Sitting Target

With a gossamer wing-span, this curiosity from the early 70's is a quirky hybrid of Demetrius and the Gladiators versus Darker than Amer. Flight of fancy aside, the determination of this director JUST TO GET THIS RELEASED must have been mind-boggling. Without Jill St. John as his muse, Mr. O. Reed would have canoed upstream without his proverbial paddle.

Shocking one instant, lovingly discerning the next, this mild upgrade of post-War alienation seems to say escape is all there is for this Bluto-type force of nature with plenty of rope on hand. He just won't give up his sense of "Come and get me, (warden, coppers)"! He's there when he needs to be or so it seems. Justice is a foreign word when bad haircuts and razor-thin wit run the terrain. References to St. Matthew would hardly seem out of order. Tough and grinding like a Mac Truck. A relentless 8 out of 10 for a special "action" flick. Reminiscent of Get Carter, but a bit more brutal on the senses. Highly recommended

I really fell for this movie when I saw it on TCM. A simple, straight forward, almost ordinary story but this movie is much more memorable thanks to it's stylish direction and good cast. A very intense movie. To me it's just as good as the more known "get carter" from the same era.

Excellent old revenge movie from a time when Britain still made movies that didn't involve period costumes or floppy haired smiles!

Ian "Lovejoy" McShane and the Late Oliver Reed bust out of prison, with the sole purpose of killing Reeds Wife (Jill St John) who wants a divorce. The film is relentless in its portrayal of Reed as a cold blooded man with a single deadly purpose, yet still shows him simmering with a pent up violent rage that cant wait to explode into violence at any time.

I have heard many call this movie a poor-mans version of "Get Carter", but that tag does it a serious injustice. Gritty, Dark, Bleak and Brutal (for its time) something about this movie keeps me watching it 30+ years after its release.

Stylish, Original, and highly recommended, especially if you are sick of "Feel Good" cliches.

This little known film has many aspects that make it stand out from other violent crime films of the 70s. There is stylish photography and music. Some well known stars in unusual roles (eg Jill St John lives next door to June Brown!) and a plot where characters have obscure motivations that even they cannot seem to fathom. This results in some very intense scenes. The ending is too melodramatic but there are many images that remain vivid and make this film worth watching more than once.

Under-appreciated British crime thriller with antisocial characters and an antisocial plot: a convict finds out his wife is pregnant by another man, so he busts out of prison to hunt her down with every intention of killing her. No time wasted on "redeeming" characters. No goofy humor or chase scenes through clubs playing bad, dated music. Just a spare, tense study of two vicious men (Oliver Reed, Ian McShane) hot on the trail of a treacherous moll (Jill St. John). A nemesis detective (Edward Woodward) tries to intervene, but never fouls the nihilistic tone. Solid performances and one of Reed's best as an uber-thug who does push-ups on the ceiling of his jail cell, is sitting on a volcano, and only lets on what he has to, even to his partner. The script does the same thing, imparting information on a need-to-know basis, doing so smoothly as it races toward Hell. All in the back-lots and stygian prisons of a cold, drab London, with a musical score by Stanley Myers that perfectly enhances the story and mood. A must for fans of seventies crime thrillers, British or otherwise, that take no prisoners.