The ‘Human’ Factor * (1975, George Kennedy, John Mills, Raf Vallone, Arthur Franz, Rita Tushingham, Frank Avianca, Barry Sullivan) – Classic Movie Review 11,032

Every 24 hours an American family will be killed!… and only The Human Factor (1975) can stop it…

Director Edward Dmytryk’s 1975 UK/ Italy co-production The Human Factor is an undistinguished and nasty-toned revenge action thriller with a glum central turn from George Kennedy as John Kinsdale, a NATO computer specialist living with his wife and two children in Naples, Italy.

Kinsdale arrives home from work and finds his family brutally murdered, and the resolves to avenge their deaths, trailing the terrorists who killed his family for reasons unknown.

The Human Factor is disappointment from a grim-looking cast of notables, several of them past their prime, and also underused, and a director oddly at sea with material he could have set alight in the 1950s, but then the screenplay lacks the necessary fire, suspense and thrills.

The original screenplay is by Thomas Hunter and Peter Powell.

It is Dmytryk’s last feature, and another film with the same title, The Human Factor (1979), was the last feature of its director, Otto Preminger.

It features a young Danny Huston in his acting debut.

It is shot on-location in Naples.

Also in the cast are John Mills, Raf Vallone, Arthur Franz, Rita Tushingham, Frank Avianca, Barry Sullivan, Haydée Politoff, Tom Hunter, Fiamma Verges, Danny Huston [Danny Houston], Richard Harrison [Ricky Harrison], Shane Rimmer, Hillary Lief, Michael Mandeville, and Ann Ferguson.

The Human Factor is directed by Edward Dmytryk, runs 96 minutes, is made by Eton, is released by Bryanston Distributing (1975) (US) and Fox-Rank (1976) (UK), is written by Tom Hunter and Peter Powell, is shot in Technicolor by Ousama Rawi, is produced by Terry Lens and Frank Avianca, and scored by Ennio Morricone.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,032

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com