Well, it starts pretty good, with an ambulance driving through Sydney, containing the four desperate men (the title of the US release) including Aldo Ray. There's a few narrow escapes, they go through hospital, steal a boat and head into the harbour, break down and stumble upon Fort Pinchgut. There's a caretaker and his family there, and a hostage situation develops.
So far so good, but then when all the filmmakers have to do is follow The Petrified Forest template, the wheels fall off. Aldo Ray tells his men (and the hostages!) that he doesn't want to kill them, or anyone really. And he's only trying to whip up public opinion in his favour to get a retrial (as if anyone would care. We never find out if he's genuinely guilty by the way). So he and his men are no threat - the Italian is a little more ruthless but not much, Ray's brother is a whimp, the British ex-naval gunner is quite amiable.
There is a very unexciting sequence where a group of tourists visit the island, some unengaging squabbles amongst the kidnappers (in front of the hostages) and an undeveloped love plot.
Heather Sears calls out to police, but no one takes action at her - she's not even punched out or threatened with rape. Grant Taylor shoots and wounds Neil McCallum, but he doesn't die and even that doesn't set Aldo Ray off. Half-way through Ray gets the idea to blow up a munitions ship but even that takes a long time - the authorities have plenty of opportunity to evacuate suburbs and take munitions out of the ship. Ray's men are picked off one by one but he doesn't seem to care. It's the most lethargic action film I've ever seen. It only perks up at the end when Ray goes bonkers, the cops storm the island, and Ray is given a White Heat like death on top of a tower.
Heather Sears calls out to police, but no one takes action at her - she's not even punched out or threatened with rape. Grant Taylor shoots and wounds Neil McCallum, but he doesn't die and even that doesn't set Aldo Ray off. Half-way through Ray gets the idea to blow up a munitions ship but even that takes a long time - the authorities have plenty of opportunity to evacuate suburbs and take munitions out of the ship. Ray's men are picked off one by one but he doesn't seem to care. It's the most lethargic action film I've ever seen. It only perks up at the end when Ray goes bonkers, the cops storm the island, and Ray is given a White Heat like death on top of a tower.
Ray's performance is okay - he's effective when he goes bonkers, he should have done it from the beginning - but it feels clunky that he and his brothers are Americans living in Sydney. It just doesn't feel right.
Neil McCallum isn't very good, though the others are okay. Alan Tilvern is impressive as a hardened cop (he's got a good Aussie accent) and there some nice Aussie jokes presumably provided by Jon Cleary, who worked on the script (people complaining about the siege interfering with the races, a two up game, people squabbling over the politicians). But it's a real shame and the movie would be good to remake.
Neil McCallum isn't very good, though the others are okay. Alan Tilvern is impressive as a hardened cop (he's got a good Aussie accent) and there some nice Aussie jokes presumably provided by Jon Cleary, who worked on the script (people complaining about the siege interfering with the races, a two up game, people squabbling over the politicians). But it's a real shame and the movie would be good to remake.
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