High Risk (1981)

"Look, we've got four million dollars. We could put Donald Duck in the White House.", 2 March 2005

Four regular guys come up with a plan to rob a South American drug lord of $5 million. The money is locked inside a safe in a heavily guarded compound. Getting to the money proves to be fairly easy. But getting away is another story. In addition to the drug lord's men, the guys are chased by a rebel army who would like to get their hands on the money.

It's amazing how good this relatively unknown movie really is. I had never even heard of it until I found it in the $1 DVD bin at Wal Mart. The plot and cast (James Coburn, Anthony Quinn, Ernest Borgnine, Cleavon Little, James Brolin, Lindsay Wagner) looked good, so I decided to "risk" a whole dollar. The movie is definitely worth spending $1 to see.

The movie reminded me of Romancing the Stone - similar setting, similar South American bandits, etc. The biggest difference is that High Risk has a harder edge to it. I mean some of our "heroes" actually get shot and there's a real danger they won't make it through the movie.

I've read that High Risk was released the same weekend as a little, insignificant movie called Raiders of the Lost Arc. Too bad. It looks like High Risk got lost in the shuffle. It definitely deserves a wider audience.

7/10