Just perfect...

It is a performances centric movie

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

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

When I saw this film was 2 hours long, I thought "well, obviously going to be plodding and in need of edits".An action film about a mine disaster due to corporate greed? No way you can make two hours of excitement out of that, without weighing down the story with too much political gibberish that no one understands.However, this film flowed very well, and I'm attention deficit, so that is quite amazing.There's a lot to this film. Mostly, it is cleverly directed. Even when there is no action, we get a sense of animation, or of wit, or suspense.Each actor probably thought it was "his" film. You could tell that most of them had a blast, especially the bad guys.Beckley had to believe it was his film. The bad guys are all deliciously evil, and Beckley gets to play the most deliciously evil of them. We know what he's going to be like, and he gives a great show.In that, the bad guys aren't what you would call the multi-dimensional types, but more the "James Bond" types, played to the hilt.Which brings up the next matter. Is Moore playing James Bond here? There are obvious similarities, the womanizing, the wit, the independence, the charisma, the good heart under a tough skin.But there are also differences. As "Slater", Moore isn't a Superman like Bond. He doesn't kill people. He only beats one guy up, not the usual three at a time that Bond would.There's a more realistic human in "Slater", not that Bond is unreal in character, but he is in his godlike abilities. Slater has the multiple dimensions of Bond, but also is more like a regular guy, although he is as wealthy as James Bond, with thousands of dollars meaning nothing to him.Then there's the girl. Susanah York is cleverly done. Either by acting talent or by make up, she achieves the "change" described in her character. When we first see her, she is plain and insignificant. However, as her father, played by Ray Milland, notices, she becomes a newer, prettier creature after meeting "Slater".That's important to the story. We now believe the whirlwind romance, as she has been married to a cold calculating Bradford Dillman, usually an "Everyman", and here his "Everyman" look is geared towards a sinister side.There is great drama, great theatrics, and great scenery to help us along the way. This is one of the quickest two hours you will ever see. Bravo.

Not a particularly good film. The story plods along at an incredibly slow rate and is very predictable. It is a hard slog to watch the whole thing through in one sitting. Each catastrophe that occurs is overworked and expanded far more than is necessary with an excessive amount of time wasted on each event.There are also numerous inconsistencies with the amount of people involved in each disaster, the size of the mine and how long each rescue takes.That being said, Ray Milland is absolutely superb as the gruff gold mine chairman, playing the grumpy character he mastered in his later years showing a lack of patience with all around him. The desperation he shows when shouting at the other members of the bowling team is priceless.Fans of Roger Moore will also appreciate his performance and there is a certain chemistry between Moore and Susannah York - particularly in the bath scene! A certain amount of ad-libbing I wonder!The question has to be how John Gielgud was persuaded to take part. A very small part which was hardly worthy of such a great actor.If you enjoy either Milland or Moore, and can put up with a huge number of bad bits, this film may be worth watching just the once.

This is not a great film, but it has its moments. In 1974 probably not too many people knew much about South Africa and the gold mining process, so for that reason it was educational. The mine sequences are interesting although undoubtedly filmed on a studio set. For me the most interesting action sequence though is when the hero is trying to land a plane on a tailings pile at a speed low enough to almost stall out. Most interesting of all, thirty years ago it was almost unheard of to see frontal nudity in a major film. When Susannah York's breast appeared out of the suds in the bathtub scene, my jaw dropped open. I couldn't believe I was really seeing it. For sheer surprise it ranks right up there with Charlton Heston kissing a black woman in that science fiction film that I think was called The Omega Man. Today of course such things are commonplace.

I saw this film while living in Geneva Switzerland in 1981, courtesy of a borrowed video cassette copy. I was a lot younger then, thirty, and less discerning, but I was utterly enchanted by actress Susannah York, and have been ever since. It had the feel of a good James Bond adventure and I thought that actor Roger Moore was at his best, and in fact was better in this film then in any of his James Bond movies. I've never visited South Africa, but had studied the history of the country, and I enjoyed viewing the on-location scenes of the country. There are great scenes workers in the mines, as well as Zulu warriors in their regalia.