The Presidio (1988)

Directed by Peter Hyams. Starring Mark Harmon, Sean Connery, Meg Ryan, Jack Warden, Dana Gladstone, Mark Blum, Curtis W. Sims, Marvin J. McIntyre. [R]

Wreck of a police procedural set in San Francisco, so a few chase scenes are a given. Harmon’s police detective reluctantly teams up with provost marshal Connery—each of them bear grudges against each other because of a past incident—to solve the murder of an MP while she was investigating a break-in at the titular army base. Connery also has a daughter (Ryan) who gets romantically involved with Harmon because, sure, why not? Connery coasts on his self-contained style and charm, but gets little out of frequent screen partner Harmon, whose character and performance are both all over the map with little provocation; he generates more chemistry with Ryan, and that sub-plot might have worked if the dialogue wasn’t so poorly written, or if the sub-plot didn’t matter so little to the labored investigation and conventional action scenes at the center of the picture. Not even Warden can bring much class to the proceedings in a role that’s obvious from the get-go. Photography by director Hyams, including on-location shooting at the Presidio post. Jenette Goldstein makes a brief appearance as the MP who gets offed in the first reel.

38/100