North Sea Hijack

North Sea Hijack
Original UK film poster
Directed by	Andrew V. McLaglen
Produced by	Elliott Kastner
Written by	Jack Davies
Starring	Roger Moore James Mason Anthony Perkins Michael Parks
Music by	Michael J. Lewis
Cinematography	Tony Imi
Edited by	Alan Strachan
Production company	Cinema Seven Productions
Distributed by	Universal/CIC
Release date	3 April 1980 (UK) 18 April 1980 (US)
Running time	100 min
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$2,993,772 (US only)

North Sea Hijack (released as Ffolkes outside the UK and as Assault Force on US TV) is a British action film from 1980 starring Roger Moore, James Mason, Anthony Perkins, and Michael Parks. It was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and adapted by Jack Davies from his novel Esther, Ruth and Jennifer.

This film was a vehicle for both Moore and Perkins to try to escape typecasting. Previously Moore had been practically typecast as a womanising, happy-go-lucky in such series as The Saint, The Persuaders! and James Bond. In contrast to those parts, he is shown here as a bearded, eccentric, arrogant cat-loving, misogynist showing heroic qualities as a master strategist. Moore once said in an interview that he preferred this film to all the James Bond movies he had starred in while acknowledging that he had been miscast in the lead role.

Misogynist freelance marine counter-terrorism consultant Rufus Excalibur ffolkes (Moore) is asked by Lloyd's of London to develop a contingency plan should any of the North Sea oil installations they insure be threatened.

Months later, Esther, a North Sea supply ship, takes on board a group of men posing as reporters who are visiting the oil production platform Jennifer. The leader of this group, Lou Kramer (Anthony Perkins), along with his second-in-command, Harold Shulman (Michael Parks), hijacks the ship, and two scuba diving henchmen attach limpet mines to the legs of Jennifer and its oil drilling rig, Ruth. From the bridge of Esther, Kramer issues a ransom demand for £25 million or he will blow up Ruth; then, if the ransom is still not paid, he will destroy Jennifer. For good measure, he rigs Esther with explosives and has all the charges wired to a control panel that never leaves his side.