CinemaSerf

James Coburn is quite effective in this action thriller. He is "Prof. Elliot", about to become a high ranking government advisor. Snag is, he has quite a past - and so must devise a cunning plan to ensure that all those privy to his dirty laundry are eliminated. The plot utilises quite a clever domino-style effect. Those doing the killing don't know who is instructing them, nor that they won't last much longer themselves, and the pace from director Ken Hughes is well managed eliciting a good effort from both Coburn and from the usually reliable Keenan Wynn ("Farnsworth"). What makes this work is the way the plot draws us in. It's not so much that people are dropping like flies - we neither know them nor care about them - it's more the sheer cleverness of his plan, and I was quietly hoping he would succeed... Unfortunately, the quality of dialogue - an early outing for Barry Levinson - doesn't really add much to the film. It's all just a little bit bland, and I could have been doing with more on screen time from Coburn. Still, it's an interesting and new take on a political thriller that I quite enjoyed for 90 minutes.