Another title we all know about on super 8, the full feature pops up now and again but this 600ft version is so well edited the action is all there and it moves so fast you dont have too much time to think about it.
This is, like all Deranns later prints, very good throughout in image and sound. No fade what so ever, if anything there is a fair amount of green but it certainly looks 1st class. Not a mark on this print either, no lines no splices, oh, other than at the start where we have attached a trailer with Odeon daysets for the James Bond movie The living Daylights, a great fast paced trailer with my favourite James Bond, Timothy Dalton. If only he did a couple more. What i like at the very end of this trailer is the pirate video warning to the audience.
Here is the plot, again with the help of my mate Wiki, edited down by me to cover this excellent 600ft cut down. There is a whole host of Hollywood stars in here,

During an exercise in the Brecon Beacons, Hadley and Major Steele discover Skellen's troop torturing Hagen and Freund. Skellen is dismissed from the Regiment.
Skellen meets up with Frankie Leith, one of the two people who lead The People's Lobby, the militant group believed to be planning an act of terrorism. Skellen initiates a romantic relationship with her; Leith takes Skellen to the organisation's offices and introduces him to the group.
During an SAS training exercise on old train coaches, to strengthen Skellen's cover story, Hadley informs Hagen and Freund of Skellen's location; the wronged men attack Skellen at Leith's home and inflict a severe beating. As a result, Leith's few remaining doubts about Skellen vaporise, but Walker and his cronies still are not fully convinced.
Their scrutiny intensifies when Walker and his associates witness Skellen's meeting with his wife and daughter. They use photos from their surveillance to convince Leith that Skellen is not all he seems.
Walker orders Helga to kill Ryan, cutting Skellen's link to Hadley. Hadley has no choice but to trust Skellen's abilities to uncover the group's plans and escape alive. He orders police protection for Skellen's family.
Despite his official advisory capacity, Skellen is denied details about the upcoming PL operation.
Leith informs Skillern that his wife and Daughter are being held hostage in order to blackmail Skellen into unconditional co-operation.
The terrorists and Skellen arrive at the US Embassy in a hijacked coach. Wearing stolen US Air Force uniforms, they gain entry to the secure compound and take hostages of the US Ambassador, US Secretary of State, US Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Air Command, and British Foreign Secretary, along with their wives and the embassy staff. Hadley and his police counterpart, Commander Powell, is at the Embassy to receive the demands of the terrorists: unless a US nuclear missile is launched at Holy Loch Naval Base, all the hostages will be killed. Currie questions Leith's motivations, and Leith responds that her ultimate goal is the disarmament of the whole world. This opens a debate about method and political philosophy that only antagonises the terrorists.
Meanwhile, Dennis and three fellow SAS troopers arrive at Skellen's home. They set up in the attached house next door, using sensing devices to covertly observe Helga, Mac and their captives through the wall.
Meanwhile, Helga's temper at the Skellen's crying baby escalates into a fight with Skellen's wife. The operatives work fast to attach a charge to the exposed wall, cut the lights and blow the wall so two SAS soldiers can shoot through the gap and kill both Helga and Mac.
As the SAS mount an assault on the embassy, the terrorists panic. Skellen overpowers and kills two terrorists. The SAS, deploying from helicopters, force open doors and enter through windows. As they methodically clear the embassy, Skellen kills more terrorists including Walker. Skellen joins with Baker and his troop to search for Leith, as the other troopers bundle the hostages to safety. When Skellen hesitates to kill Leith on sight, Major Steele kills her before she can kill Skellen.
Here are the images starting off with a few from The living daylights trailer. I am sure you will appreciate that these pics do not come near to doing this print any justice.

Love it Tom!!

Never managed so far to get hold of this one in either form but it is very much right up my street given the cast and era it was made in.

Stupidly, right at the beginning of getting back into all of this, I was offered the feature at what seemed quite a lot of money at the time. Probably a similar amount to what I gave for Die Hard back then.

I turned the opportunity down at the time, and of course, deeply regret it now.

Compared to what we are seeing now regarding the prices of these things, it was peanuts!

We live and learn as they say.

Quite a nice film this ... I bought the feature earlier this year (or was it last year?)

Top top drawer Vidar! Superb screenshots.

There was something about this in the Sunday papers. The Iranian Embassy successfully sued the British government for the cost of the repair to the building, some 2 million pounds. Thatcher made sure the whole thing could been seen as the action unfolded by stopping them using any kind of smoke screen while making the raid. The effect it had on the world was priceless, no one messes with the "SAS", proving how good these guy's were. Ironically Lewis Collins actually passed all the tests for the entry into the SAS, but was rejected because of his high profile as an actor, so he made a perfect choice in this movie. Both great looking films, with great colour holding up very well indeed.

I prefer the 600' edition, as the F/L feature drags midway through, too much talk bogs it down, but the 30 odd minute version has all the best bits and the story flows well too.

Thats right Barry, we did turn the feature down a few times, i have seen this on TV and have to say, if it was the first time i saw it i probably wouldn't have bought either length. The thing i find with a film like this is that if you have the feature, how often would you get it out to watch? This version is so repeatable at least once a year or more is no problem.
Great screenshots there Vidar.
Mind you, an odd reel from the film would make this 600ft version even better.

I'd still take the feature if one became available nowadays in decent nick, but I take your point with this one Gents.

I am personally Happy with the feature :-) Would not trade for cutdowns, if I can have full film.

I agree with Barry, I had the 600ft version and it was far better than the full length version as Barry said it gets bogged down in the middle.

You can always cut a scene or two out of a full film if you don't like parts of it. You can't add to a cutdown so easily.

Vandalism of films? No, no :-) The horror

I agree with Vidar. It would lower the value of the full feature if a section was cut out and you wanted to sell it. If you wanted to add it back later you would have to remember where you put it. Not worth it.

Graham S

it's not something I personally would do Vidar and Graham, but was just a suggestion for anyone who liked the film, except the middle bit.

It was a 4x 600ft release anyhow I think, so just skip reel 2 or 3 I suppose when you watch it.

Mary Poppins to me, of which I'm a huge fan btw, had the needless bank scenes even though I understand why Disney HAD to include it as an integral and most important part of the Travers story.

To me as a Disney fantasy film, you could chop a lot of the last reel back to bare bones without loss to the story.

It's a similar story with the final two reels of TSOM but again, is important to the story but quite drawn out.

One of the reasons why I'm happy with my 3x 600ft version but with all the extra short reels cut into it keeping all of the songs at their full and original length.

I know Tom feels the same way about raise the titanic. It is slow and fairly talky and mainly political around the mid section, but again is an integral part to the plot.

It's a tricky one really for many full length films.

Personally, I hated the Lord Of The Rings films. I thought they were far far too drawn out for what was entertaining, but others I know, see them as fine films just as they are.

Thats the good thing with our films, feature films you can skip a reel or two, or simply watch the spools you like best. We did gone with the wind over four nights, 1 1200 foot spool each evening. Only did this once, a film like that needs to have a full evening viewing put aside, handy though.

Yet another I'd like a nice tidy print of one day, there Tom.