Review: Fortress (1985)

Directed by: Arch Nicholson
Starring: Rachel Ward, Sean Garlick, Rebecca Rigg
Written by: Everett De Roche
Music by: Danny Beckerman
Country: Australia, United States
Available on: DVD (HBO)
IMDb

Many readers here have, in all probability, those random hazy snippets of movies tucked away in their brains since childhood. Scenes or images that are from movies they can’t even recall watching and more likely than not were “too young” to see. Very recently, I had an AH HA! moment of recognition when I decided to watch — for what I thought was the first time — the 1985 film Fortress.

Fortress is an action/hostage/revenge film from a book that is very loosely based on a 1972 case in which two men kidnap a teacher and her class in order to hold them for ransom. That act itself was inspired by the kidnapping scene from the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Unfortunately for Fortress, Dirty Harry — and likely even the real kidnapping — were far more entertaining.

Though this movie falls squarely into the category of Ozploitation, it serves as one of its weakest entries. Tame almost by design, as it was an early co-production of HBO films and seems to suffer from a need to be a more serious “Americanized” action film. This results in a lack of the strong characters and Down Under Ingenuity that are the successes of many Ozploitation films. Although many scenes are set outside, none of them truly use the nature of Australia to their benefit. There are myriad excellent examples of using the Outback as a character (in Wake in Fright (1971), for instance), but sadly Fortress seems to have taken no hints from them. Not to say that it misses all the marks, but it feels like a terribly missed opportunity. The director, Arch Nicholson, began his career as a documentarian and concluded it with episodic television. Unfortunately, Fortress seems to fall vary firmly into the feeling of the latter category, as though it was designed for the small screen. Since it technically was a television production, it is perhaps exactly why he was eventually chosen for this film made for the home cable television market. And even though it was released a year later in Australian theaters, it bears the scars of limited vision that a TV director can carry to a larger production. There is some graphic violence, which is somewhat unusual for TV productions of the time; however, a majority was cut before the film was finally released. You can see the edited alternate ending online with minimal effort, but, for me, it seemed to reinforce the disconnect from the characters’ actions that led up to the point of ultimate violence.

With it being largely a cast of children, there aren’t many stars in the film. Many of the children do a sufficient job with the situations they find themselves enduring. There is a tiny undercurrent of sibling and peer rivalry that pervades the film, which adds some characterization to their otherwise standard child-in-danger roles. Rachel Ward (the lead actress), who wasn’t the first or even second choice for the role, comes across as fairly serviceable as the school teacher, but never achieves an adequate level of appropriate emotions as their plans continue to fall apart around them. When the ultimate turn is revealed, in how they will escape their persecutors, her lack of worry about their safety undermines the severity of what they mean to accomplish. Worthy of a least a mention, genre stalwart Vernon Wells has a minor role in this film, but is sadly underutilized. Ironically, he would land a much larger part in another film titled Fortress, a sci-fi romp starring Christopher Lambert.

I would still rate this a worth a watch. But moreso to see what the mid-80s thought cable films should be about. There are still a few indelible moments, particularly the denouement that results in the end of the torment, and of course the last shot that stuck in my then 9-year-old brain.

Overall rating: 4 out of 10