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The Challenge (1970 TV movie)

 
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Krel
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 2:14 pm    Post subject: The Challenge (1970 TV movie) Reply with quote



"The Challenge" is a TV movie about a surrogate war. The date is not mentioned, but the indications are that it takes place years after the Vietnam war has ended, sometime in the early 1990s.

The movie is told in flashback form.

A U.S. weapons platform crashes into the sea and a small unnamed Asian nation just beats the U.S. Navy to the site. The U.S. could easily defeat the small nation, but the nation is allied with Red China, and the U.S. is very anxious to have better relations with China. China for it's part is anxious to have better relations with the U.S., and does not want armed conflict.

The solution is a "surrogate war", where each nation sends one man to do battle. Winner takes all.

The movie stars Darren McGavin as Jacob Gallery, the American champion. Mako stars as Yuro, the Asian nation's champion.

Both combatants are deadly. Both are arrogant.

Gallery is suppose to be this great soldier, he was kicked out of the service after his station was wiped out while he was hunting enemy soldiers. During his briefing he is told that it is a David and Goliath conflict...And he is Goliath.

But he does some stupid things. He turns down a piece of equipment because it is too heavy. But he chooses to carry TWO sub machine guns mounted side by side. One is loaded with bullets, the other with bird shot. In the jungle bird shot is going to be of little use, besides if he wanted shot shells, then it would have been better to load his magazines with alternating rounds. It would have saved some of the weight he was so concerned about. But to a 12 year old, those tandem sub machine guns were COOL! While hiding, waiting to ambush his opponent, HE IS SMOKING CIGARS! Right, no one's going to notice the smell of cigar smoke in a jungle. The worst though, is that he was warned about the deadly risk of infection, but after getting a cut, he does not treat it!

The movie is famous for the Director (George McCowan) invoking the Alan Smithee pseudonym, for unknown reasons. It is a good movie.

I don't wish to spoil more of the film, which is available on YouTube.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Never heard of this one, but here's a copy from YouTube.

The picture ain't great — in fact the audio only plays on the left channel. But I remember the 1980s when I recorded programs on my Sony Betamax and hosted gatherings with my friends to watch them on my 25" television!

Thanks, Pow! We love finding out about "lost" sci-fi movies! Cool


_________ The Challenge 1970 Darren McGavin


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17016
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 12:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I was curious about this movie, so I read the detailed summary of the plot in the Wikipedia article. It's a grim story with a less-than-happy ending, but I won't say more than that.

If you're curious like I was, here's the Wiki link. Don't click on it, just copy and paste the whole line into your address bar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Challenge_(1970_film)

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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