As brutal and bleak as you're like to find in an early 70s British crime thriller. Director Douglas Hickox pulls no punches with this balls-to-the-wall potboiler. Oliver Reed has a plethora of anger management issues, mostly directed at unfaithful wife Jill St. John. He doesn't allow prison walls to stop him from getting to her. He breaks out with an assist from sleazy fellow con Ian McShane. It's an unrelentingly depressing film with Reed in top form and McShane every inch his squalid equal. Hicokox's direction is dynamite (the prison break is a nail biter). Jill St. John affects a slight English accent, never overdoing it and is quite convincing. She's also a knockout, making it easier to see why the demented Reed goes to such lengths to get to her. The cinematography is by Edward Scaife, who shot everything from the Connie Francis vehicle FOLLOW THE BOYS to the WWII classic THE DIRTY DOZEN. The supporting cast includes Frank Finley and the great Edward Woodward.
Review of Sitting Target
