Killing Machine

Sunday in the Country is another one of those downbeat seventies thrillers, although it doesn't seem to take influence from the likes of The Last House on the Left despite its sadistic nature and torture-themed plot. The film takes in ideas of justice and whether or not a normal man can be justified in taking the law into his own hands as we follow three bank robbers who wind up at a country home where a man has plans not to let the police deal with them and instead decides to lock them in his basement and deal out justice himself, much to the dismay of his granddaughter who doesn't take kindly to his sadistic intent. The film builds tension by way of constantly putting the idea of whether or not the man will kill the robbers himself. This might not sound too interesting, but director John Trent does a good job of ensuring that the vigilante themes work well. Ernest Borgnine doesn't exactly show off his full talent in the lead role, but still brings credence and believability to a man who wants justice on his own terms. The rest of the cast aren't too good, but nobody performs below the standard of a B-movie picture like this. The country atmosphere is well shown, and even though the locations aren't stunning, they bode well with the feel of the movie. Overall, I can't say that this is a great film; but it's certainly a good one and comes recommended to fans of seventies cult cinema.

This baby fully represents my personal favorite kind of cult cinema! Released in the early 70's, obscure and almost completely untraceable, opening to the tunes of a moody and excessively outdated crooner's song whilst picturesque images of the peaceful countryside accompany the opening credits and – last but not least – introducing hard-laboring but conservative and slightly unworldly farmers as the lead characters. There's a proper name for this kind of movies and it's called "Hicksploitation". But "Sunday in the Country" is definitely more than just that! Obviously cashing in on the tremendous success of Sam Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs", this Canadian produced gem shamelessly glorifies urban violence and entirely revolves on the "protect what's yours" principle. It's also a revenge/vigilante thriller, but not the ordinary type. Usually the protagonists in revenge-thrillers themselves, or their dearest relatives, are subjected to torture and humiliation before extracting their well-deserved vengeance, but the lead character in "Sunday in the Country", farmer Adam Smith (another fabulous and expedient role of Ernest Borgnine), never really becomes directly affected by criminal violence and simply does what he does because he thinks the law isn't harsh enough. Smith is a seemingly noble widower, looking after his farm and granddaughter without ever missing a Sunday morning church service. On this particular Sunday, three relentless bank robbers (two of which resembling sophisticated bankers themselves instead of violent criminals) are at large in the countryside and have already butchered a young local couple before seeking refugee in Smith's secluded farming estate. But he's prepared for their arrival and grabs the opportunity to extract some good old-fashioned Biblical punishment on them rather than to notify the police. It may superficially look like a senselessly violent and sadistic exploitation flick, but "Sunday in the Country" is actually far more competent and inventive than it first seems. The plot juxtaposes two entirely different types of psychopaths and leaves it up to the viewer to decide who's the most dangerous. On the one side there's Leroy the outrageously spastic and most likely Atheist criminal and, opposed to him, the obsessively Catholic and stoically controlled trigger-happy farmer with his own brand of justice. It's a nice little psychological undertone to a seemingly bland and rough exploit movie. The violence & bloodshed is quite uncompromising, Ernest Borgnine and Michael J. Pollard are amazing (the rest of the cast can be ignored, though) and the atmosphere is undeniably 70's. A must-see for hillbilly-connoisseurs.

Three bank robber killers, including "loose cannon" (Michael J. Pollard), become trapped by roadblocks in the rural countryside. Abandoning their stolen vehicle, they hike to a distant farmhouse. Prepared and waiting is a church going farmer (Ernest Borgnine), his granddaughter, and an oafish farmhand. The three uninvited guests are ambushed by Borgnine, taken prisoner, and routinely tortured. As minutes pass, Borgnine becomes less and less stable, and more and more unhinged, leaving the granddaughter as the only hope for sanity to prevail. Although Borgnine gets to deal out his own brand of justice, it comes at a very high price. - MERK

For a 1970s film Sunday in the Country was not difficult to watch.

Through it's action, the movie demonstrated the randomness of life and the unfathomable nature of humans. Sometimes things just happen and sometimes people do things for reasons others cannot understand. Certain situations bring out aspects of a person we didn't know existed.

This is more than a B movie and perhaps deserves a higher star rating than my six. Watch it if you're looking for more questions than answers and subtleties wrapped in violence.

Really great performances by Ernest Borgnine and Michael J. Pollard, but ultimately, I was disappointed. I usually appreciate these mid 1970s movies for stylistic and nostalgia reasons and this movie is definitely pretty to look at (nice cinematography) but the plot sort just kind of goes flat.

Basically, the story revolves around the conflict between a God fearing farmer and three desperate and ruthless bank robbers. But it takes almost 40 minutes before the bank robbers first encounter the farmer.

Then, the conflict sets up all sorts of potentials, none of which are truly realized.

I suspect the theme of this movie is "Who is the real bad guy?" (Anti-hero) which is typical of the morally nebulous movies of the 1970s. ('Death Wish' and 'Dirty Harry' being two of the classic examples of this theme.)

The great acting of Borgnine and Pollard carry the movie despite the unsatisfying plot. But its just a 5/10 overall.