This was the typical movie which Oliver Reed shined in; remember HUNTING PARTY and THE DEVILS, among his forever best. He is outstanding here as a brutal, vicious inmate whose wife decides to divorce. The scene between the two of them, at the prison parlor, is terrific, with an awesome camera work thru the glass separating them. The novel is faithful to Larry Henderson's novel, so close that the book seems to be a romanisation from the screenplay, as Michael Winner's THE MECHANIC or SCORPIO were. It's also typical from the crime movies from UK made in the sixties and seventies: THE VILLAIN, ROBBERY, THE SQUEEZE, GET CARTER, LONG GOOD FRIDAY, movies far better than most crime films from after the 2000's, in UK, at least most of them. Rough, tough, gritty, this fast paced film noir is truly amazing for moviegoers as I am, especially in the crime genre. Oliver Reed with his face of a man who expects suffering and pain, to give and receive it. Watch out when; during the escape, he grabs barbed wire with his bare hands, just before he is attacked by a dog. His terrific agony in Ken Russel's THE DEVILS is not far...
Review of Sitting Target
