Produced in France, this movie was first released in France, and then gradually in other countries finally reaching the United States in 1974.
The Commodore muscle car is unique, Bronson, Liv Ullman, James Mason, and Jill Ireland head up a pretty good cast. With Terrance Young directing, there is a lot of promise here. Unfortunately the film does not add up to the sum of it's parts.
The action and continuity are the problems, strange for an action director like Young who did some of the better Bond films. There are scenes where someone is shown holding a gun with 2 hands and then suddenly holding the gun in one hand and a brief case in the other with no logical explanation. There are hostage situations which make no sense at all.
Finally, every scene without action seems to drag. It's not the casts fault, and the novel this is based upon has got to be better than this film adaptation is. The nice thing is that the scenery is pretty good in Southern France. Other than that, any Bronson fan should be dismayed with the results. Even the Bastille Day Fireworks at the end can't save this one from being mediocre at best, and technically incompetent at it's worst.
The Commodore muscle car is unique, Bronson, Liv Ullman, James Mason, and Jill Ireland head up a pretty good cast. With Terrance Young directing, there is a lot of promise here. Unfortunately the film does not add up to the sum of it's parts.
The action and continuity are the problems, strange for an action director like Young who did some of the better Bond films. There are scenes where someone is shown holding a gun with 2 hands and then suddenly holding the gun in one hand and a brief case in the other with no logical explanation. There are hostage situations which make no sense at all.
Finally, every scene without action seems to drag. It's not the casts fault, and the novel this is based upon has got to be better than this film adaptation is. The nice thing is that the scenery is pretty good in Southern France. Other than that, any Bronson fan should be dismayed with the results. Even the Bastille Day Fireworks at the end can't save this one from being mediocre at best, and technically incompetent at it's worst.