Sitting Target (1972)

Why so much hype?

Don't Believe the Hype

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It would be easy to dismiss this film as mindless tosh with a shallow attempt at deep subtext, but that would be way too easy. This is a hard man's film. Unlike other attempts (Get Carter, McVicar, the more-recent Kray brothers film), it feels almost like watching found-footage. The reasons are two-fold: Reed and McShane. Reed surpasses his usual scenery-chewing with moments of stillness so menacing that he joins Di Nero in 'Taxi Driver,' Michael Rooker in 'Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer' and Ben Kingsley in 'Sexy Beast' as truly terrifying. Far from over-the-top his moments of rage seem real, psychotic, and literally beyond his control. McShane, however, is a revelation to those who know him mainly from his more recent successes. His nasty, pared-down, pattering con is far more believable than many characters in similar roles in American crime flicks. He is in many ways the real snake in the grass. Finlay surpasseth all understanding as a sleazy tout. Again, compared to villains in films of the 'Shaft' or 'Dirty Harry' genre, his sleazy crook Marty is a whole character, not a two-dimensional cliché. One even feels a bit sorry for him. The entire film is worth a look for the jail-break scene alone. I'd love to see this one on the big screen. It's an exploitation film that, like Lee Marvin's 'Point Blank,' is more than the sum of its parts.

This film – which has been showing repeatedly on TCM UK for years – is one of many tough action films which came out in the early 1970s dealing with the British underworld. The end result is certainly watchable enough but, in the long run, neither is it as classy as GET CARTER (1971) nor as nasty as VILLAIN (1971). Where it distinguishes itself over others in the same genre is in the excellent cast the production company managed to rope in for the project – Oliver Reed, Ian McShane (who also appeared in VILLAIN), Jill St. John, Edward Woodward, Frank Finlay, Freddie Jones (a small and mostly irrelevant role) and Robert Beatty; besides, a couple of decent action sequences - the elaborate rooftop prison break, Reed's fiery car chase, Finlay's staircase demise, etc. – are par for the course. However, the film founders through a very predictable plot (sharing several similarities with GET CARTER itself) which is further exacerbated by the fashionably muddled handling and a prevailing mood of genuine unpleasantness. Only Stanley Myers' moody score emerges with dignity as SITTING TARGET's most notable asset.

To this day SITTING TARGET is one of the most bleak and disturbingly violent thrillers Britain has ever produced . I remember watching this one TV in the early 1980s and being slightly shocked as to how nihilistic it all was . If there's any type of message in this film it's that there's no honour amongst thieves and that it's bad news to drive a motorcycle while the petrol tank explodes . It's also one of the few British films to show the mind numbing living death of long term imprisonment and this alone makes it worth watching . It's also interesting to note that Ian McShane is playing a villain . It might not be surprising casting with hindsight since we'll all remember McShane for his scene stealing role in DEADWOOD but before that HBO series he was always cast as likable good guys

I really fell for this movie when I saw it on TCM. A simple, straight forward, almost ordinary story but this movie is much more memorable thanks to it's stylish direction and good cast. A very intense movie. To me it's just as good as the more known "get carter" from the same era.