The Hostage Tower (1980)

A daring, if somewhat ridiculous, plot to hold the Eiffel Tower hostage!

Master criminal Mr Smith (Keir Dullea) has an audacious new crime planned, he will take the Eiffel Tower hostage! He recruits a number of top criminals to help him, unfortunately for him though two are agents from Philpott's (Douglas Fairbanks Jr) special crime fighting unit. These are Clarence (Billy Dee Williams) and Sabrina (Maud Carver), though Sabrina is shocked that Mike (Peter Fonda) has also been recruited and he was her instructor in the CIA...

The plot goes off, and an added complication is that Mr Smith has got hold of some deadly laser weapons, and the mother of the US President (Celia Johnson) is also a hostage...

A solid action TV movie (though the premise itself is a little ridiculous). The scenes on the Eiffel Tower are very well filmed, and the laser cannons are pretty cool. Well, lasers are always cool.

The Night Flier (1997)

A good Stephen King adaptation. Vampires are bought into the 20th century, travelling by light aircraft instead of a horse drawn carriage!

Richard (Miguel Ferrer) is a hard noses reporter for a sensationalist tabloid. He begins to investigate a strange case of vampire style attacks by someone who arrives at remote airstrips by private plane, though he thinks it is just a really sick serial killer. New reporter Katharine (Julie Entwistle) is also after the story, they do work together for a while but Richard is determined to get the scoop and ends up locking her in a wardrobe! 

Richard finally tracks down the killer, but ends up with much more than he bargained for...

A fine enough film, low budget but plenty of gore, the vampire effects are pretty well done. Although we know we are in a horror film, much of the film plays out as a pretty decent crime investigation film too.

The Marseille Contract (1974)

A stellar cast, a good plot but somehow a bit of a disappointment.

US agent Ventura (Anthony Quinn) has been trying to bring drug baron Brizard (James Mason) down for ages but to no avail, so he decides to employ a contract killer. 

To his surprise the assassin turns out to be an old friend, Deray (Michael Caine). Deray is sent down to Marseille to get involved with Brizard's organisation, meanwhile Ventura is starting to have second thoughts...

A decent enough early 1970s crime movie though with the three leads you might expect a little more, maybe we are just being a bit greedy? This is still an enjoyable film, gritty and violent at times and also with some good sports car action. 

Matt Houston (1982)

The feature length pilot for walking stereotype Matt Houston, the rich Texan oil executive who is also a private investigator!

A business man is killed during the launch of an ocean liner, when the champagne bottle explodes! Matt Houston (Lee Horsley) begins to investigate the case, and of course there are many suspects including the daughter Serena (Barbara Carrera) and the mistress Karen Ann (Jill St John). As well as a case which frequently puts him in danger, Matt is also training on a bucking bronco so he can win a bet and tame a wild horse! Matt is assisted by CJ (Pamela Hensley) and his police friend Vince (John Aprea).

This is all very odd stuff which probably only made sense in the early 1980s. Matt is very genial though and charismatic, this helps with the watchability even if the story and premise is a bit strange. A mixture of cowboy and secret agent. It shouldn't really work but somehow did. After this pilot Matt Houston ran for three seasons.

Air Patrol (1962)

A decent but straight forward crime procedural, the only novelty being the helicopters, though that is a good one!

An expensive painting is stolen, the thief escaping from the top of an office block via a helicopter! The police are baffled, so call upon Sgt Castle (Robert Dix) from the police helicopter squad for help. However, the culprit isn't tracked down before a ransom demand is made which the painting's owner agrees to, his secretary Mona (Merry Anders) is sent to deliver the cash while Castle shadows her in his helicopter. One of the least exciting police car chases in screen history follows.

This can't be said to be a very exciting film but it is very watchable. The lack of much in the way of action actually gives the film a genuine feel and the police procedural work is very solid even if the car chase seems rather inept. The film does feel like it should have been the pilot of a TV series, though Castle says he wanted to leave the helicopter squad anyway!