As this '70s thriller opens two elderly drivers get into an argument on a New York street; one is Jewish the other is a German who clearly has Nazi views. This leads to what would now be called 'road rage' and a crash that kills both men. It turns out the German is the brother of a presumed dead war criminal Christian Szell. This event will ultimately have a serious effect on Thomas Babington "Babe" Levy; a PhD student with no obvious connection to either man.
Babe is a post graduate student in New York where he meets, and gets involved with, Elsa Opel, who claims to be from Switzerland. One day as they walk through central park they are attacked by two unlikely muggers... middle aged men in suits. Meanwhile Babe's brother 'Doc', who Babe thinks is an oil executive, is in Paris working for a shadowy government agency that has been working with Szell. After his brother's death Szell is worried that his ill-gotten fortune in diamonds might not be safe... anybody he suspects could threaten that fortune is certainly in danger and that includes Babe.
This is a superior thriller which never treats its audience as idiots. For much of the film connections are far from obvious; things happen and we aren't told why. Then as the connections are exposed everything starts to make sense. Dustin Hoffman is impressive as Babe, the innocent caught up in events he doesn't understand; Roy Scheider is equally solid as "Doc" and Laurence Olivier is genuinely menacing as Dr Christian Szell... the dentist-torture scene is one that viewers will never forget. While the film isn't excessively violent there are a few shocking moments. These moments are justified to establish the dangers and nature of certain characters. The action is shot in a fairly matter-of-fact way which makes it feel more real than exciting. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of gritty '70s thrillers.
Babe is a post graduate student in New York where he meets, and gets involved with, Elsa Opel, who claims to be from Switzerland. One day as they walk through central park they are attacked by two unlikely muggers... middle aged men in suits. Meanwhile Babe's brother 'Doc', who Babe thinks is an oil executive, is in Paris working for a shadowy government agency that has been working with Szell. After his brother's death Szell is worried that his ill-gotten fortune in diamonds might not be safe... anybody he suspects could threaten that fortune is certainly in danger and that includes Babe.
This is a superior thriller which never treats its audience as idiots. For much of the film connections are far from obvious; things happen and we aren't told why. Then as the connections are exposed everything starts to make sense. Dustin Hoffman is impressive as Babe, the innocent caught up in events he doesn't understand; Roy Scheider is equally solid as "Doc" and Laurence Olivier is genuinely menacing as Dr Christian Szell... the dentist-torture scene is one that viewers will never forget. While the film isn't excessively violent there are a few shocking moments. These moments are justified to establish the dangers and nature of certain characters. The action is shot in a fairly matter-of-fact way which makes it feel more real than exciting. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of gritty '70s thrillers.