The Delta Factor (1970)

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

***SPOILERS*** Framed for a 40 million robbery of US currency Morgan, Christopher George, is given a chance to redeem himself and cut his sentence down from 25 to 5 years by FBI Agent Ames, Ted de Corsia, by being given the task to not only recover the cash but rescue this important US nuclear scientist Art Keefer, Ralph Taeger, who's held captive on the Caribbean island fortress of Nvevo Cudiz. With pretty FBI Agent Kim Stacy, Yvette Mimieux, acting as Morgan's wife he used their honeymoon as cover to rescue Keefer as well as recovering the stolen money. As it soon turned out Morgan found himself involved with a web of corruption on the island from the Governor General and Police Commissioner on down that made his task of rescuing Keefer and recovering the money far more difficult then he ever expected it to be. There's also the fact the the island is being used as a gulag like prison for political dissidents that are being kept in line and in a zombie like state by being shot up with drugs by the Commandant and his stooges running it.***SPOILERS*** Acting as a drug dealer to gain entrance in Nvevo Cudiz Morgan guns down those in charge and starts a major prison revolt with the hundreds of junkies imprisoned there crashing out. It's during the massive jailbreak that the man who framed Morgan his former army buddy Sal Dekker, Joseph Sirola, who had his face altered with massive plastic surgery pops up trying to retrieve the stolen cash, that Morgan recovered, that he framed Morgan for. Planning to used the airplane that the FBI/CIA provided for Morgan as well as Keefer together with Stacy to escape Dekker, badly injured in the car chase in trying to kill Morgan, in not being quite up to it in being able to hold his gun correctly ends up being blown away by Morgan instead. As Morgan is out of trouble and in the air he's given a chance to escape, from serving time for the 40 million dollar heist, by Kim, who's now in love with him, to make a clean getaway by her looking the other way. With Morgan and the 40 million exiting the plane by parachute and swimming to safety to a boat prearranged in the Caribbean Sea that was there to rescue him.

This routine thriller, based on a Mickey Spillane novel, sees action-man Christopher George paired up with a female CIA agent to help rescue a kidnapped scientist from a remote island jail. It sounds pretty exciting, but unfortunately it isn't, thanks to a sluggish script and by-the-numbers direction. The film's major fault is a limited budget which excludes any decent intrigue or action sequences up until the last twenty minutes, during which a prison break and a car chase are crammed into a breakneck climax. Up until then, it's a boring affair, with the actors struggling to make sense of senseless dialogue and dull attempts to be 'cool' and modern.Up until now, I'd only seen George in '80s-era exploitation fare, so seeing him as a handsome, slick super-agent in the Bond model was a bit of a surprise. I couldn't help but find the script beneath his talents, though. Mimieux, so well remembered as Weena in THE TIME MACHINE, doesn't get a great deal to work with either – other than some mild flirting in those excruciating drawn out scenes of hotel bed-hopping. I looked out for Yvonne De Carlo but sadly couldn't spot her without her MUNSTERS makeup. Director Tay Garnett, at the end of a long career in TV and film, displays a talent that can be best described as 'workmanlike'.

The first 70 minutes of "The Delta Factor" are essentially all setup: Christopher George (a convict asked to help the government in exchange for 20 years of imprisonment written off) and Yvette Mimieux (an agent) meet, travel to a Caribbean island, check their hotel room for bugs, organize their mission, get in touch with their local contacts, give and take messages in coded form, etc. This is all fine for a spy flick, but when it takes up more than 3/4 of the total running time, there is a problem. The budgetary constraints are pretty obvious, especially when we keep hearing all the time about this terrible storm that has cancelled all transportations, but we never see any of it! The movie finally picks up in the last 20 minutes, with a prison riot / escape, followed by a pretty cool car chase, followed by George shooting and throwing grenades at the remaining bad guys. All this climactic action does not include Yvette, by the way, but when she is on-screen she is irresistibly gorgeous, with a variety of hairstyles, a knockout face and a fit body. Though she was never really classified as a "sex symbol" in her career, "The Delta Factor" makes it easy to argue otherwise! (**)

I will not give away the plot of the film, but I will say that if you are a fan of any of the major stars in this film and/or Mickey Spillane stories, you will get a kick out of seeing it. After viewing a nice full screen print, I can say that all the ingredients are there for a fine circa 1970 action/adventure flick, and even though it appears to have been made on a limited budget, the director did just fine with what he had in my opinion.Christoper George and his co-stars including Diane McBain, Yvette Mimieux and Yvonne DeCarlo all put in fine work here, and the humor and sexual tension and pacing of the film make for a fun diversion.This is highly recommended if you can find a copy.