastic thriller and Brian Dennehy is a marvelous actor. For years I have been trying to buy this movie with no success. If you ever have the opportunity to see this marvelous film, don't miss it!

"A Father's Revenge" is a story about terrorism and one father's personal efforts to save his daughter. The audience appeal to this TV film would have been different than it is for an audience watching the film today. To understand that, it helps to consider the evolution of terrorism, especially since the mid-20th century.

There always has been terrorism of some kind someplace in the world. But except for genocidal campaigns that have occurred in history, most terrorism had been in isolated acts organized by small groups. The terrorism of today is more often widespread random acts of bombings and mass killings. These are associated mostly with radical Muslims. They are against governments, religious groups and nationalities and cultures. No one will ever forget 9-11– the Sept. 1, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. that resulted in the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York City, and other death and destruction.

Two other major terrorist actions happened in the 1970s. In 1972, Palestinian terrorists killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team. Many people saw some of these killings live on TV. Then, in July, 1976, Palestinian and Neo-Nazi terrorists hijacked an Air France jetliner with 248 passengers aboard. They landed in Uganda where they had assistance from the government of dictator Idi Amin. After 148 passengers were released over two days, more than 100 Jewish and Israeli passengers (and the French captain of the plane) faced death if hundreds of political prisoners weren't released from prisons in Israel and Europe.

An excellent film was made on the daring Israeli rescue operation. Israeli planes carrying 100 commandos flew 2,500 miles at night, landed at the En Tebbe airport and rescued 102 passengers. Three passengers and the operation commander were killed, with five others wounded. But they killed all the terrorists and 47 Ugandan soldiers who were guarding the airport. Read any encyclopedia account for more on the En Tebbe hijacking and raid, and the terrorist reprisals against Kenyans and others who aided Israel in the raid.

So, by the time of this film, "A Father's Revenge," people in many nations were anxious when traveling. And, by that time, the U.S. and most Western nations had adopted official policies that they would not negotiate with terrorists. Sound reasoning was behind those policies. Negotiating with any terrorists only encouraged more terrorism. And, with no hope of negotiating, many would-be terrorists were discouraged from making such attempts.

Of course, that doesn't bring much hope to the families of people who are taken hostage in terrorist actions. This film is fiction and takes place in 1988. The plot is very good, but the script is a bit choppy in places and not well connected. The scenes in Frankfort and cinematography in Germany add to the film. The acting is fairly good overall, but I agree with another reviewer who said the portrayal of the terrorists was not very realistic. It seems strange that Paul Hobart, played by Brian Dennehy, didn't know outright that the U.S. would not negotiate with terrorists.

This film has a couple of surprise twists in it. Although it seems quite far-fetched, it has some good action and sleuthing, and makes for an interesting watch.

I spent most of the film worrying that Brian Dennehy was about to drop dead from a heart attack. He's obviously a big man, but in this film he runs everywhere! Whether it be chasing terrorists through Frankfurt, or just running around outside while his wife discovers that their daughter has been kidnapped in Germany by a bunch of terrorists.

Don't get me wrong, Dennehy's a good actor and very convincing here, but this film spends a long long time getting around to tracking down the terrorist. Probably quite realistic in that sense, and I suppose the film does a good job of showing what a father would do in order to rescue his daughter, but I could have done with more rampaging and gunfights than folks standing around discussing the moral aspects of torture.

Quite frank(furt)ly, you might enjoy this film, but you'll have to condition yourself for a slow time, as most of the action happens in the last ten minutes. People rate this more highly than I do, and you might too, but I just needed a bit more morph to keep me going.