The Challenge (1970)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

In this movie, the US as well as China and one of its allies are trying to get to some lost experimental military hardware in the Pacific. However, instead of coming to blows, the Chinese have a proposal-- each side send a soldier to a barren island and the winner take all. The US agrees, as they don't want a showdown with China. However, their choice of men is inexplicable...Jacob Gallery (Darren McGavin). This aging mercenary was chosen over any in the Special Forces and you see this as a weakness in the script. Why Gallery?! Why a 48 year-old actor?! Apparently, the director didn't like what he saw either and chose to do what some directors when they hate their films...they refuse to put their name on it and instead it says 'Allen Smithee'--a euphemism widely understood within the industry. You can only assume he did this in protest to meddling by the production company--such as re- editing his film or making him shoot a different ending or something like that.Now is this to say it's a bad film? No. It's not bad apart from the stupid casting decision. However it IS slow. After all, with such a simple plot it's hard to pad it all out to a movie time slot. Overall, worth seeing but hardly one of the best installments of "The ABC Movie of the Week".

McGavin was 47 when he made this terrific little film.No TV actor was as good at these roles as McGavin. He was the TV equivalent of Steve McQueen or Lee Marvin, both of whom were also veterans of TV. "The Challenge" could have made a strong theatrical movie for McQueen or Marvin. It could still be remade today.McGavin had already starred in four television series at this point.McGavin had starred the previous season in "The Outsider", as ex-con private investigator David Ross. This was one of the finest private eye series. Roy Huggins, who created and produced the series, later retooled it as "The Rockford Files".After "The Challenge", McGavin made two other exceptional Movies of the Week: "Tribes" and "The Night Stalker". These were better films than most movie stars were making at the time.When the "Gallery" pilot didn't sell, McGavin immediately signed on for another pilot where he played a spy named Killian. The TV movie was called "Berlin Affair". When someone asked him if the film was cloak and dagger, McGavin said it was more "girl on arm". That pilot didn't sell either.I read once that McGavin turned down the lead in "Hogan's Heros" (1965-1971). He could have been dazzling in that role. But in 1965 McGavin did sign on to star in a pilot of "From Here to Eternity". McGavin would have played the Burt Lancaster role of Sergeant Warden. Another tantalizing might have been.

I saw this movie when it first came out and have also been trying to find a copy. This is an excellent movie with a great interaction between Mr. McGavin and Mako. The movie seemed to make some bold statements for the time (l970) when it was produced. I definitely look forward to seeing this again. I wonder if anyone knows whether this is still being shown around in re-runs. I highly recommend this movie and feel this might have drawn a type of cult following much the way 'Tribes' did when it was first released about the same time period. I feel that this was an excellent anti war allegory which left the viewer sensing the moral to the story.

"The Challenge" is a great little movie, if you can find it. I haven't seen it in quite a few years, and then it was only on television.The premise of the movie is nothing new. The USA and a smaller asian country are both vying for something that landed in the ocean (I can't remember if it was a missile, or space capsule, or satellite, or what), and rather than wage war over the object, they decide to let two men, one from each nation, fight a 2-man war (a surrogate war) on a deserted island to determine who has the right to it.If the premise seems silly, don't worry, the movie is thoroughly enjoyable and the premise soons fades into the background as the two combatants begin their cat and mouse game of survival. Both lead actors, Darren McGavin and Mako, are terrific. As Gallery, an ex US soldier/special operations spook, McGavin is a "screw the rules" mercenary type who the government needs for this mission, but doesn't really trust. Mako is every bit his equal though as the communist (at least, I think that he was a communist) soldier with a whole bag of tricks for his US counterpart.I suppose someone might draw some sort of political conclusions from this movie, but if you are watching it for anything more than the great duel between the main characters, you are missing the point. As made-for-TV movies go, this is a gem.