The Presidio

***SPOILER WARNING***It's really unfortunate to watch actors you know are capable of first-rate performances saddled with a sub-par script. Connery did the best job of the name actors, but not even he got out unscathed. I can't figure why this screenplay was such a clunker bc the same screenwriter did the adaptation for The Hunt for Red October, which was smoothly done.Let us count the things that were dumb. This is not a complete list, just what is sticking in my mind as I write this review.1. The premise. Smuggling diamonds inside water bottles *seems* like it's smart, but the way it plays out in this movie is dumb. The diamonds are coming in from the Philippines via military transport. One 5-gallon water bottle at a time. So, um, this raises no eyebrows? "Why is Airman Miller carrying his own private supply of mountain spring water?" Just how many airmen are actively trafficking? If it's the same one or two guys ferrying their own 5-gal water bottle each trip, the more obvious it gets the more it happens. The writer seems to have been so obsessed with the apparent cleverness of the purloined letter trick (diamonds hiding in plain sight -- inside one water bottle that itself blends in on a truck full of ordinary water bottles) that he did not think about how the concept fails at the smuggling origin point. A less cheesy approach would have been to have the airman who gasses up the transport in the Philippines drop the diamonds into the gas tank, and have the diamonds retrieved by one of the airmen who services the plane after it lands at Travis AFB. Diamonds smuggled inside vehicle gas tanks is a method that has been used in real life.2. The convenient coinkeedink that the rich villain AND all his major henchman AND Spota AND Maclure AND Caldwell & Austin all just happen to converge on the bottling plant at the same time, setting up the climax of the movie. Caldwell & Austin went there bc they were told that Spota would be there. Every other character's presence was forced, with no natural logic within the story as to why they were there at that location & exact time.3. Casting Connery as a career U.S. military officer was tricky, because the filmmakers felt they had to explain the Scots accent. So someone threw a scene into the script where Caldwell explains his boyhood journey to U.S. with his plucky but struggling-for-work father. Two problems with this. One, if Caldwell grew up in the U.S. why is his accent still so strong after, what, 50 or so years in America? Two, the monologue was trite and unremarkable. You just knew there would be a "sighting the Statue of Liberty" line and, sure enough, thar she comes. My gosh Frank Capra tells a better, more heart-tugging arriving in America & seeing Lady Liberty story than that. The underwhelming nature of the writing makes that speech gratuitous. There's nothing exceptional about Caldwell's experience that hasn't been expressed a thousand times elsewhere, and in more poetic and inspiring words from some of those other sources.4. The funeral at the end. Cringe. Badly overwritten. Painful to watch Connery play a scene that violates both Connery's persona and the nature of the character he's playing. Yes, I know the writer was trying to make the point that Caldwell changed. But the way it was executed was an overcorrection, and entirely wrong for the scene coming where it did in the film. After the main plot is resolved, the movie is effectively over. Wrapping up the subplot of the father-daughter-bf needs to be done SPEEDILY. This is not the time for "let's spend several minutes reflecting on what we've learned & watch one of the lead characters go through a transformative emotional struggle."5. Patti Jean (the MP) finds a vehicle outside the O Club in the dead of night, when there should be no vehicle there. She finds evidence of B&E (the jimmied open door) and radios in that info ***without relaying the info about the car & license plate info.*** Then, in direct violation of the orders she's given, she goes inside the building by herself, no backup. Hears a crash so she knows the perps are inside the store room. Instead of withdrawing, she keeps going -- and gets herself shot to death. Stupid and unprofessional. This is the kickoff of the movie. Sets the tone for the sloppy writing choices to come.6. Bar Idiot. What was the plot necessity of that scene, other than to show us that Caldwell could beat up a dude using only one thumb? Caldwell & Austin extract no clues nor come away with any evidence. The scene is disconnected from the main mystery and does not produce a bonding moment between Caldwell & Austin. Fail and fail. Gratuitous action using the dumbest of motives of a dumb aggressive character (Bar Idiot).7. Austin is so busy smack-talking Lawrence during the attempted arrest that he lets himself get literally smacked by Lawrence, who escapes & leads Austin on an extended chase through Chinatown. Once again, a character acts dumb in order for the writer to have an excuse to insert an action scene.A script as riddled as this one was with poor logic. corner-cutting conveniences and lack of impactful dialogue could well have contributed to the off-the-mark performances. No one wants to see Sean Connery get choked up and almost cry, and Connery didn't seem to want to deliver what nobody wanted to see.Meg Ryan, who sparkled the next year with the super-smart script of When Harry Met Sally, looks great here but is mostly annoying here. Daddy issues seems ... a cliche, and it's offputting that this is something that is still troubling their relationship when she's the age that she is and does not seem to have established herself with an interesting job or life independent of dad.The villain is so, so bland. He gets very little screen time & nothing in the way of good dialogue. I have no idea what the actor would have done with more/better material to work with. As movie villains go, this guy was like a 2 out of 10. In retrospect, dying on a stack of empty 5-gallon water bottles seems kind of fitting for the lack of substance. It's just that that was not the point that the filmmakers were trying to make.My least favorite performance was from Harmon. Part of it was the writing, which had his character acting like an inappropriate a-hole at times. Part of it is just Harmon. He has this annoying affectation (you can see him still using it decades later, as Gibbs on NCIS) where he cops a "raised-brows, wide-eyed boyish look of innocence" when his character is playing dumb, which he does in the office scene with the villain. Peter Falk can get away with this when he plays Colombo playing dumb, because he uses timing, not silly exaggerated expressions. Which brings me to my main point about Harmon, is that he is a misfit playing against Connery. Harmon is a lightweight & a TV actor, and it shows A LOT in this movie. There are shots during the Chinatown chase where Harmon is SMILING. Completely out of tone with the music & the drama that the scene is trying to convey. It's little things like this -- discipline of face and body at every moment in a film -- that separate a good actor from a great one. Connery was a great actor. Harmon is ... not.Last but not least, you don't "win" a Medal of Honor.This movie felt like a TV movie of the week script that somehow won the budgeting lottery & got produced as a theatrical feature instead. A real let-down.

