The Fantastic Seven (1979 TV Movie) User Reviews

Stuntmen to the rescue!

[Sorsimus · 4/10 · 23 January 2004]

An entertaining rescue mission TV- movie.

Big name actress (Elke Sommer) is kidnapped from the set during filming. She's being held by ex- pirate Bourdieu (Patrick Macnee)on an off shore shack off the coast of Cuba for ransom. As the FBI declines to act, stuntman Hill Singleton decides to put together a rescue team made of stuntmen and women.

What's so enjoyable in this one is the fact that everyone seems to be aware of the ludicrosity of the script. No one's acting at all seriously and it almost seems that many times we get a glimpse of the real people behind the roles.

Another notable thing about The Fantastic Seven is the warmth and respect shown towards the profession of stuntman. After seeing this one I wanted to become one immediately just because of the great team spirit they have!

Finally, as it is a product of the seventies, enjoyability is heightened by the "Charlie's Angels"- factor. In other words: if you're a fan of the groovy feeling of the Spelling- created series, I'm sure you'll enjoy this one, too. (Although Spelling is in no way connected with the Fantastic Seven.)

Released on video in Finland in the early eighties.

Only children could possibly enjoy this.

[newslogger · 1/10 · 16 April 2020]

Attention: spoilers ahead.

This has to be one of the lamest TV-movies I've ever seen. It doesn't even rate as "being so bad that it's actually good", in my opinion. No way. There is virtually no suspense created for the viewer, not to mention that the editing is very poor.

Besides the fact that the plot itself is beyond being far-fetched, none of the actors present themselves as believable in their roles, particularly since judging by the expressions on their faces throughout, they don't even attempt to hide the fact that they aren't taking their scenes seriously. There is way too much smiling, silly dialog, and evidently very little fear for their own safety or concern for the plight of the kidnap victim for whom they've volunteered to rescue.

The so-called "fight scene" near the end is a real groaner and head-shakingly nonsensical since despite it being obvious that the heroes are completely outnumbered by the bad guys, they still somehow manage to defeat them all with poorly-executed punches and karate chops. I shook my head in disbelief at how one of the good guys managed again and again to shove a half-dozen "heavies" backwards with a pole--which would have been a chore even for Steven Seagal! Even when rifles are belatedly used to fire at the conveniently escaping heroes, none of them are hit by a single bullet!

Elke Sommer and Patrick McNee (as the chief bad guy no less) must have needed the money pretty desperately to lower themselves by appearing in this turkey. What were they thinking?! Even when McNee is finally knocked half-unconscious in a less-than-believable one-on-one fight and eventually taken into custody by the Coast Guard, he seems to be relieved rather than angry (and indeed maybe he was!).

Finally, at the closing scene where the "heroes" are clustered together joking and smugly self-congratulating each other as they're ostensibly being recruited by the authorities to head off to their next adventure in South America, I said to myself, "Yeah...and don't bother coming back, either!".

One can only assume that "The Fantastic Seven" was targeted at the less-critical preteen market. Older teens and adults stumbling across it while channel-surfing would have surely begun muttering, "C'mon...this movie is so stupid!", and switched to something else--ANYTHING else.

If the producers were hoping for "The Fantastic Seven" to be picked up as a regular series, they must have been dreaming in technicolor.

Oh, it Was A Clunker

[richard.fuller1 · 7/10 · 31 December 2009]

But yes, they seemed to have fun.

I guess when I first watched this thing, I thought Chris Connelly was an actual stuntman, and co.

Never knew that was Chris Lloyd tho as the dynamite expert.

and yes, it was a pilot set up to be a series, which obviously wasn't picked up.

We have Morgan Brittany, as either the diver or the swimmer, doesn't matter.

And Bob Seagren, seventies model figure who was an actual Olympic figure, (go figure!) I'll always remember him as Billy Crystal's boyfriend on Soap.

Just try to envision Ekle Sommer as some popular actress in the seventies.

In whose mind? The seventies of Rocky, Network, Turning Point, Saturday Night Fever, James Bond and the disaster flicks, where would she fit in? But I guess the biggest puzzler to me has always been the vanishing of the actor who begins with Connelly, who played the grinning fellow Horatio (no idea why it is so misspelled here).

He did absolutely nothing else. Peculiar.

The movie spends more time gathering the characters than it does actually performing the adventure.

Okay.

We also get a Bill Macy appearance, he of Maude who caused the William H. Macy Jr, name to come into being.

Great, overlooked movie.

[wkozak221 · 10/10 · 13 June 2021]

I saw this when it was first shown on tv. It has some of my favorites: Peter Haskell, Patrick Macnee, Elle Sommer, Christopher Connelly and Christopher Lloyd. The movie moves along well. The story is plausible. I wish more people would watch it on YouTube. It is a fun movie.