Il pianto degli innocenti

This is not one of the best films of Frederick Forsyth, Rod Taylor, Nigel Davenport nor of Michael O'Herlihy, the story is a typical Forsyth thriller focussed on brutality, the slaughter of innocents, revenge and death, with a beautiful girl in between, who tries to save the show in the end, but that does not help the story. The music is fine, Cyril Cusack does a good job as the criminal inspector, but the film is rather bleak in character. Rod Taylor was good in parts like this in the 60s, but 20 years later he is not equally convincing any more. And the story, although well contrived, suffers from what seems to be the case with every Forsyth story, no matter how brilliant and intelligent, there is never any human depth and seldom any interesting psychology. The main human interest of his characters is usually only in the victims. Rod Taylor got his girl, but he still lost an entire family.

Director Michael O'Herlihy took a fascinating novel by famed novelist Fredrick Forsyth and combined them with the super talents of Rod Taylor and created yet another suspenseful thriller. The movie is called " Cry of the Innocent. " The story centers around an American, by the name of Steve Donegin (Rod Taylor) who works for an Insurance company stationed in Ireland. In what seemed like a typical aircraft accident a plane explodes and crashed into a countryside farmhouse, killing Donegin's family. Accepting the incident as an accident, Donegin learns that the crash was caused by a bomb. What the culprits do not know is that the family they killed, belonged to an Ex-Green Beret and they have filled him with deep revenge. The movie begins slowly, but like the novel ends up with great intrigue and exciting drama. With the likes of Rod Taylor, this movie is sure to please his many fans. Excellent movie fare which includes the talents of Cyril Cusack, Nigel Davenport and Alexander Knox. ****

In CRY OF THE INNOCENT, a family's holiday is brought to a sudden, tragic end. It's made clear to the viewer from the beginning that the incident was caused by an assassin. Now, the sole survivor, Steve Donegin (Rod Taylor) sets out to uncover what happened, and why.

Since he gets the runaround, Donegin does his own sleuthing, teaming up with a reporter (Joanna Pettet) to get to the bottom of things. Corporate espionage and murder ensue.

CRY OF THE INNOCENT is an above average made-for-TV thriller with a great role for Taylor. Ms. Pettet is also good in her dual role...

This is an Irish film that premiered on American TV back in 1980. It's nothing special. It's a conspiracy story involving industrial spying and a plane from Rome that crashes in Ireland: certainly elements that you could see coming from the pen of Frederick Forsyth. It's Rod Taylor's family that is wiped out in the plane crash and, outraged at discovering that it was no accident, he finds a way to gain revenge on the people behind it. Taylor plays an American insurance exec in Ireland, but of course that isn't a position with enough muscle and craftiness, so the writers also provide him with a background as a former Green Beret. This gives him filmic license to be as sharp and as deadly as they come. Guess those villains picked the wrong family to accidentally wipe out---now they've got an angry Rod to deal with. Actually, Taylor's character and most of the others are cliché (including Pettet as the intrepid female reporter---yawn). But there IS one actor and character that stands out: Cyril Cusack as the Irish police inspector. His rumpled, calm and casual, yet brilliant inspector is the best thing in the film. He steals every scene. Too bad nothing further (another movie or even a TV series) was done with this delightful character. It's the one thing to recommend in this otherwise ordinary revenge saga.

Taylor stars as an insurance executive (and ex-Green Beret) whose family is killed when a private jet crashes into their holiday house. Initially thought to have been a tragic accident, the wily local inspector (Cusack) discovers that a bomb brought the plane down, a revelation that has Taylor seeing red and bent on finding those responsible to take revenge. Pettet co-stars as an intrepid reporter whose expose on shady corporation "Intent" suggest industrial espionage may have caused the death of Taylor's family. Its wealthy CEO (Davenport) appears to be unconnected, but a quick sojourn to Corsica reveals more intrigue and implication.

While Taylor might do a realistic portrayal of an unhinged widow, he's less believable in Green Beret fatigues and face paint. Davenport appears late in the film and makes little impact, Alexander Knox has a pointless cameo as Taylor's war veteran father now living on Corsica, and Pettet is pretty but frivolous. Cusack has the best dialogue and is able to stand apart from the dreck.

Some picturesque Irish countryside together with the capable cast is all that saves this would-be thriller from going down in flames with the plane. Desperately in need of more action and suspense, and less clichéd conspiracy speculation.