Great Movie, Thanks

"The Presidio" is a better Mark Harmon film which also stars Meg Ryan and Sean Connery. It's about a multi-jurisdictional murder investigation between the SFPD led by Harmon and the military cops led by Connery with Ryan as his cute daughter who falls for Harmon. OmG!Jack Warden plays "gunney" the old vet who may be in on it or not. The plot has more cracks than a SF Milton Street. Anyhow, the plot chugs along and San Francisco and The Presidio make nice background shots.Will love win out? Did gunney do it? And, don't drink the water!

Although dated I so loved this movie that I just saw it for the third time over these many years. It is nice to see a movie that still holds up as a simple reminder, that a movie does not have to be great to be GREAT!Bill Culotta

Every main was great enacting a nice weave or threads. Action punctuated by human interaction, all done well. The cinematography had an interesting Hawaii 50 / NCIS feel. I really get tired of crime movies shot in all dark scenes. Good change-up.Great watch.

One of the best movies ever !

Just an excellent job all the way around. The people that posted negative reviews are doing it from their hippocritical views. Always judging people and situations as if they are perfect.

The storyline dovetails with the actors' maturity in their craft. A young fearless San Francisco detective is put on a case with the experienced US Army officer in charge of military police on the Presidio. There's animosity derived from the detective's service as an MP in the Presidio when he slugged an officer who was being arrested. Harmon and Connery are the main characters butting heads over who has presidence in this case. Throw in a slinky, slightly slutty colonel's daughter as a distraction for the SFPD cop, and father's nightmare some color is added. The aged Medal of Honor recipient who saved the, then shave tail lieutenant in Vietnam, and diamonds add enough twists and turns to make this enjoyable enough to watch twice. Don't miss the scene in the café between the Screaming Eagle colonel and a loud mouth bully. You'll never look at a thumb in the same light again.

Excellent film well produced with good cast.

How I wish I'd tried watching this when I first bought it, it would have been returned. It doesn't play.

why only 4 stars for this excellent piece of hokum? Sean playing yet again ~ Sean Connery. He is good but i got the feeling he gets work as an actor because of his status rather than anything else. he sells films. Nothing new in this film but entertaining.

I enjoyed the film although it seemed more a movie for tv. I kept expecting to find there was a twist in the story but it just played out. Connery and Harmon worked well together.

Poor script, great Sean Connery acting was unable to buoy up the inept acting by many of the other cast members - not one I would want to see again.