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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
"Underrated", 30 March 2004
Author: jamesraeburn2003 from Poole, Dorset

Convicted murderer Harry Lomart (Oliver Reed) escapes from prison with cell mate Birdie Williams (Ian McShane) in order to kill his wife (Jill St John) who has been unfaithful and has got herself pregnant in the process.

Violent and brutal crime drama in the wake of "Get Carter" (1971) which benefits from the direction of Douglas Hickox who manages to stage some exciting action scenes. The script by Alexander Jacobs is at times difficult to follow but the cast of British TV regulars such as Edward Woodward, Frank Finlay, Mike Pratt and Freddie Jones also contribute to the enjoyment of this meaty but underrated thriller. The prison scenes were lensed in two real Irish prisons giving the film a genuine sense of realism. Reed, McShane and St John all score in their roles.

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Spare, tense, vicious, a must., 6 December 2006
Author: Blaise_B from Pittsburgh

Under-appreciated British crime thriller with antisocial characters and an antisocial plot: a convict finds out his wife is pregnant by another man, so he busts out of prison to hunt her down with every intention of killing her. No time wasted on "redeeming" characters. No goofy humor or chase scenes through clubs playing bad, dated music. Just a spare, tense study of two vicious men (Oliver Reed, Ian McShane) hot on the trail of a treacherous moll (Jill St. John). A nemesis detective (Edward Woodward) tries to intervene, but never fouls the nihilistic tone. Solid performances and one of Reed's best as an uber-thug who does push-ups on the ceiling of his jail cell, is sitting on a volcano, and only lets on what he has to, even to his partner. The script does the same thing, imparting information on a need-to-know basis, doing so smoothly as it races toward Hell. All in the back-lots and stygian prisons of a cold, drab London, with a musical score by Stanley Myers that perfectly enhances the story and mood. A must for fans of seventies crime thrillers, British or otherwise, that take no prisoners.

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Gritty and Tough, 6 March 2003
Author: Wolfsglen from England

Excellent old revenge movie from a time when Britain still made movies that didn't involve period costumes or floppy haired smiles!

Ian "Lovejoy" McShane and the Late Oliver Reed bust out of prison, with the sole purpose of killing Reeds Wife (Jill St John) who wants a divorce. The film is relentless in its portrayal of Reed as a cold blooded man with a single deadly purpose, yet still shows him simmering with a pent up violent rage that cant wait to explode into violence at any time.

I have heard many call this movie a poor-mans version of "Get Carter", but that tag does it a serious injustice. Gritty, Dark, Bleak and Brutal (for its time) something about this movie keeps me watching it 30+ years after its release.

Stylish, Original, and highly recommended, especially if you are sick of "Feel Good" cliches.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Nasty but compelling, 23 January 2000
Author: heedarmy from United Kingdom

There were a number of brutal thrillers made in Britain in the early 70s ("Get Carter" and "Villain" were others) and this may be the nastiest of the lot. There are few likeable characters and a lot of unpleasant violence in the film, although it can boast a strong cast and stylish direction from the underrated Hickox, who made the excellent (if equally violent) "Theatre of Blood" the following year.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
The unlovables, 5 June 1999
Author: Renaldo Matlin from Oslo, Norway

A dramatic story of revenge and doublecrossing, as a criminal breaks out of jail and set out to kill his cheating wife. Just an appetizer for that great Michael Caine-thriller "Get Carter"(1971) from which it seems inspired. Not surprisingly -like "Carter"- in the end no one seem to win, reminding us on that old saying about digging your own grave. But it does have it's moments; like the escape scene, the biker cops and the laundry, and the car wrecking scene. A fine cast as well, including Edward Woodward as the cop out to protect St.John from Reed's wrath.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Violent And Bleak, 26 January 2003
6/10
Author: Theo Robertson from Isle Of Bute, Scotland

To this day SITTING TARGET is one of the most bleak and disturbingly violent thrillers Britain has ever produced . I remember watching this one TV in the early 1980s and being slightly shocked as to how nihilistic it all was . If there's any type of message in this film it's that there's no honour amongst thieves and that it's bad news to drive a motorcycle while the petrol tank explodes . It's also one of the few British films to show the mind numbing living death of long term imprisonment and this alone makes it worth watching . It's also interesting to note that Ian McShane is playing a villain . It might not be surprising casting with hindsight since we'll all remember McShane for his scene stealing role in DEADWOOD but before that HBO series he was always cast as likable good guys

