When SAS Captain Peter Skellen is thrown out of the service for gross misconduct due to unnecessary violence and bullying, he is soon recruited by The People's Lobby, a fanatical group aiming to hold several US dignitaries hostage. But Skellen's dismissal is a front to enable him to get close to the terrorist group. Can he get close enough to stop the Lobby from creating an international incident?
Lewis Collins Judy Davis Richard Widmark Edward Woodward Robert Webber Kenneth Griffith Maurice Roëves Ingrid Pitt Patrick Allen Tony Doyle John Duttine Rosalind Lloyd Norman Rodway Bob Sherman Albert Fortell Mark Ryan Paul Freeman Aharon Ipalé Stephen Bent Richard Coleman Nigel Humphreys Oz Clarke Peter Geddis Raymond Brody Andrew MacLachlan Jon Morrison Trevor Byfield Michael Forrest Don Fellows Show All…
Greg Powell Tip Tipping Bob Simmons Frank Henson Graeme Crowther Jazzer Jeyes Del Baker Dorothy Ford
The Final Option, Comando, Commando, Das Kommando, Chi osa vince, S.A.S. Los invencibles, ファイナル・オプション, A S.A.S. kommandó, Den sidste udvej, S.A.S. Els invencibles, SAS特种部队
Germany12
UK18
Ireland18
Australia
France
USAR
Australia
France
Germany
Ireland
UK
USA
Amusing imperialist/jingoistic propaganda, really, which I don't have any problem with at all, and while it lacks the bite of something like THE DOGS OF WAR it pays off with an almost stupidly blunt didacticism, with scenes like Richard Widmark winning a policy argument with the terrorists who've taken him hostage, the weird conservative paranoia over anti-nuke groups, and Judy Davis being totally rad as the leader of a bomb-throwing leftist terror cell. Three cheers for the SAS, guv, our boys'll shoot anyone. I've said it before but British commando movies are universally hilarious.
AKA: The Final Option
Captain Peter Skellen (Lewis Collins) is discharged from the elite Special Air Service for bullying and torturing two foreign officers who are guests of the regiment. It's all a big ruse though to help Skellen infiltrate a terrorist cell, which has itself, infiltrated the anti-nuclear peace movement. His first target are the leaders of the People's Lobby, Frankie Leith (Judy Davis) and Rod Walker (John Duttine). Using his charm(??, more like smarm), he begins a relationship with Frankie, giving away too that he is a disgraced former SAS operative, impressing Frankie enough for him to be offered a job in the lobby as a security consultant. It quickly becomes clear that intelligence about a terror attack…
Films from the early eighties now hold a bit of a nostalgia factor for me. I've reached that age where those distant memories of my teens and the films I saw back then fill me with that warm fuzzy feeling where even if you know that the movie might be a bit dodgy quality-wise, you can't help but have fond memories of it. Who Dares Wins definitely comes into that category, with hardly the best acting to ever grace the screen made up for with thrilling action and the suaveness of one Lewis Collins.
For anyone who didn't know, "Who Dares Wins" is the motto of the Special Air Service or S.A.S. This film inspired by the Iranian Embassy Siege…
Lewis Collins plays Peter Skellen, an SAS trooper, who goes too far during a training mission and leaves the service rather than be RTU'ed. Skellen with time on his hands and chip on his shoulder joins up with a far left-wing political organisation who want to step up from the usual protests (the anti-cruise theatre piece is hilarious in it's liberal hippy artiness!) to full-blown terrorist acts.
Who Dares Wins (The Final Option in the US) was made back in 1982 when men had names like Peter and Terry and Rod, moustaches were rife and there were real political and social movements and not just the fart in a hurricane Facebook whinging that most of us are guilty of nowadays.…
Here's Stewart Lee on 1982's Who Dares Wins;
"Who Dares Wins, my most hated film, was released in 1982. Former TV hardman Lewis Collins plays Peter Skellen, who is an SAS man rather than a chart-topping 1970’s MOR singer, attempting to infiltrate a thinly disguised offshoot of the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament and prevent a terrorist outrage. It has bad acting, bad dialogue, terrible music and a crass title sequence. But it also sets out to demonise the 80’s soft-left using impossible stereotypes and barely concealed right-wing polemic. It is like a Daily Mail version of an action movie. Not only is Who Dares Wins rubbish, it is also evil, and an example of that cinematic rarity, the commercially released…
The old cliche is that action movies are only as good as their villains, and the one here is easily the best part of the affair. Judy Davis plays the leader of an anti-nuclear terror cell who puts on avant garde stage shows to protest in favour of nuclear disarmament on top of taking over the US embassy and generally kicking ass and wearing great outfits, including a fuzzy blue sweater with a squirrel on it. If anything, the movie realizes that it made her cooler than the actual SAS commandos we're supposed to be rooting for and tries to recalibrate with its funniest scene, where US Secretary of State Richard Widmark, while being held hostage by her and her…
1982 In Review - August
#22
It's suspected that a peace/anti-nuke organization in UK has some extremists willing to use terrorism. The action will probably be against an embassy in London. The SAS/Special Air Service try to get the organisation infiltrated.
Who Dares Wins is an entertaining if not slightly confusing action film. It stars Lewis Collins, at the peak of his powers. Lewis Collins was better known for playing Bodie in the TV series The Professionals, which was one of my favourite growing up.
The film was certainly made to cash in on the famous Iranian Embassy siege a mere year before they released this, which was televised live in Britain as the SAS stormed the building. Who Dares…
The thriller Who Dares Wins (aka The Final Option) is an uneven work. It sets up a juicy premise, of violent extremists hiding out in anti-nuclear groups in London, and the director shows a lot of skill with action sequences. Just when it might go deeper into political intrigue, it delivers a clunker of a dialogue scene that makes you wonder how the movie ever got made.
It's bumpy but entertaining, I guess. The movie seems like an excuse to dramatize the siege of an embassy by terrorists--and to imagine the boot-in-the-ass response that follows it.
Those scenes do have some punch. They're staged well and they make this watchable.
Beyond that, was this movie trying to say something about…
I watched this a few days ago and completely forgot to log it. Obviously it just wasn’t for me nor what I was expecting.
The original "Tacticool" movie, a "ripped from the headlines" trashy docudrama actioner, not too dissimilar to the 1986 Cannon Group film The Delta Force in some respects.
Original released as Who Dares Wins, the SAS motto by the way, it was picked up for US distribution by MGM as The Final Option, a title more blatantly referencing the quasi-nuclear scare text of the film. This could be considered something of a reactionary film akin to Red Dawn if not for the film's patient runtime and pacing, as well as a certain level of British studio stuffiness. There's some lip service given to greyer moralities but that's about in terms of depth, somewhat odd for a film that defies being categorized…
The September 80’s Action Films Month #7
To say that Who Dares Wins lacks either subtly or nuance is to rather understate the case. This piece of SAS porn is frankly risible.
In hindsight that's exactly what I should have expected. So why was I watching it? Well, this is an 80s Action Marathon and I wanted to include something British, but it turns out that there's not many films that fit the bill. And having avoided it all these years I thought I'd give it a go, it doesn't have a great reputation, but perhaps there might be some interest, viewing it thirty odd years on through the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia. Boy, was that a mistake, I…
Right-wing and boring - my two most hated things. Did we really need to see that shit band play a full song when the runtime is over two hours? Just awful drab garbage with Britain’s Blandest Man in the lead. I blame Thatcher (always)
