The 'Human' Factor

"The Human Factor" was made in 1975, which means it's turning 40 years old this year. And yet, the themes and several aspects that feature here are still painfully relevant nowadays as well. I'm writing this user-comment in January 2015, not even two weeks after the cowardly terrorist attack in Paris, France, and still during the aftermath of numerous terror alerts all across Europe. The film centers on American families being the unwary and innocent targets of ruthless Italian left-wing terrorists. Whether for political or religious reasons, embassies and authorities in various countries are still protecting their compatriots that work abroad out of fear for kidnapping or murder. It's truly sad to see that the world hasn't changed one bit and that humanity is still as selfish and extreme as it ever was. But hey, I'm just supposed to write a review… The final project of director Edward Dmytryk, who was particularly famous in the forties & fifties thanks to movies like "Crossfire" and "The Caine Mutiny", is a tense and engaging action/thriller with a handful of harshly violent sequences and a remarkable lead role for veteran actor George Kennedy. He stars as NATO computer specialist John Kingsdale, working in Naples and playing computer games with his friendly colleague most of the time. But when he returns home to his beloved wife and three children one night, they have been viciously massacred by unknown assailants for an unknown reason. After the funeral the deeply saddened John hesitates one moment to shoot himself through the head, but he shoots the TV-screen instead and vows to personally track down his family's killers. With the help of his colleague and their computer equipment, John discovers that he deals with a group of terrorists that invade the homes of American families through responding to newspaper ads. He prevents another massacre, but meanwhile John himself is also chased by the local authorities. "The Human Factor" is an overall very solid vigilante/revenge thriller. The script is occasionally tedious and confusing due to all the computer slang, especially during the first half of the film, but this is widely compensated during the explosive final act, with a furious battle in a Naples' backstreet alley and a gritty finale inside a crowded supermarket. Several people pointed out that George Kennedy was an odd choice to play the mad avenger, but he's a terrific all-around actor and brings more realism to the part. If, for example, Charles Bronson would have played John Kingsdale, "The Human Factor" would have been more stereotypical and a lot less persuasive. Recommended!

I generally don't care for revenge films but this was a rare exception! I did not see it when it was first released, but a few years later while I was working as an American ex-patriot in Saudi Arabia. My family and children were with me in Saudi, and we lived on the local economy, as George Kennedy did in the movie. This movie really hit home with me and a lot of other ex-pats that were overseas at the time! It showed how vulnerable we really were living in a foreign country where we were quite often resented for even being there!

I've always been a George Kennedy fan, even though he's probably not the greatest actor of all time. He's a very likable and believable actor that consistently does a good job! I give him and this film both of my thumbs up!

I highly recommend this film to anyone that is even thinking about taking a job in a foreign country!

"The Human Factor" is a typical revenge movie in the wake of "Dirty Harry", "Death Wish" and "Straw Dogs" with an American special agent and computer specialist in Italy losing his family by a terrorist's assault at his home and taking bloody revenge.

This British-Italian co-production from 1975 contains many typical subplots of the seventies - conspiracy movies, secret agent films, left-winged political terrorism, high-tech-computers and revenge dramas. George Kennedy plays the hero and does a good job as hard-edged, desperate family father turning to a merciless killer, although he is no Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson. Especially in a long hunting scene overweight Kennedy seems to be very out of breath...

The scripts lacks a bit of logic sometimes, as the real motivation of the terrorist group is never really explained, but all in all the film keeps the action, thrills and suspense always going and adds some very scary moments and furious action sequences, especially the big showdown in a supermarket. Ennio Morricone's sound tracks puts even more thrills and atmosphere to this dark political thriller that can be seen as a "sleeper" for fans of seventies' hardcore action cinema. Recommended!

It's fun to see George Kennedy in this kind of a role as a grieving father out for revenge. I've mostly only seen him in westerns up until now. Raf Vallone was excellent as the Inspector and always a pleasure to watch. The plot is pretty straightforward stuff so there's very little mystery to be had here.

Good soundtrack. Good action sequences toward the end (you have to wait for them).

The most interesting part was how old school and all-knowing the computers are in this film. Literally, the characters are physically connecting telephones to large computer machines in order to send and receive green text on a black screen, and they take everything the computer says as gospel. Lol. Those were different times.

Recently watched this film after not seeing it for many years and it brought back many memories. I was stationed on the AFSOUTH NATO base at the time and the camera crews were there a few days doing exterior shots of the cast in some scenes. It was strange seeing this as I had just arrived there not long before and was even stranger to see the finished film at the base theater after it was released. Every time a scene would pop up showing the base or other recognizable spots (like the Navy Exchange at the climax) the audience would cheer. Not one of the best thrillers I'd seen but they did an adequate job for what it was probably budgeted for. I agree with some of the review that the cast seemed to be miscast (Kennedy never came across to me as the sort of actor that would be the lead in a film) and a bit long in the tooth. Overall everyone I knew enjoyed it but thought it could have been better. Sophia Loren also did scenes on the base in another film though it was filmed when I was not there and I'm sorry to say I can't recall it's title - though I think it was about her helping an orphaned girl.