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In the wake of the unheralded success of Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, many a fancy knockoff was produced for film and television. The Allen Quartermain film series with Richard Chamberlain, Bring ‘Em Back Alive with Bruce Boxleitner, and Tales of the Gold Monkey with Stephen Collins are but a few. Most are fun and too often forgettable, but one – High Road to China – continues to be remembered by its fans as a champion of the genre.
Filmed in 1983 and financed outside of the traditional Hollywood studio system, High Road to China starring the man who was almost crowned Indiana Jones, Tom Selleck, is a throwback to the 1930’s adventure genre that gets more than its high-flying attitude correct. Danger and romance sharpen every corner and, not even once, does it drop its light-hearted sense of things. The film is directed by Brian G. Hutton, the actor-turned-director who also gave us Where Eagles Dare and Kelly’s Heroes, and is just as robustly old-fashioned as films come which makes it fairly unique.
Eve Tozer (Bess Armstrong) has the easy life. Living in Istanbul, she parties the night away with British officers and the wealthy and enjoys a life of luxury. That is until news concerning her father’s whereabouts brings her world crashing to the ground. Far East explorer Bradley Tozer (Wilford Brimley) has been absent so long and without contact to anyone that his business partner, Bentik (Robert Morley), is about to declare him legally dead so that he might take full control of the business and the money; Eve’s money and that just can’t happen.
Understanding that her father’s last known whereabouts was Afghanistan Eve finds herself in need of a plane. She knows how to fly, but when the British won’t hilariously loan her a plane for a week or longer to locate her father with (overnight is doable), Eve finds herself requiring the skills of a pilot and she’s willing to pay a handsome price. What she gets is a washed up war hero, Patrick O'Malley (Selleck), and his mechanic who prides himself on being called "Struts" (Jack Weston) and carefully sobering up O’Malley night after night.
Two self-absorbed people and one loyal friend set out to find Eve’s father and, along the way, run into a series of irate husbands, an Afghan warlord (Brian Blessed), and an old-fashioned romance that develops from constant bickering in India, unending arguments in Nepal and, eventually, becomes a reality in a Chinese province as O’Malley and Eve struggle to see eye-to-eye.
Adapted from a book by Australian author John Cleary and written for the film by Sandra Weintraub and S. Lee Pogostin, High Road to China delivers most of its power from the one-two punch of Selleck and Armstrong. This is old-school romance and thrills all the way and the two work so hard to sell it that it’s certainly a breath of fresh air to see actual chemistry on the screen. Classic banter, so effortless and cool, is what makes the film so endearing. With no CGI to distract us with, High Road to China practically sells itself with the spirited romp it tells. Effects are practical and used to a minimum – O’Malley tipping over a plane to let an unwanted passenger out is surprisingly effective – and the sweeping score composed by John Barry fills in the details of this global adventure that the financing maybe could not.
Previously only released on VHS (I know, I know. What is that?), High Road to China is finally available on DVD and Blu-ray courtesy of Hen’s Tooth Video. As far as knock-offs go, this one seems to hold its own with a very classic approach to its heroics.
MPAA Rating: PG.
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