Treasure of the Yankee Zephyr [Race for the Yankee Zephyr] ** (1981, Ken Wahl, Lesley Ann Warren, Donald Pleasence, George Peppard) – Classic Movie Review 11,011

British actor-producer David Hemmings went Down Under to New Zealand to direct the promising and good-looking but undemanding and partly fumbled 1981 action adventure Treasure of the Yankee Zephyr [Race for the Yankee Zephyr] about the race for the $50 million in gold hidden in a DC3 aircraft cargo plane, The Yankee Zephyr, that went missing in December 1944 during a flight between New Guinea and New Zealand.

In interesting against-type casting Ken Wahl and Donald Pleasence get to play the good guys and George Peppard plays the bad guy. It is a good cast, and the acting is fine. But the film’s pace is often slow, the yarn is routine and, other than the actors, especially Pleasence, some stunts and action, and the score by Brian May, the best thing about it is the thrilling New Zealand scenery. Although, yes, there are certainly some entertaining action scenes and chase sequences to recommend it too.

Pleasence plays drunken New Zealand deer hunter Gibbie Gibson who has discovered a World War Two plane wreck in a lake high in the mountains of New Zealand. When the news gets out, Gibson, his daughter Sally (Lesley Ann Warren), and his lodger Barney Whitaker (Ken Wahl) are followed and threatened by treasure hunters led by Theo Brown (George Peppard), who are after the $50 million fortune in gold submerged in the wreck. Helicopter pilot Barney risks his life to help Gibbie.

It is an original story by Everett De Roche, who got the idea after his neighbour in Mount Isa in Queensland, Australia, told him of the wartime disappearance of an American DC3 military aircraft carrying the payroll for the Pacific fleet, eventually discovered off Cape York

The story was originally set in Queensland, Australia, but Australia’s Actors Equity objected when the producers wanted to import four overseas actors, so De Roche re-wrote it set in New Zealand. Producer Hemmings took over as director after Richard Franklin dropped out of the film because he was unhappy with the location change. Producer Antony I Ginnane was so annoyed with Australia’s Actors Equity that he made his next four films in New Zealand.

It was independently financed on a budget of $6 million by a large series of companies: Hemdale, Drake, Endeavour, First City, Simitar, Gupta, Pact, Fay Richwhite, FGH Film Consortium and Pellinto. It was released by GUO Film Distributors (Australia), International Film Distributors (New Zealand), Film Ventures International (US) and Cannon (UK).

The running time is 108 minutes (Australia) or 91 minutes (US).

The investors may well have made a profit. It was a hit in Russia in 1983, seen by 29 million Soviet viewers.

The film is dedicated coordinator Colin Robinson and drivers John Rillstone and Bill Clarke, who were killed during the filming of the jet-boat sequences.

Also in the cast are Bruno Lawrence, Grant Tilly, Harry Rutherford-Jones and Robert Bruce.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,011

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