Who Dares Wins – Another one of those retro thingees

Recently I wrote a little retrospective blog about Deep Rising. You can read it here. I have to say I enjoyed the experience. It was fun to revisit a film I hadn't seen in a while and remind myself of why I liked it in the first place. So much so that I've decided to do it again.


Who Dares Wins (known as The Final Option in the US) is an early eighties classic. In fact I’ll go further than that. I’m willing to lay down the gauntlet on this one. I don’t think there has been a more testosterone heavy movie committed to celluloid. This film just oozes action.

Lewis Collins, fresh from the TV nirvana that was The Professionals, is the hard as nails SAS Captain Peter Skellen. Deep undercover, he has to infiltrate a group of terrorists who are hiding out as part of the peace movement. The action begins with a crossbow bolt to the face and escalates to a terrific finale involving the storming of the American embassy in London. Ironically though the film is nearly thirty years old the subject matter remains pretty topical.

The rest of the cast are a veritable who’s who. Edward Woodward, Judy Davis, John Duttine (Day of the Triffids rocks), Richard Widmark, Tony Doyle. Even Ingrid Pitt gets a look in.

The score is by Get Carter supremo Roy Budd. The main theme has some crazy wacka-wacka guitars and dramatic keyboards. Music is used to great effect toward the end of the film when the siege takes place. There is a scene where Skellen runs down a corridor with the rest of the SAS team that is just perfect.

I revisit this film regularly. Now I know it ain’t for everyone. Some of the attitudes are (how can I put it politely) a trifle dated? It's ok though. We’ve all moved on. We’ve matured. We can view Who Dares Wins for exactly what it is a rock solid action flick.

One piece of advice though. Don’t watch the DVD while your ironing on a Sunday afternoon. Last time I did that I got all excited and had to go have a lie down.

Pablo Two Cheesecake Out