captainhowdy1967

People have often speculated about George's behaviour in the last scene of this film, and wondered why he reacted as he did. I watched this again recently and noticed that after McQueen breaks free of his arresting officers, as he runs onto the bridge he shouts 'Johnson' as if he is almost inviting the smiling assassin to take him out. Johnson and his mob duly oblige. It's almost as if he knew it was going to happen. It's possible also that they would have killed McQueen even had he not escaped, since the chap who stripped Lynda Bellingham at the start was also present, pretending to be a road sweeper. Why? Were the going to murder McQueen, or try and free him? Who knows.

I've often found the end of this film confusing, and George's reaction is a surprise. Why would anyone be so upset about the death of someone as wicked and nasty as McQueen? Also, with reference to the aforementioned LB, surely even someone as ditsy as Janice Wyatt would have smelt a bit of a rat being coaxed into a hotel room and made to record specific references to Charles Baker and 'going to sleep' before being murdered by lethal injection. What was she told they needed that for? I think it's a bit far fetched to expect anyone to actually do this with no explanation, and none is never offered on screen. I agree with another posting however that the murder scene is surprisingly effective, and Janice certainly looks dead pretty quickly after being given a forced overdose. On the DVD Lynda Bellingham states that she was actually injected with distilled water, and had they caught a vein she might well have gone the same way as her character.

Many accuse Rod Steiger of overacting, and anyone who has seen the Amityville Horror and the 'fly' section would struggle to say otherwise. That said, he's brilliant in this.

It's never on TV, you can't buy it on DVD (legitimately). In 1988, when Channel 4 still had a prescription for innovation, they showed this amongst a small amalgam of 60s films, Privilege etc - and I remember an essentially theatrical experience, transposed well to film. The great thing about theatre is it's enclosed - how do you make it available and interesting on screen? PH just about pulls it off. Because this sort of film is never even on cable or Sky TV anywhere it's hard to get a debate going, but for anyone out there who has seen it or can remember, my memories are of a forthright, almost strident performance by Sally Geeson 'thats all taken care of' (which eschews the almost diffident general performances of her and her sibling in many early 70s offerings) she says ref conception. There are several of these - key lines you remember years, decades on. That's the power of a film like this.

PS I just saw it again and its just as good. One day, TV too will be enlightened.