Sky Riders (1976) AKA Assault On The Forbidden Fortress

This is the kind of movie that I watched a lot as a kid. In the days before infomercials, TV stations filled their late night dead time with any movie they could find. Since I didn't sleep much I watched anything that remotely looked like it would be interesting.

When I saw the opening scene where men with guns kidnap a woman and her two children while wearing hockey masks to conceal their identity, I knew I was right back to my childhood. I even had a pop tart in my hand.

Robert Culp is the wealthy industrialist whose family has been snatched and James Coburn is the wife's first husband. He is also the father to the oldest child. He has not seen his son in nine years.

Of course Coburn (who is very slick in his sunglasses and polyester leisure suits) has just the kind of skill set that Culp needs to rescue his loved ones from the terrorists who call themselves the 'World Activist Revolutionary Army'. Sounds like a pretty catch-all title - any of a number of angry radicals would fit in nicely. The thick Eurotrash accents didn't hurt either. Anyone that talks like that MUST be evil.

For you kids out there it's important to know that there were terrorists back in the 70s just like today. They liked to hijack planes, bomb public places and kill athletes to get their message out. Terrorism wasn't invented by Osama Bin Laden.


This movie would have been very topical in 1976 when it was released. I never even heard about it until I saw it mentioned on the 'Bloody Pit of Rod' blog. He is starting to be my go-to guy for obscure movies from the past.

When I saw the poster for this one (HAND GLIDERS? MOUNTAIN TOP FORTRESS?? - are you freakin' kidding me?) I HAD to find this movie. Once again Rod was there to direct me to a site that had an easy torrent to download.

I like the dynamic between the two leads. Both love the same woman and both of them have children in harm's way. They don't like each other but they have to trust each other if they are going to free the people they love. The police certainly can't or won't do the job as well as they believe they can.

The terrorists are asking for five million dollars for the safe release of their hostages. That was a huge amount back in the day but I had to laugh when I heard it. Everyone in the room looking at each other and wondering how the hell they were going to come up with THAT kind of scratch.


I was very much like Dr. Evil of the 'Austin Powers' movie asking for "ONE MILLION DOLLARS" and expecting the governments of the world to be impressed. A dollar sure don't go as far as it used too. Today you need to at least ask for a BILLION or get laughed out of the room. I mean come on, a terrorist does have his pride.

The hostages are taken to an abandoned monestary by the terrorists. The monestary is located on a high cliff that is hard to access. Coburn meet a group of hand gliding hippies who agree to help him got to the hostages.

This is where a movie got fun for me. I love to see a group of people set out to do a mission when you know that some of them are not coming back alive from.



The skydive sequences are spectacular to watch. You really get a sense of how maneuverable these human kites are. I can imagine military all over world training their special forces to take advantage of the silent approach they afford.

There are little if any special effects. You are treated to the spectacle of hand gliders flying at night around mountain obstacles. There are many POV shots from cameras attached to the gliders that give one the illusion that you are operating the gliders yourself.

Combine those shots with the exotic Greek locations and a raging gun battle and you have got yourself a nice little action movie.

7/10