Megaforce (1982)

Director:

Hal Needham

Writers:

Bob Kachler (story)
James Whittaker (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 June 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Action

Tagline:

When the force was with them, NO-ONE stood a chance!

Plot:

Story about a rapid deployment defence unit that is called into action whenever freedom is threatened.

Plot Keywords:

Dictator | Dune Buggy | Hologram | Combat | Laser

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Barry Bostwick	...	Cmdr. Ace Hunter
Michael Beck	...	Dallas
Persis Khambatta	...	Major Zara
Edward Mulhare	...	Gen. Edward Byrne-White
George Furth	...	Prof. Eggstrum
Henry Silva	...	Duke Guerera
Mike Kulcsar	...	Ivan (as Michael Kulcsar)
Ralph Wilcox	...	Zachary Taylor
Evan C. Kim	...	Suki (as Evan Kim)
Anthony Pena	...	Sixkiller (as Anthony Penya)
J. Víctor López	...	Lopez
Michael Carven	...	Anton
Bobby Bass	...	Motorcycle Driver
Samir Kamoun	...	Aide
Youssef Merhi	...	Radio Operator

Also Known As:

Mega Force (Philippines: English title)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA | Hong Kong

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:L | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Norway:12 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Trivia:

Producers approached military officials for cooperation in the design of the vehicles used in the battle scenes; the officials refused. When the film was released, those same officials were so impressed with the vehicles, they asked the producers for the plans. The producers cooperated.

Goofs:

Continuity: While they are leaving for the mission we see Hunter walking through the hanger with Gen Byrne-White to get to his plane when he's stopped by Egg. In this scene Hunter's helmet is attached to a hook on his right hip and he has some sort of equipment attached to a strap running down his left thigh. When the scene changes to Hunter walking outside his is now carrying his helmet in his left hand and the thigh extensions that he had in the previous scene are now gone all together. In the ending to this scene when Zara kisses Hunter both the thigh straps and helmet are gone.

Quotes:

[As Eggstrum approaches.]
Ace Hunter: Here comes The Egg...
Dallas: And that's no "yolk."
Eggstrum: Dallas, when a person doesn't have less on, they have...?
Dallas: "More on"?
Eggstrum: Exactly.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ultraforce (2003)

Soundtrack:

Megaforce

Art: It Either Sucks, Or It Rulez.

I had a sculpture teacher in grad school who would have found MEGAFORCE a working truistic proof of his revelatory comment one day during a pointless, time-wasting studio critique of a student who obviously had no interest in making art when he said "You have to approach art on the level of Beavis & Butt-Head some days. Stuff either sucks, or it rules, and I am sorry but your work this semester totally sucks."

Roger would have been a big fan of MEGAFORCE, which I have concluded does indeed rule. This movie represents a high point, a watershed mark in western culture which has never since been surpassed. I will leave plot & character issues to other commenter's -- This movie is either the dumbest piece of crap ever made by the worst director in history, or it is a form of kitsch masterpiece that is astoundingly honest about how utterly brainless it's concept & execution were. The movie has zero pretense to be anything other than exactly what it is -- a stupid, loud, moronic action movie with heroic music, explosions, vehicular stunts, funky looking high tech junk, tight spandexed jumpsuits, helicopters, jingoistic catch phrase dialog that seems to have been randomly chosen from old episodes of The Superfriends, and Henry Silva.

Henry Silva is one of those actors whom I marvel at with open admiration: His ability to make the ridiculous seem perfectly natural is on the same level as Boris Karloff, and every role he appears in becomes a Henry Silva performance. Here he is somewhat more animated than the usual cold as a railroad track on a frozen February morning hired killer seen in his more typical work as various paid assassins. You have not truly lived until you have seen Henry Silva blow up people with his bazooka in THE BOSS & DEATH COMMANDO. A lot of people may dismiss him as an "actor", but as a character performer he is right up there with Harry Dean Stanton and Ivor Francis as one of the most ubiquitously recognizable bad guys from decades of TV & movies. Mr. Silva, wherever you are, your work is invaluable, and MEGAFORCE is yet another stunning achievement.

Back to the movie, though, this is going to be one of those things you either "get" or don't, like The Three Stooges, Tom Waits, professional wrestling or Rush Limbaugh. You are either going to instantly love it or wonder why anyone on Earth would consider it to be entertaining, let alone having cultural value. Art should always be subjective though, and it should be up to those who consume it to evaluate culture for themselves rather than allow some idiot to do it for you. MEGAFORCE is a lesson in subjective taste: It is either a masterpiece or an embarrassment, will provoke extreme reaction both for and against -- and both sentiments are equally legitimate. It is only those who are not moved that I pity.

MEGAFORCE can also serve as a time capsule for people who want to remember what it was like to be 9 or so, and ranks up there with THE HUMANOID starring Richard "Jaws" Keil and YOR, HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE with Reb Brown as amongst the most stupid, ham-boned, addle minded but enjoyable science fiction movies from the 1980's. You are not supposed to learn anything at ALL, and if you do that's your own stupid fault. The movies exist as pure entertainment -- One sight of the Megaforce rolling into battle on their stupid mocked-up motorcycles and absurd missile launcher armored dune buggies while going against a column of military tanks was all it took for me to make my decision. The kinetic explosions & stunts afterward were just icing on the cake: This is easily one of the coolest movies ever made, and if you don't get it you never will.

10/10