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.
Review of Sitting Target
