When War Adventure Gets Weird

Read Time:5 Minute, 48 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Escape to Athena (1979) – Limited Edition Blu-ray – Imprint Collection #599
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Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, War
Year Released: 1979, 2026 Imprint Limited Edition Blu-ray
Runtime: 2h 5m
Director: George P. Cosmatos
Writers: Edward Anhalt, Richard S. Lochte, George P. Cosmatos
Cast: Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, David Niven, Stefanie Powers, Claudia Cardinale, Richard Roundtree, Sonny Bono, Elliott Gould, Anthony Valentine, Siegfried Rauch, Michael Sheard, Richard Wren, Philip Locke
Where to Watch: available now, order your copy here: www.viavision.com.au

RAVING REVIEW: ESCAPE TO ATHENA has the sunny, overstuffed personality of a movie that knows half its appeal is watching famous faces wander through wartime Greece with explosives nearby. Roger Moore as a morally flexible Austrian officer, Telly Savalas as a resistance leader, David Niven as an archaeology professor, Elliott Gould as a captured entertainer, Claudia Cardinale as a brothel madam with political ties, Richard Roundtree in soldier mode, Stefanie Powers brings old-Hollywood showmanship, and Sonny Bono as an Italian cook shouldn’t all belong in the same World War II adventure. The fact that they do is absolutely why the film has so much charm and the source of nearly every problem I have here.

George P. Cosmatos directs this as an old-fashioned war caper that feels like it arrived late to the party. By 1979, the era of grand ensemble adventures had already shifted, and ESCAPE TO ATHENA feels like it’s trying to squeeze one more big, scenic mission out of that tradition before the decade shuts the door. The story drops viewers into a German-occupied Greek island, where Allied prisoners are forced to dig up ancient treasures for the Nazi war machine. The local resistance wants to overthrow the occupiers, the prisoners want freedom, certain characters want the artifacts for themselves, and the Nazis are hiding a military operation that pushes the story from prison-camp comedy into action spectacle. That’s a whole lot of movie for one island.

The opening stretch takes its time lining up the players. ESCAPE TO ATHENA spends a surprising amount of its runtime bouncing between camps, brothels, villages, ruins, jokes, escape plans, greed, patriotism, and secret weapons. The film wants to be a prison-camp comedy, a heist adventure, and a Bond-adjacent wartime thriller all at once. It doesn’t combine those identities without bumping into some walls, but there’s something disarmingly watchable about the collision.

Roger Moore’s casting was the biggest gamble here, and also one of the reasons the film remains so interesting. Major Otto Hecht is technically part of the German command structure, though the film bends over backward to make him more of an opportunist than a true believer. Moore plays him with that familiar raised-eyebrow charm, never sinking into the role and never sounding especially at home as a German officer. On paper, that should ruin the character. Though in the actual film, the oddness becomes part of the identity. Hecht is a collector, a flirt, a thief, and a survivor, and Moore’s elegance gives the film a focal point it might not otherwise have.

Telly Savalas, meanwhile, gives ESCAPE TO ATHENA a type of presence it so badly needed whenever the tone started to float away. As Zeno, he brings authority to the resistance side of the story, even when the script leans a little wide. Claudia Cardinale makes the most of a role that could’ve used more screen time and more nuance, while David Niven glides through the film with ease. Richard Roundtree has the kind of magnetism that makes you wish the movie had given him a stronger role. Stefanie Powers brings light to every scene, along with perfect timing, and Elliott Gould’s Charlie Dane is likely to split viewers. His comic enthusiasm gives the movie some of its personality, though it also pushes the film into lighter territory at moments when the surrounding stakes are supposed to matter.

That uncertainty is the main reason ESCAPE TO ATHENA tops out at good-enough entertainment instead of becoming a genuine rediscovery. The movie can jump from Nazi brutality to comedy without giving either side enough breathing room. A prison-camp setting carries an automatic darkness, even in an adventure picture, and the film’s handling of it can feel awkward. The script keeps chasing fun, which is understandable, but it sometimes runs straight past the emotional consequences. The result is a film that entertains scene by scene, while never quite deciding how seriously it wants the audience to take any of it.

The Imprint Edition Blu-ray gives ESCAPE TO ATHENA a better setting for reassessment than the movie may have had in years. This is the kind of title that benefits from context, extras, and an audience willing to meet it halfway. It isn’t a lost classic, and it’s not secretly one of the great ensemble war adventures. It’s a strange, scenic, sometimes clumsy, sometimes exciting relic from a moment when producers could still sell a movie on an impossible cast, a beautiful location, Nazis to defeat, treasure to chase, and enough explosions to make anyone notice.

ESCAPE TO ATHENA is long, scattered, and too uneven to hit as hard as it could have. It also has enough charm, action, scenery, and weirdness to avoid feeling disposable. The film works best when taken as a wartime caper where logic takes a back seat to names, locations, and set pieces. For viewers who enjoy late-70s ensemble adventures, that may be enough. For everyone else, it’s a three-star curiosity with a few strong moments, a lot of famous faces, and Rhodes quietly stealing the show from every name above the title.

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[photo courtesy of VIA VISION, IMPRINT FILMS]

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