La Guerre des otages

A British suspense-thriller; A story about a middle-aged NATO electronics expert who aims to track down the killers of his family, aided by a colleague and access to an early version of the internet. This film, based on a novel by Simon Quinn, has a theme about how blood vengeance consumes to the point of self-destruction. The film has conviction and carries a modicum of suspense. George Kennedy's arresting performance as a middle-aged nerd, an everyman, hulking around Campania and Lazio like an out-of-control ox, lends a touch of realism to his scenes of lex talionis but it means the emotional cards fail to stack fully in his favour. Ennio Morricone's score responds with just the right emotional tone throughout.

"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!

George Kennedy gets to be pretty badass in this routine but entertaining revenge thriller, playing John Kinsdale, an American computer programmer working for NATO in Italy. One night, he comes home from work to find that his whole family has been savagely executed. He's grief-stricken but also determined to mete out bloody vengeance. The people responsible are a left-wing terrorist group whose modus operandi is targeting American families living in Rome.

The final project for the filmmaker Edward Dmytryk, whose classic credits include "The Caine Mutiny" and "Crossfire", "The 'Human' Factor" still is relevant in some ways, especially for any person who has lost loved ones as a result of a terrorist act. Back then, the plot (concocted by Peter Powell and co-star Thomas Hunter) was somewhat unique for heavy reliance on the technology of the day. The script also heavily relies on viewer acceptance of what the computers in this film are able to accomplish. In 1975, computers were still fairly exotic and mysterious things to some people, and screenwriters could have them figure out any number of things. The computer intelligence here even takes the time to determine what Kinsdales' chances of success are in his mission of vengeance.

The Italian setting helps quite a bit in the telling of this competently made, and viscerally effective, picture. Kennedy is a classic type of hero who can shoot scores of bad guys without having to reload his gun, who can run the cops a good chase, and who keeps fighting even after being struck by gunfire himself. This is one of his most amusing roles, to be sure.

Other aspects of value include the Ennio Morricone soundtrack (at times, it bears the faintest resemblance to his "Once Upon a Time in the West" score) and the excellent international cast: Sir John Mills, Raf Vallone, Barry Sullivan, Rita Tushingham, Shane Rimmer, Haydee Politoff, Arthur Franz. Producer Frank Avianca plays the role of the terrorist Kamal; that's a 12 year old Danny Huston (in his film debut) cast as one of Kinsdales' sons.

The silly and not terribly plausible script never does bother to really explain what the villains hope to accomplish with their killings, but Dmytryk keeps the pace fairly consistent and basically made a watchable enough film for people who love a fun revenge yarn.

Seven out of 10.

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.