Callan

I thought the film was very good. I like others at first approached the film with a jaundiced view, specifically the totally different effect of the music. However once viewed several times ones' view changes and accepts the film / music / different "Hunter" etc. afresh. No one else could play Callan other than Edward Woodward, the effect of Eric Porter as the new "Hunter" also becomes part of the whole fabric. I have seen the film many times now and to change anything or to try to align it with the way Callan was presented for TV would be detrimental.Enjoy it as it stands without prejudice. One weak spot, the scene where Callan is located with Lonely in a pub by one of Mears' henchmen; you could never jam a kiosk door with a piece of folded up card!

"Callan" (Edward Woodward) was retired from his top secret job after his boss "Hunter" (Eric Porter) thought he'd lost his edge, but now that very man is courting him to return for one very special task. That will involve him killing a man called "Schneider". If he does this, then he will be reinstated no questions asked. Thing is, though, "Callan" isn't just an hit man, he wants to know a little bit more about his quarry and so sets about getting to know this man (Carl Möhner) who loves replaying Napoleonic battles using hand painted, cast-iron, armies and who shares a seemingly innocuous life with his wife (Catherine Schell). His employer isn't convinced with these methods, so decides to let his replacement "Meres" (Richard Egan) make up a plan B - in which it is quite possible that "Callan" could end up being collateral damage. What now ensues is a decently paced, if slightly confusing, thriller replete with just about everything save a poisoned umbrella tip. Woodward and his fixer "Lonely" (Russell Hunter) have reprised their roles from the successful ATV television series from the late 1960s and in many ways this is just one feature-length episode from that. It works fine, with solid production values and it's even got a little bit of soul.

While the notion of "franchising" a successful creative work is nothing new today, it was quite novel (sorry for the pun) for author James Mitchell.

His spy novel A Magnum for Schneider was published in 1969. It begat a successful book series; a top-rated British TV drama which ran for years, which Mitchell also wrote for; a bona fide international star (Woodward) who was so successfully identified with the role of Callan that he actually crossed the pond and starred in a TV show there called The Equalizer; and, of all things, this bizarre almost reverent attempt to milk the original cow (the first novel) one more time, in 1974, using most of the original cast, in a feature length film, and shot in colour.

This should be point in the review where I tell you that this whole exercise was of such high quality that Callan is as watchable today (whenever you are reading this) as it was then. If I said that, I would be lying.

While Mitchell had his finger on the pulse of the 60s -- a gradual turning away from traditional and respectable spy stories to something a little more violent and gritty -- it was only a taste of what was to come.

Which means that this film, as competent as it is, will always remain merely a curiosity for fans who remember the original. (And also remember, for example, that in the series, Callan not only returned to his "job" but for a while actually ran the entire Section!) Fond memories. But only memories.

The spy genre saw a (British-led) backlash in the mid-/late-1960s against the 'James Bond-led' type of upper class, super-human, perfect being spies and attention being paid in literature ("The spy who came in from the cold") and film (the Harry Palmer films) to a much more realistic portrayal of who spies were and what they actually did (often grubby little men working in atrocious conditions and for minimal recompense). In addition to literature and film, I can recall seeing the original "Callan" series on TV and of being very impressed by it. As portrayed by Woodward, Callan really was a working class thug (ex-army/ex-offender/borderline alcoholic and capable of great viciousness) doing the most unglamorous kinds of things in order to "take care" (with threats, blackmail, entrapment and, ultimately, 'termination') of people his superiors ordered him to. At the same time, Woodward gave the character a real human side who often displayed pity and empathy for his victims and who refused to turn into just the simple killing machine his masters wanted. I thought this film (which I had never seen before and found on some TV network being broadcast between 1.00 and 3.00 AM!) caught all of this very well. It was made at a time of great violence/almost seeming social melt-down (IRA bombing campaigns in Britain, the never-ending "Troubles" in Ireland, terrorism across much of Europe, the PLO terrorist attacks across the world. the Vietnam War staggering towards its bloody (and probably inevitable) end) and there are a number of places in the film where issues of direct relevance for today are also addressed (where to draw the line between 'enhanced interrogation' and outright torture, what are the limits of surveillance, how far can people 'follow orders' and still stay human?) An exciting film to watch but also one with a lot more to offer as well.

This is a tight, intelligent thriller closely based on the fine novel Red File For Callan, from which the great 1960s-1970s Thames TV series developed. David Callan is a solitary, mentally unstable killer, who is given one last chance to return to "The Section", a shadowy British government security department. Callan hates to kill, but is qualified for little else, and has been forced by his old masters into a dull, mundane office job with a harassing boss. His test is to murder someone - a man whom it turns out he knows, an apparently harmless businessman with whom he shares an interest in military history and battle games. The film boasts a first-class performance from Edward Woodward as Callan, reprising his TV role with confidence. Russell Hunter is also extremely good as Lonely, a smelly petty crook whom Callan employs to buy him a gun. Sadly the film was made with little style, and the military band score is disappointingly out of kilter with Jack Trombey's fine, moody Callan TV theme.

The Callan character was an icon in British television history, and was extremely popular with viewers. This story got its first TV outing as A Magnum for Schneider (the book's original title) in a 50 minute slot on Armchair Theatre, a famous British TV drama anthology. (This unofficial pilot can now be seen on a very good DVD compilation of what early episodes are still unwiped, called "Callan: The Monochrome Years" (Network DVD, 2010).) There was also a recent BBC radio version. Callan was seen, like The Ipcress File, as an antidote to the invulnerable 007. Why there were no other Callan films made, since the creator James Mitchell wrote several filmable novels about the character, is a mystery.

Callan boasts one technical distinction: according to the Guinness Book of Movie Facts and Feats, this was the first film to be released with a Dolby encoded mono soundtrack. (A Clockwork Orange used Dolby noise reduction in its making some years before but used a conventional soundtrack on its release prints.) When I saw Callan on its release at a local cinema, I remember thinking the sound was uncommonly clear and the dialogue for once actually audible.