''Sitting Target'', also known as ''Screaming Target'', is a 1972 British crime film directed by

Douglas Hickox Douglas Arthur Hickox (10 January 1929 – 25 July 1988) was an English film and television director. Biography Hickox was born in London, where he was educated at Emanuel School. He started in the film industry at age 17, working at Pinewood ...

and mainly shot in various locations in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, including the Winstanley and York Road Estates. It stars

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor, producer and director. He is known for his television performances, particularly as the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (20 ...

and

Jill St. John Jill St. John (born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim; August 19, 1940) is a retired American actress. She may be best known for playing Tiffany Case, the first American Bond girl of the 007 franchise, in '' Diamonds Are Forever''. Additional performances i ...

and was based on the 1970 novel by Laurence Henderson.

Plot

Harry Lomart, a convicted murderer, and Birdy Williams are convicts planning a breakout. Before the two men can abscond to another country, Lomart gets word that his wife Pat has been having an affair with another man and has become pregnant. The two men had made plans to lie low after their escape from jail, but Lomart decides to find and kill his wife and the man she has been seeing. A police inspector, Milton, is the man assigned to catch the two escaped convicts.

Cast

as Harry Lomart *

as Pat Lomart *

as Birdy Williams *

Edward Woodward Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE (1 June 1930 – 16 November 2009) was an English actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he began his career on stage. Throughout his career, he appeared in productions ...

as Inspector Milton *

Frank Finlay Francis Finlay, (6 August 1926 – 30 January 2016) was an English stage, film and television actor, Oscar-nominated for a supporting role as Iago in Laurence Olivier's 1965 film adaptation of ''Othello''. In 1983, Finlay was directed by Ital ...

as Marty Gold *

Freddie Jones Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for a ...

as MacNeil * Jill Townsend as Maureen *

Robert Beatty Robert Rutherford Beatty (19 October 1909 – 3 March 1992) was a Canadian actor who worked in film, television and radio for most of his career and was especially known in the UK. Early years Beatty was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the son of ...

as Gun Dealer *

Tony Beckley Derek Anthony Beckley (7 October 1927 – 19 April 1980) was an English actor. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Beckley went on to carve out a career on film and television throughout the 1960s and 1970s, often playing villainou ...

as Soapy Tucker * Mike Pratt as Prison Warder Accomplice * Robert Russell as First Prison Warder * Joe Cahill as Second Prison Warder * Robert Ramsey as Gun Dealer's Bodyguard *

June Brown June Muriel Brown (16 February 1927 – 3 April 2022) was an English actress and author. She was best known for her role as Dot Cotton on the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' (1985–1993; 1997–2020). In 2005, she won Best Actress at the '' ...

as Lomart's Neighbour

Production

was signed to direct in July 1971. Filming started in September 1971. Due to restrictions about filming in British prisons, the prisons sequences were filmed in

Kilmainham Gaol Kilmainham Gaol ( ga, Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the lead ...

, Dublin. The Winstanley and York Road Estates in Battersea feature extremely prominently throughout the film as the setting for many of the action sequences of the main protagonist.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Stanley Myers. It was released by Finders Keepers Records in 2007.

Notes

External links

* *
''New York Times'' review''Sitting Target''
at

Trailers from Hell ''Trailers from Hell'' (branded as ''Trailers from Hell!'') is a web series in which filmmakers discuss and promote individual movies through commenting on their trailers. While the series emphasizes horror, science fiction, fantasy, cult, and expl ...

1972 films 1972 crime drama films 1970s crime thriller films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films British crime thriller films British films about revenge Films based on British novels Films directed by Douglas Hickox Films scored by Stanley Myers Films shot in London British drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films {{crime-thriller-film-stub