Why so much hype?

Pretty Good

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

One might think a thriller that begins with the (painstakingly-mounted) assassination of a political figure in broad daylight might have more on its mind than just the imaginative little boy who happened upon the shooter after he's committed the crime (such as why the President of Africa was killed while visiting Malta or what exactly did the motorcycle cops and their conspirator with the shopping bag have against this sitting president). No, the producers of this routine (if curiously sadistic) adaptation of Mark Hebden's novel "Eyewitness" wanted nothing more than another variant on the boy-who-cried-wolf theme, a somewhat dreary procedure which automatically puts the viewer a step ahead of everyone on-screen except for the kid and the killer. Young Mark Lester runs up and down the side-streets of Malta in a constant panic; he isn't allowed to use his personality--which we're told by the others is precocious in nature--nor he is able to use his generally relaxed, polite manner and pretty smile until the final scene. As the lad's blustery grandfather, Lionel Jeffries gives a noxious, one-note performance (not helped by a nasty dig at 'poofs'), while smudge-faced Susan George (playing big sister) is over-ecstatic, over-emotional, over-everything. The background score (credited to various names) is wacky at first but soon settles into a nice pattern. Director John Hough holds attention by framing his action with odd accoutrements (such as the shoes of the spectators along a street) and by shooting the action with the camera pointed up at his subjects, as if we were all children gawking at the world around us. ** from ****

"Pins you to the edge of your seat" is the tagline for this film, and while that could be aptly applied to many thrillers; it certainly doesn't suit this one! John Hough's Eyewitness has the basis for a decent story (even if it's not all that original) but it's never capitalised on properly and, for the first two thirds at least, the film is slow, largely uninteresting and lacks tension and suspense; thus not providing what you want or expect from a film that calls itself thriller (much less, one that proudly proclaims that you will be on the edge of your seat). The plot takes obvious influence from the common thriller idea of having somebody witness a crime and then having the perpetrators go after that person; here, we also have a bit of 'the boy who cried wolf' thrown in too for good measure. The eyewitness of the title is a boy named Ziggy who goes to watch a parade and ends up witnessing an assassination. It's not long before the assassins are on his tail, but naturally considering the boy's track record for lying, his family don't believe him...The film is rather well produced; it looks nice, is well directed and mostly features good acting from the ensemble cast. Lionel Jeffries is my pick of the performers and he does well as the eccentric grandfather and head of the family. He gets good support from Tony Bonner as a young stranger who ends up with the family due to a care few and the beautiful Susan George as his granddaughter. The film also features a performance from Mark Lester and this is where the film falls down. The child actor will always be famous for his role as Oliver Twist in the 1968 film (I'm not a fan), but here he is completely irritating and doesn't do much than run around looking scared for the ninety minute duration. The first two thirds of the film are very slow and dull and that's a shame because the film really opens in the final half hour and is actually quite good; but by then I was too bored to care as much as I could have done were it not for the disappointing opening. The climax to the film is quite good and on the whole, while I wouldn't say this is a bad film; it's not a particularly good one either.

This had all the trademark features to turn out be a first rate thriller in the frame of Hitchcock, but something just comes off short. Maybe because we already know how the story will play out, but director John Hough's confident, stylistic verve in his set-pieces shows how talent can transcend basic material into something better then it should. Well lets not forget the other aspects that seem to draw you in too. A beautifully picturesque Mediterranean backdrop is easy on the eyes. David Holmes' fancily off-kilter camera-work maintains a smooth flow, despite its constant imaginative changes (reflections, tilts) in positioning to invoke intrigue and tension. The music engraved in the feature by composers' Fairfield Parlour and David Whitaker has a real cheeky twinge, and very edgy awe that peppers the on screen action. It was only Hough's second feature, but definitely one of his sleepers. Some of the exciting acts (of destruction), could go on to cement themselves in his bang-bang, gust buster film "Dirt Mary Crazy Larry (1974)", which also starred Susan George. She co-stars here, but the ravishing starlet seems underdone. However Lionel Jeffries is appealingly amusing whenever in shot and Mark Lester ably does the job. There are good turns by Peter Vaughan, Tony Boner and Jeremy Kemp. The plot is straight-forward, but held together by its "The boy cried wolf" theme interwoven into a cat and mouse thriller with cracking suspense and startling jolts. Some plot devices are too convenient, but it throws up some little gloomy and lethal surprises along the way. An acceptable thriller done with enough panache.

Young Lester (of Oliver! fame) finds himself, his family and friends in the greatest danger, after witnessing an assassination. A nice cast and good use of Malta locations makes this an entertaining little thriller. However, the bad-guys Peter Vaughan and Peter Bowles are surprisingly bad for a movie that starts out -and ends- on such a happy note. They are willing to kill literally anybody in the quest for their goal!