Sitting Target ** (1972, Oliver Reed, Jill St John, Ian McShane, Edward Woodward, Frank Finlay, Freddie Jones) – Classic Movie Review 9954

Director Douglas Hickox’s 1972 Sitting Target is a vicious, crude and undistinguished but often exciting and vaguely credible crime thriller with Oliver Reed and Ian McShane going into overdrive as Harry Lomart and Birdy Williams, escaped convicts preparing to slip abroad while seeking murderous revenge on Harry (Reed)’s straying wife Pat (Jill St John) and her lover.

Hickox directs with a lot of rude energy, coming up with some tense sequences, and it does, belatedly, deliver the basic action thrills. Reed really relishes his raging, malevolent character. Edward Woodward is typecast but rock solid as Milton, the police inspector trying to keep Pat (St John) alive.

And it is good to see Frank Finlay, Freddie Jones, Robert Beatty, Tony Beckley, Mike Pratt, Robert Russell, Joe Cahill, Robert Ramsey, Susan Shaw, June Brown and Maggy Maxwell again.

Alexander Jacobs’s screenplay is based on Laurence Henderson’s novel.

Sitting Target is directed by Douglas Hickox, runs 93 minutes, is made by Peerford and MGM British Studios, is released by MGM, is written by Alexander Jacobs, based on Laurence Henderson’s novel, is shot by Ted Scaife, is produced by Barry J Kulick (producer) and Basil Keys (associate producer), is scored by Stanley Myers and is designed by Jonathan Barry.

The prison sequences were filmed at Arbour Hill Prison, Arbour Hill, Dublin, County Dublin, and in the abandoned Kilmainham Jail, Dublin, which was also used for The Italian Job and McVicar.

Incredibly, actors from different universe come together as Jill St John’s character lives next door to June Brown’s neighbour character.

Jill St John turns 80 on 19 August 2020.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9954

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