The 'Human' Factor

"The Human Factor" was made in 1975, which means it's turning 40 years old this year. And yet, the themes and several aspects that feature here are still painfully relevant nowadays as well. I'm writing this user-comment in January 2015, not even two weeks after the cowardly terrorist attack in Paris, France, and still during the aftermath of numerous terror alerts all across Europe. The film centers on American families being the unwary and innocent targets of ruthless Italian left-wing terrorists. Whether for political or religious reasons, embassies and authorities in various countries are still protecting their compatriots that work abroad out of fear for kidnapping or murder. It's truly sad to see that the world hasn't changed one bit and that humanity is still as selfish and extreme as it ever was. But hey, I'm just supposed to write a review… The final project of director Edward Dmytryk, who was particularly famous in the forties & fifties thanks to movies like "Crossfire" and "The Caine Mutiny", is a tense and engaging action/thriller with a handful of harshly violent sequences and a remarkable lead role for veteran actor George Kennedy. He stars as NATO computer specialist John Kingsdale, working in Naples and playing computer games with his friendly colleague most of the time. But when he returns home to his beloved wife and three children one night, they have been viciously massacred by unknown assailants for an unknown reason. After the funeral the deeply saddened John hesitates one moment to shoot himself through the head, but he shoots the TV-screen instead and vows to personally track down his family's killers. With the help of his colleague and their computer equipment, John discovers that he deals with a group of terrorists that invade the homes of American families through responding to newspaper ads. He prevents another massacre, but meanwhile John himself is also chased by the local authorities. "The Human Factor" is an overall very solid vigilante/revenge thriller. The script is occasionally tedious and confusing due to all the computer slang, especially during the first half of the film, but this is widely compensated during the explosive final act, with a furious battle in a Naples' backstreet alley and a gritty finale inside a crowded supermarket. Several people pointed out that George Kennedy was an odd choice to play the mad avenger, but he's a terrific all-around actor and brings more realism to the part. If, for example, Charles Bronson would have played John Kingsdale, "The Human Factor" would have been more stereotypical and a lot less persuasive. Recommended!

This is the last film made by the famous director Ed Dmytryk before his death. However, he must have been failing more than in health, as his creative juices seem largely to have dried up for this one. I hate to say this, because two of my old pals were involved in the production: George Davis ('in charge of production') and Roy Parkinson, Production Manager. George and Roy liked to work together whenever possible, and I can just imagine that George raised a sizeable portion of the budget for this project. He died just after Christmas in 1999, and most of the films he worked on in his long career are not listed on IMDb. Production accountants often get no screen credits, although they are the custodians of all the producers' darkest secrets, and I learned a few from George! As for Roy, it appears that he is still alive aged 95, and I hope his charming wife Lana is too. George and Roy were two of the most honest and decent men I ever knew, and this seems a fitting occasion to pay tribute to both of them. There was one occasion in particular when I had to consult with them about a most important and difficult decision involving the jobs of many people, and their support helped me to make it and eased me through a crisis of conscience caused by an act of financial corruption by the Boulting Brothers. George Davis and Roy Parkinson came from a generation when loyalty and values still existed and were widely held, though such qualities are today a vanishing commodity in a world ruled by greed. George Kennedy was a curious choice for a lead actor in this action movie, as he was already a bit old and getting overweight. Of course, he is good, but he would have been better 10 years earlier. And this is in any case really a sixties movie made in the seventies. Much of the casting is of well known names from an earlier era who are either given very little to do so that their talents are wasted (such as Rita Tushingham and John Mills) or who look shockingly past their sell-by date, such as Raf Vallone looking like a ghost of himself. The script is weak, and Dmytryk does little to save it. This is one of those films where in the story vengeance is seen to be done, and there's none of that 'they should have a fair trial' stuff, so this is a particularly gritty suspense film. I only wish it had been a better one.

Recently watched this film after not seeing it for many years and it brought back many memories. I was stationed on the AFSOUTH NATO base at the time and the camera crews were there a few days doing exterior shots of the cast in some scenes. It was strange seeing this as I had just arrived there not long before and was even stranger to see the finished film at the base theater after it was released. Every time a scene would pop up showing the base or other recognizable spots (like the Navy Exchange at the climax) the audience would cheer. Not one of the best thrillers I'd seen but they did an adequate job for what it was probably budgeted for. I agree with some of the review that the cast seemed to be miscast (Kennedy never came across to me as the sort of actor that would be the lead in a film) and a bit long in the tooth. Overall everyone I knew enjoyed it but thought it could have been better. Sophia Loren also did scenes on the base in another film though it was filmed when I was not there and I'm sorry to say I can't recall it's title - though I think it was about her helping an orphaned girl.

A British suspense-thriller; A story about a middle-aged NATO electronics expert who aims to track down the killers of his family, aided by a colleague and access to an early version of the internet. This film, based on a novel by Simon Quinn, has a theme about how blood vengeance consumes to the point of self-destruction. The film has conviction and carries a modicum of suspense. George Kennedy's arresting performance as a middle-aged nerd, an everyman, hulking around Campania and Lazio like an out-of-control ox, lends a touch of realism to his scenes of lex talionis but it means the emotional cards fail to stack fully in his favour. Ennio Morricone's score responds with just the right emotional tone throughout.

It's fun to see George Kennedy in this kind of a role as a grieving father out for revenge. I've mostly only seen him in westerns up until now. Raf Vallone was excellent as the Inspector and always a pleasure to watch. The plot is pretty straightforward stuff so there's very little mystery to be had here.

Good soundtrack. Good action sequences toward the end (you have to wait for them).

The most interesting part was how old school and all-knowing the computers are in this film. Literally, the characters are physically connecting telephones to large computer machines in order to send and receive green text on a black screen, and they take everything the computer says as gospel. Lol. Those were different times.