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
As good as get carter, 7 August 2002
Author: halfcolombian from Sweden

I really fell for this movie when I saw it on TCM. A simple, straight forward, almost ordinary story but this movie is much more memorable thanks to it's stylish direction and good cast. A very intense movie. To me it's just as good as the more known "get carter" from the same era.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Brutal Drama With Strong Direction, 27 January 2003
Author: charleys_99 from England

This little known film has many aspects that make it stand out from other violent crime films of the 70s. There is stylish photography and music. Some well known stars in unusual roles (eg Jill St John lives next door to June Brown!) and a plot where characters have obscure motivations that even they cannot seem to fathom. This results in some very intense scenes. The ending is too melodramatic but there are many images that remain vivid and make this film worth watching more than once.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Brutal Crime Thriller, 2 January 2009
5/10
Author: James Hitchcock from Tunbridge Wells, England

The main character in "Sitting Target" is Harry Lomart, a convict serving a lengthy jail term, who learns that his attractive young wife Pat has not only cheated on him with another man but is also expecting that man's baby. Lomart, infuriated, swears revenge; together with another inmate, Birdy, he breaks out of jail with the intention of killing Pat and her lover before fleeing the country.

The film has some similarities with another British crime drama from the early seventies, "Get Carter", which came out the previous year. Both are gritty gangster dramas with a revenge theme, concentrating on the criminals themselves rather than on the police's fight against crime. In films like this there is no honour among thieves; one gangster's worst enemy is often another gangster rather than a policemen. In keeping with the permissive ethos of the era both films treat violence graphically, far more graphically than would have been permitted only a decade earlier. Both were shot on location ("Get Carter" in the North-East, "Sitting Target" in South London) and have a strong sense of place. And yet, unlike another reviewer, I cannot but find myself in agreement with those who have characterised "Sitting Target"as a poor man's "Get Carter".

Not all the acting is particularly good, especially from the former Bond girl Jill St John who seems miscast as Pat. (This was her first film after "Diamonds are Forever"; presumably the producers felt they needed a big-name American star to help with overseas sales). Like a number of foreign, especially American, actors, she makes the mistake of assuming that all British people speak with the same "posh" accent and that mastering this accent is all one needs to do in order to portray a British character convincingly, regardless of social background. (Others who have fallen into the same trap include Natalie Portman in "V for Vendetta" and even Meryl Streep in "The French Lieutenant's Woman"). Jill might have done better to drop the accent altogether; it is far more conceivable that a South London villain might have married an American girl than that he might have married a Roedean-educated débutante, which is what she sounds like here.

Oliver Reed is better; although his Lomart may lack the depth of some of his other performances from this period, such as his Grandier in Ken Russell's "The Devils", he does at least make the character convincingly thuggish, a man whose every move is driven by anger and resentment. Unlike Michael Caine's Jack Carter, who hides his violent nature beneath a veneer of stylish sophistication, with Lomart what you see is what you get. There is nothing stylish or sophisticated about him.

The film moves along at a swift pace, although it does perhaps get over-complicated in the second half, as it becomes progressively more violent and moves towards an explosive finale. It never, however, achieves the depth or significance of "Get Carter", a sort of anti-"Godfather" which demythologises the criminal lifestyle. "Sitting Target", by contrast is a brutal and nasty crime thriller, if occasionally an effective one, exploiting the violence it purports to condemn. 5/10

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Reed the best villein in the scene, 20 November 2005
6/10
Author: moatazmohsen78 from Egypt

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Oliver Reed was the best villein in the scene with sharp eyes and long voice he played this film with a goodly way and the best scene after he killed his bad wife he cried in spite of her bad work with him because he liked her very much and he choose to die with her in the crash and burning car in the time of police arrest him but the crash space the police in a dramatical scene and descriptive music.

This film was the best one of Reed as a big and great actor after his best role in (Lion of desert)in the role of Gratsiani the Italian leader in Libya who arrested Omar MOkhtar the Libyan leader who made a resistance to the Italian army in Libya.

He was the best actor in action film in the 20th century.

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