Il racket dei sequestri

Tough, hard hitting British thriller about an ex Scotland yard man, played very convincingly by Stacy Keach, now trying to keep from becoming a confirmed alcoholic. He finds his old skills are needed again when his wife is kidnapped. The cast are excellent, and they, along with the no holds barred script make this one of the best thrillers of the 70's

The British 1976 crime drama, an early work of director Michael Apted ("Gorky Park", "Blink", "The World Is Not Enough") Stacey Keach plays an alcohol-addicted London ex-cop who becomes involved into a kidnapping drama and tries to free the daughter of a friend from a brutal gangster mob.

Stacey Keach's performance is brilliant, and Michael Apted is not only focussing on the thrilling crime plot but also on the portrait of a self-destroying loser nature and alcoholic. The rest of the cast is also outstanding, featuring Edward Fox as despaired father of the kidnapped daughter and David Hemmings as brutal gangster boss. There are some scenes of typical seventies' sex, hard violence and breath-taking action like a money transporter robbery at the end.

David Hentschel's electronic progressive rock score in the style of Goblin, Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons Project supports the dark atmosphere and hard action of this thrilling and sometimes disturbing crime drama. A great, little forgotten movie.

This is a cracker of a movie. There are good performances all round, and some stylish direction from former documentary film-maker Michael Apted. Watch out for some shaky camera work in some scenes. He later on gave us Gorillas in the Mist, among many others. The main surprise in this, is how great Freddie Starr performs in his only film role. And it was certainly an inspired piece of casting-whoever is responsible, I take my hat off to you. Though it looks low budget, there are quite a few top weight actors in it, even by 1970s standards such as Edward Fox, and the late David Hemmings. Sheila White, the poor cow of the '60s does a fine job as the kidnapped wife of Fox's character.

It's not hard to see why Stacy Keach is so good as a man fighting substance abuse. He later on had his own troubles when he was caught entering the UK with drugs in 1984. Some years before, he portrayed a low grade boxer in Fat City with a young Jeff Bridges.

This was made in the '70s, it's quite violent and rough around the edges. You have been warned. Enjoy it anyway.

English Director Michael Apted has received a good bit of attention for a few films over the years, most notably Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorky Park and Gorilla's In The Mist. He's also directed a number of TV episodes of many well known shows. Of all of the films I've seen of his, two of them stand out to me as quite underrated or underappreciated generally. This one which is actually so underseen it seems, and 1992's Thunderheart with Sam Shepard, Graham Greene and Val Kilmer. I definitely recommend checking them both out if you like crime drama.

7.5/10.

Gritty, fast-paced British crime thriller typical of the genre-eg "Get Carter"; "The Long Good Friday", and although falls somewhat short of these classics, nevertheless delivers the requisite punch. Interestingly cast, with Stacy Keach on good form as the alcoholic ex-cop investigating the kidnap of his daughter; David Hemmings in smooth bad-guy mode, Edward Fox as the wealthy step-father,and Stephen Boyd, in his final film role delivering a menacing portrayal as master-villain Vic Smith. Shot in and around London, many of the scenes and settings will be familiar to British viewers of the 1970's TV hit "The Sweeney" with similar allusions to a less-than-perfect central character struggling with the violent London underworld. Massively under-rated at time of release; certainly a must for all fans of this peculiarly British genre.