(1975/IT/UK)
(aka. IL GIUSTIZIERE)
REVIEW-Devin Kelly
CAST: George Kennedy, John Mills, Raf Vallone, Rita Tushingham, Barry Sullivan, Arthur Franz, Haydée Politoff, Thomas Hunter, Frank Avianca, Shane Rimmer, Jho Jenkins, Fiamma Verges, Lewis Charles, Corinne Dunne, West Buchanan, Sharon Kellogg, Eugene Wade, Hillary Leif, Ricky Harrison, Danny Houston, Robert Lowell, Jan Lowell, Ann Ferguson, Michael Mandeville, Conchita Airoldi, Vincenzo Crocitti
DIRECTOR: Edward Dmytryk
PRODUCER: Frank Avianca
CAST: George Kennedy, John Mills, Raf Vallone, Rita Tushingham, Barry Sullivan, Arthur Franz, Haydée Politoff, Thomas Hunter, Frank Avianca, Shane Rimmer, Jho Jenkins, Fiamma Verges, Lewis Charles, Corinne Dunne, West Buchanan, Sharon Kellogg, Eugene Wade, Hillary Leif, Ricky Harrison, Danny Houston, Robert Lowell, Jan Lowell, Ann Ferguson, Michael Mandeville, Conchita Airoldi, Vincenzo Crocitti
RUNNING TIME: 95 min. 55 seconds
DVD SOURCE: Dark Sky Films/Rainbow Film Holdings
Nothing brings out more unharnessed emotion in a person than when one’s family is threatened, or worse yet, harmed. It’s an expected and natural anger, a burning rage and pain. It’s the “human” factor, the title and basis for Edward Dmytryk’s vigilante vengeance drama starring unexpected but not miscast reliable, George Kennedy (COOL HAND LUKE ’67, JUST BEFORE DAWN ’80, DEATH SHIP ’80). Its DEATH WISH style contempt with avenging father as ticking time bomb.
It doesn’t get much closer to the simple, everyday guy who cares for his clan than here with Kennedy in the role of John Kinsdale, who just happens to also be a NATO specialist. Stationed in Naples, Italy, Kinsdale is typically away from work, the “average Joe”, who goes to bed with his wife every night and sits down to breakfast with his three kids each morning before heading off to work. Although forced to relocate from the States, not much is in the way of abnormalities in the Kinsdale home. The picture perfect American family and unbeknownst to them, the precise reason they’ll become the ideal targets.
Working daily under the sharp General Fuller (Arthur Franz) and along side close comrade Mike McAllister (John Mills) on emergency scenarios and reactive planning for NATO, all has been well in John Kinsdale’s life since his European arrival. Combine that with looking ahead to the birthday of his son Jeff (Ricky Harrison), an evening of joyful celebration, and life would seem complete with reasons to be thankful. Unfortunately, things have a way of turning horribly wrong in anyone’s world when sudden violence creeps in out of the shadows, as Kinsdale cruelly learns upon returning home during the film’s opening night. He drives towards his house cautiously as an ambulance races past his car, flashing lights and the sound of sirens and disarray up ahead. His gut reaction aches all too real. It’s all unfolding right in front of his very own home, being a sure sign that something is terribly and ultimately, tragically wrong. Police and medics everywhere, things overturned, and the most nightmarish sight of all, bodies covered by blood-spotted sheets on gurneys being ushered from Kinsdale’s living room. Things have indeed turned so real, so wrong. His family had been massacred. What lays in front of him and the suddenly sole Kinsdale’s deep outcry as he rolls back one of the sheets is a punch packing moment, bringing a lump to the throat of anyone who couldn’t even fathom such a horror.
From this moment forward and for the rest of the picture, Kinsdale’s primary concentration and obsession, as would be expected, is gaining revenge on the cowards who dared enter his home and wipe out everything that meant anything to him. The only problem is in the way he pursues the plan that has him seeing red. It seems he can enter whatever he wants into NATO’s master brain computer (ironically and eerily named, 9-11!) and receive the desired answer within seconds of either he or loyal pal McAllister punching it in, right down to insane and quite unbelievable detail. Keep in mind, this is way before the Internet was even thought of, so it all seems so far fetched when Kinsdale and McAllister can come up with anything from a plane’s departure time right up to our protagonist’s emotional state and successful revenge percentage. This seems to be the Sylvia Brown of computers! Eventually, the pair realize that it’s strictly American families being sacrificed at the hands of a left-wing organization demanding the release of certain political prisoners. Locating them through wanted ads, the terrorists (beautiful French sweetheart, Haydée Politoff, writer Thomas Hunter, and producer Frank Avianca) plot the murders of more innocents from the U.S. until they get the response they want from the authorities.
Really, there are a number of ups and downs with THE HUMAN FACTOR. The major downfall as I said, would be in the plausibility of information the 9-11 computer program can randomly come up with. The answers sought out by Mills and Kennedy’s characters appear to them within literally seconds via this miracle machine, which by 1975 standards, even at a high-tech NATO base, seems highly unlikely. It’s the traumatized father’s revenge we’ve come to see though and, eventually, the wait does pay off in a bloody and to the point grocery mart shoot-out during the film’s final, sombre sequence. It happens so fast, it’s not particularly thrilling, but more satisfying for the viewer. What does jive well though is the obvious choice of Kennedy for his appearance as an everyday guy. He’s not a beefed up muscle head dripping with sweat and draped in rounds, or a James Bond-ish hunk with a million tricks up his sleeve. He’s simply your regular, not in the greatest shape white male who goes to work and loves his family unconditionally, and not to mention when it comes right down to it, a pretty great actor in real life. This makes a lot of what goes on in THE HUMAN FACTOR in terms of the emotional condition of some of the individuals easier to swallow and more realistic. It also makes you sympathize more with what Kennedy’s John Kinsdale is going through, by far the hardest anguish one could face in life.
