Prisoner in the Middle (1974)

Warhead

Cast:

David "A One-Armed man killed my wife!" Jansen is Colonel Antony "Tony" Stevens
Karin Dor is Captain Ilora
Joan Freeman is Nomoi
Art Metrano is Mario
David Semadar is Mulouf

What the box says:

Arab terrorists face off with Israeli soldiers for the possession of a nuclear warhead which is accidentally made available. The only person who may be able to disarm the bomb and keep it out of terrorist hands is a lone nuclear expert.

Plot:

A teletype message informs us that a B-52 accidentally dropped a nuclear weapon in Jordan. The closest operative is Colonel Tony Stevens, a nuclear expert on vacation in Jerusalem. His mission is to deactivate it. A CIA operative finds him and informs him of the mission.

Tony is parachuted into the desert. Using a Geiger counter, he starts to search for the warhead.

Elsewhere, a class of Israeli children is on a field trip. A rocket launcher knocks the bus on its side. The leader of the terrorists surveys his handiwork.

My name is Saddam and enjoy look walks on the beach... Sending some of his men to examine the wreckage, the Israeli teacher, Ms. Shillman, is able to gun them down with an Uzi except the leader, Major Mulouf.

The teacher is the only survivor from the bus. A flashback ensues and she breaks down at the carnage.

At an Israeli military base, the teacher, who apparently is a lieutenant, is ordered to join a squad to capture the terrorists. Captain Ilora will pick the rest of the squad. Lieutenant Shilllman is the only one who can recognize Mulouf.

At target practice, the hot blonde glasses chick, Nomi, is outshooting everyone. Ilora wants her on the squad, too.

Later, Rabbi, another member of the squad holds service before everyone gets their guns and are loaded for bear. They drive off in the jeeps are about to cross the border.

A parachute is found beside the nuclear warhead. Colonel Tony is about to defuse it when caught by Major Mulouf of the Palestinian Liberation Army. The warhead is loaded. Mulouf plans on using it on a military conference.

Fro trooper, has a giant fro wig, spots a sentry from a distance. He signals the Captain and the rest. They realize the sentry isn�t a Bedouin but a trooper. Nomi is able to snipe him.

The warhead is being loaded. Colonel Tony asks to disarm it. Mulouf doesn�t realize how powerful the bomb is.

In the distance, Captain Ilora spots the PLA loading something. Shillman is able to spot Muluof.

Mulouf is about to let Colonel Tony disarm the bomb when the Israeli�s ride in. Letting the gunfight ensues. Grenade fu leads to explosions and casualties on both sides. The PLA retreats.

The Israelis survey the damage and the losses. Ilora questions Tony. He doesn�t want the good Colonel to disarm the warhead. He�ll return it after getting back to Israel.

The warhead is loaded again. The dead soldiers are buried and drive off.

Major Mulouf is plotting on where to ambush them.

The Israelis stop and check ahead. A PLA sentry spots them.

In a canyon, Ilora can�t contact HG. Suddenly, Nomi is sniped. Mario (who has an uncanny resemblance to Ron Jeremy) fills the sniper with bullets of the lead type. Lieutenant Shillman would rather Colonel Tony was dead. Nomi�s body is left behind as they head on.

Back at the PLA camp, they had captured one of the women soldiers. Mulouf is sure he can trade her for the warhead. He leaves and gives her to his right hand man to enjoy. The scene ends as she starts screaming.

Colonel Tony and Shillman philosophize. He is able to knock a soldier out and starts to disarm the bomb and caught again. Tony can�t convince anyone the bomb is unstable.

An Israeli scout thinks everything is all clear. Unfortunately, for him, a PLA scout is able to slit his throat.

Captain Ilora realizes the only thing to do is head to a nearby fort. He gives Tony the choice of being left behind or going with them to fight. Tony goes with them. They drive on. Eventually, they see the PLA pull the scout�s body apart with wild horses.

Another gunfight ensues. Ilora is hit this time. However, the Israeli�s get through the PLA lines.

Mulouf complains how the Israelis ran off. Hassan convinces him to get more men before attacking at dawn.

At the fort, Ilora is patched up. He asks Colonel Tony to take command. Tony starts giving orders. He admits he couldn�t disarm the bomb without the papers Mulouf has now.

At dawn, Mulouf sees the warhead but no soldiers.

I'm sorry, Dave. I can't open the pod bay doors. Mortar fire doesn�t show anyone in the fort. He sends Hassan ahead to give the all clear. Searching the fort, he signals Mulouf who brings 2 jeeps of troops with him to the fort.

Suddenly, Shuggie the FRO-MAN rams one of the PLA jeeps with his own. Israeli troops pop out of the woodworks and start gunning the PLA troops down.

