Year of the Gun

A good title, but more applicable to 1981, since that was the year that saw attempts to assassinate the President of the United States and the Pope.

This film sounds of interest on paper for the prospect of seeing John Frankenheimer address the abduction and murder of Aldo Moro. It doesn't stint on the gunplay (one particularly nasty moment depicts a horse getting caught in the crossfire). But there's even more talk - some of it in Italian - while the old dynamism that brought us 'The Manchurian Candidate' is sorely lacking, and Andrew McCarthy makes a very passive hero.

In compensation Sharon Stone brings a feral power to the role of an American photojournalist who never lets a little aggro get in the way of a photo opportunity. While it concludes with one of Frankenheimer's trademark closeups of a TV screen.