British Colombia born Edward Dmytryk, a quite interesting director, perhaps more for his background than his films, had first come to fruition with his acclaimed 1954 picture, THE CAINE MUTINY following controversy that had him blacklisted and thrown in prison for a few months. This stemmed from his involvement with what became known as “The Hollywood Ten”, a group of various people in the motion picture business said to have been involved with the Communist Party (another among them was one of my personal favourites, actor Marc Lawrence). Dmytryk was one of these, and without too much disrespect here, sold out the bunch to the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) for his freedom and the chance at continuing making films in Hollywood. He was not the only one of them to do so but actually hurt his reputation even more in the process. A way out for a number of those actors and directors associated with this Communist organization was to seek refuge and a continued film career in Europe, and although following the ordeal, Dmytryk did go on with making movies Stateside, by the late sixties and into the seventies, he found himself there as well. While rolling through Italy, Spain, and the UK, mostly from around 1968 to 1975, Dmytryk cranked out a number of films, some well received, others not, but the majority featuring some name players. Films like the war spectacle, ANZIO (1968) starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Falk, the shot in Spain, UK/West German western, SHALAKO (1968) with Sean Connery and the controversial Brigitte Bardot, and the Richard Burton vehicle, BLUEBEARD (1972) were the meat of the director’s European output. Following those was THE HUMAN FACTOR.
The cast here, as with most of Edward Dmytryk’s films, is very decent. As I said already, Kennedy is a fantastic lead choice. He should have been kept out of any high octane foot chase sequences though, as when he bolts through Naples trying to escape the lead investigator, played by fellow veteran Raf Vallone (SUMMERTIME KILLER ’72, THE GIRL IN ROOM 2A ’73), he starts sucking air after a few minutes. Between he and the by then also aging Vallone, I was placing bets on who would collapse first. The supporting cast is fairly entertaining, most of all a hammy Barry Sullivan (PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES ’65, POPPIES ARE ALSO FLOWERS ’66) in the role of accidental informant George Edmonds. The scene outside of another murdered family’s home where Kennedy and Sullivan meet for the first time is priceless, with Sullivan rambling on as though he’d put back a few too many before the shoot that evening, bellowing out at Kennedy with, “Aren’t you getting’ tired of getting’ your butts kicked by these punks?!”. It’s a terrific cornball moment. Also good is Sir John Mills (who was knighted the year following this film) as Kennedy’s best friend and co-computer programmer, Mike McAllister, and eventually warning of the unhealthy obsession his mate’s vendetta has become. Arthur Franz was a favourite of Dmytryk, also turning up in the director’s THE CAINE MUTINY (1954), THE CARPETBAGGERS (1964), ALVAREZ KELLY (1966), and ANZIO (1968), although here in THE HUMAN FACTOR, he’s in and out as General Fuller. The rest of the cast is left with little to do or one to two scenes. The presence of Rita Tushingham (STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING ’72, SITUATION ’73) seems rather pointless as another of Kennedy’s co-workers and friends and the terrorists are scantly shown with a half-assed attempt to give them some character development towards the end that feels more like time filler. I have to say though, I was quite taken by the lovely Haydée Politoff (LA COLLECTIONNEUSE ’68, QUEENS OF EVIL ’71, COUNT DRACULA’S GREAT LOVE ’72), a French actress who had a brief string of films out of France, Italy, as well as Spain up until the very early 1980’s. Certainly a doll to look out for though. Eagle-eyed Euro-film freaks may recognize black actor Jho Jenkins as a CIA agent, who featured much more prominently in films like Francesco Barilli’s PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK (1973).
Another interesting and commendable release from now one of my favourite companies, Dark Sky Films, who just keep making their catalogue more desirable as the months go by. The picture here isn’t as crisp as some of their other discs, but the sound comes out nice, it is presented letterboxed and as always, the extras are wonderfully in-depth (not as much here, but this was a fairly rare film from the start until they took it on anyway). We get a super stills gallery, a passable TV spot, and best of all, a fantastic and fairly lengthy interview titled ‘The Kennedy Factor’ with main star, George Kennedy, who reminisces fondly about a number of topics, including the film, and really hasn’t changed a whole hell of a lot. It’s a nice after dinner mint most definitely.
It’s great to see a film like THE HUMAN FACTOR get recognition from such a rising group as Dark Sky and to see it surface again all brand spankin’ new in what is now almost 2007. Just goes to show, many people still appreciate great forgotten films and enjoy introducing them to us as if they were new again. Well, we’re for sure here for the taking.
“No telling what it could do to a man.”
-Arthur Franz (General Fuller)
PICTURE: 3.5/5 BITCH SLAPS AUDIO: 4/5 BITCH SLAPS EXTRAS: 4.5/5 BITCH SLAPS OVERALL FILM: 3/5 BITCH SLAPS STORY: 3/5 BITCH SLAPS
© 2007 cinema-nocturna.com