FRO-Man is finally gunned down in a Bon Jovi patent-pending Blaze of Glory.

Many explosions ensue. Mario carries his dead friend off. However, he is fatally shot in the process.

FRO-MAN dons the wig one more time before dying. .

Major Mulouf is able to shoot Shillman. Colonel Tony fills him with more lead than a classroom. Shillman asks to be taken home to be buried.

Tony gets the papers for the bomb and surveys the dead.

Later, back in Jerusalem, at the wall from the beginning of the movie, Tony recalls the words of Shillman about how the killing hasn�t visited him yet�

What I say:

Well, another David Jansen TV-movie from the 70s. After Moon of the Wolf, why didn't I stop when I was ahead? Glutton for punishment. This isn't really a bad movie. However, it really isn't that good either. The "blah" movies are almost as bad as anything completely unentertaining. The main reason was I wanted to review both movies on the disc. I was expecting more of an action movie than this.

TV-movies aren't exactly known for having great action scenes. Most current TV-movies are the endangered wife on Lifetime now. We get the random genre movies about radical naturla disasters or killer bugs ever so often. The 70s for its many faults at least had quite a bit of genre movies: action, sci-fi, and even horror...

My big complaint is how the story is cut up. It is hard to tell who several of the characters are. The movie where teh characters aren't named for at least a half an hour and then look almost identical to someone else. For instance several incidents throughout the movie happen though we never know how they happen. I never spotted any of the Israeli women grabbed by the Arabs. In their camp, they have the soldier and imply trying to ransom her for the bomb and decide to be far more evil as the movie cuts to an obvious commercial break.

The terrorist stuff is something that seemed lightyears away from America in the 70s. After September 11th, this movie seems far more prophetic or at least realistic about terrorism. I think trying to put some deeper meaning into a 70s TV-movie about post 9-11 thoughts seems something only a deranged philospher would do. I may be deranged but not willing to attack you with my philosophy. Maybe directors have some deeper meanings in their films. However, film school students writing prententious papers about the hidden meaning of Little Shop of Horrors don't have access to these deeper meanings. Invasion of the Body Snatchers isn't about communism or anticommunism. Night of the Living Dead isn't about Vietnam. It is mainly about zombies if you can spot some deeper meaning. So if John Carpenter admits that They Live is about alien capitalists, that's ok. Chaz the film student keep it to yourself to keep the philosphy majors from jumping on the bandwagon and crying about how they spotted the deeper meaning of the movie.

Well, Prisoner in the Middle has a lot of similarites to the Dirty Dozen especially its ending, too. Most of the characters don't have names until at least half an hour into the movie which makes keeping track of them that much harder. Actually, a later movie that reminds me more of this one is Final Fantasy Mission. A military squad has a difficult mission. The hero appears and disappears throughtout the movie. Somehow, never thiught I'd compare David Jannsen with Jackie Chan. They end similarly with the downbeat endings.

The villains whether they are called terrorists or not are the stereotypical terrorists you would expect a couple of years after the Munich Olympics where a number of Israelis atheltes were killed. They may not be the Snidely Whiplash mustache twirlign villains but are awfully close to it. Having villains act with honor and making the heroes seem not so honorable makes the story more complicated and interesting.

David Jansen doesn't really seem like much of what could be considered an action star by this movie. The 60s had him as Dr. Richard Kimble chasing after the one-armed man who killed his wife in the Fugitive. Can't recall anything else he was in though. The 70s had him in quite a few number of TV-movies. Back to Prisoner in the Middle, He just keeps wanting to disarm the nuke. I'm not expecting a Rambo like hero or even the tough cop on the edge from the 70s. Would a 2 fisted military officer be too much though??

The Israelis were ordered to go after a terrorist and wind up with a missing American nuke. Instead of letting the guy disarm it, they act as if he were some sort of double agent. That would be a possibility if it were at least mentioned. He is just to be untrusted because of general reasons. Though no real explanation about the nuke after Israel got it was mentioned. It was implied thy'd return it then. Wouldn't a fidgety nuke be something you wouldn't want to take back to your country unless it was safe.

Enjoy my pointless questions that you probably asked yourself during the movie if you watched it. This isn't known as a great movie and is more forgotten until someone realized the rights to it couldn't be much to burn it on a DVD and sell at Dollar Tree. Let me get back to my point. Why is there a bald trooper with a giant super FRO wig? The only better question is why does one of the other soldiers have an uncanny resemblance to Mario or Ron Jeremy.

Quotable Dialogue
"Working under you isn't exactly a mitzah."
"We've come a long way, baby."
"Get off the bomb."
Morals of the Story
White parachutes are inconspicious in the desert.
Foreign school busses are yellow.
It is easy for horses to pull bodies apart.