ffolkes
 |
 |
Roger
Moore - Rufus Excalibur ffolkes James Mason - Admiral Sir Francis Brindsen Anthony Perkins - Lou Kramer Michael Parks - Harold Shulman David Hedison - Robert King |
Director
- Andrew V. McLaglenStudio Release Date: April 1980, Universal Studios
DVD Release Date: August 12, 2003
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"At
this writing there is a possibility I might be working
on a
motion picture called Esther, Ruth and Jennifer
- a story about a gang who attempt to hijack three
destroyers in the English Channel. I'm not one of
the
gang - I'm a good guy!!! it will be filmed in London
and the Channel Islands in late April and May. If
this particular deal works out, it will be nice to
return to Europe again."
David Hedison
February 26, 1979
|
Madman Louis Kramer captures and threatens to destroy a vital North
Sea oil rig in 24 hours unless the British government delivers a huge ransom.
Otherwise he will destroy the rig and cripple the British economy.
Only one man has the skills to defeat him--Rufus Excalibur ffolkes - curmudgeon, chauvinist, eccentric and recluse. He also happens to be an underwater expert who leads an elite commando team. ffolkes and his team plot their high-seas assault in a race against the clock.
 "David
Hedison plays the role of [Robert] King.
Hedison's
character is the man in charge of a
mammoth [oil]
production platform in the North
Sea, which
bears the unlikely name of Jennifer. David
Hedison began his film career under contract
to 20th Century
Fox where he made the cult favorite, The Fly
The Lost World
and The Enemy Below. He became a household name
as Lee Crane in
the long running series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,
(1964-68).
David's first series was the short-lived Five Fingers in 1959.
Since those
days he has worked in both England and America. Hedison appeared in four
plays for British Television and a BBC special
of Tennessee
Williams' "Summer and Smoke."
|
"For Roger Moore, the role is a drastic departure from
his James Bond image and he enjoyed it immensely. "I've known Jack
Davies a long time. He gave us the proofs of his novel to read and we
instantly saw there was a film in it. It was my wife Luisa, who convinced me
that I could and should play Ffolkes."
"The setting of the film is very unusual -- the dangerous world of oil rigs in the North Sea. Davies spent two years researching the rough, tough world of North Sea oil men."
"The cast and crew of "ffolkes" were located in Galway,
Ireland for five weeks, filming in, around and off Galway Bay. The Bustling harbor town has a
population of 35,000 [and they] were amused, amazed, and bemused in turn to
see the crew turn the town into a port in Norway. The Docks were given
a Norwegian facelift, as it is to Norway that ffolkes must come to rescue
hundreds of lives, billions of oil dollars and the honor of the British
nation."
Some of the action takes place aboard the supply ship Esther. The actual ship used was the Tor Viking which belongs to the Norwegian Viking Line. "The Captain of the Tor Viking, Captain Bedicksen, was pleasantly surprised by the ease of the stars aboard his ship during the six weeks needed for filming. But not without a price. For two hard weeks, the cast and crew were up every morning with the morning tide, swaying about on the ocean. A record 1000 sea-sickness pills were handed out. There was a nurse on board, who would hand out the pills every four hours and they didn't work, she had another remedy -- a massive injection in the ass." [sic]
Press Information from Universal, an MCA Company dated February 29, 1980.
