Thanks for the memories!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell star as MacConnachie and Ansell, too men making an escape across various rural backdrops with their hands tied behind their backs. They may have been imprisoned for crimes of some sort, and now authorities relentlessly pursue them through the countryside. Their most persistent nemesis is a helicopter manned by two people.Exactly where this is taking place, we never do find out. We don't learn very much about our protagonists, so they both remain something of an enigma. The plot is often stripped to the bare essentials; this is a very existential, interesting action-chase-thriller with a straightforward set-up. Scripted by Shaw himself, from the novel by Barry England, it does give some decent acting showcases to the two stars, and it also puts them through their paces almost non-stop. One can imagine that this must have been quite a gruelling shoot physically.Shaw and McDowell are very good, under the direction of famous blacklisted filmmaker Joseph Losey ("The Damned", "Accident"). But the real "stars" of the picture have to be the cinematographers (three of them are credited) and camera operators, who impressively capture some truly breathtaking scenery - deserts, forest, snowy mountaintops, etc. To that end, it's appropriate that "Figures in a Landscape" was shot in 2.35:1. It IS a very nice-looking picture.Exciting and harrowing at times, this is the kind of story that intrigues its viewers by largely leaving exposition out of the picture, and firing their imaginations.Seven out of 10.

Dear Joseph Losey,Figures in a Landscape was a great survivalist action drama set in a hostile mountainous landscape. The film begins with a great tracking shot of two men running along a beach with the fading sun and the high tide in the background. A helicopter follows them in the distance. A great way to start your film. I was hooked immediately. The fact that we do not know what the characters are escaping from and who is tracking them down makes this film very interesting and unique. Though the relentless chase from the sky by the inhuman helicopter clearly underlines who we are supposed to sympathize with. I liked the great sweeping camera moments and the point of view shots from the helicopter (the camera is placed just behind the pilots). The hilarious exchanges between the two escapees (the often indecipherable Robert Shaw and weakly Malcolm McDowell) are as interesting as the action scenes and the location. It is a cruelly underrated and unknown film, Joseph.Best Regards, Pimpin.(8/10)

Rugged maniacal brute MacConnachie (a fabulously ferocious and galvanizing performance by Robert Shaw) and wimpy intellectual Ansell (a sound portrayal by Malcom McDowell) are a couple of escaped fugitives who are on the run in some unspecified foreign country. The pair find themselves being relentlessly pursued by an ominous black helicopter.Director Joseph Losey makes excellent and inspired use of the harsh, sprawling, and desolate countryside. Shaw's stark and intriguing script eschews pretense and exposition in favor of stripping down the premise to its mean'n'lean existential essentials whereby the plot basically becomes a gritty meditation on survival and the ruthless extremes people will resort to in order to stay alive in a hostile and pitiless world. Shaw and McDowell play off each other exceptionally well as a couple of radically contrasting fellows who are forced to depend on each other so they can persevere through a grueling ordeal that's beyond their control or understanding. Several scenes involving close calls with the helicopter register as quite dangerous and hence are positively harrowing to watch. The striking widescreen cinematography by Guy Tabary, Henri Alekan, and Peter Suschitzky offers a wealth of breathtaking aerial shots. Recommended viewing.

I spent quite a few pennies to get my hands on this film as it was consigned to oblivion after its brief cinematic release some 35 years ago, and it was money well spent. They certainly don't make them like this anymore. From the off you're thrown into this situation with Shaw and McDowell as two convicts on the run and being pursued by a menacing black helicopter through hostile, mountainous terrain. The aerial cinematography is breathtaking at times, more real than anything you see on the silver screen today, and quite frightening too. The chase becomes personal, with one character hell-bent on destroying the enemy and the other just wanting to escape. It's compellingly brilliant - beautifully shot, in most parts, and well acted. There are some lengthy sequences which the majority of todays directors, and actors, would struggle to pull off without CGI. It does have flaws, most films do, but there are enough positives here and it's a shame it ended up as another of those 'lost' films. Okay we don't find out where they are, although it was shot in Spain, or what crimes they have committed, so what? It's a bloody good film, though I can't help but think, what a film it could have been.