IMDb user comments for
The 'Human' Factor (1975)

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7 comments in total

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Take anything, but not my family!, 26 octubre 1999

Author: stump69 de United States

Having just finished reading Maltin's one line summary of this film, I have to assume that he didn't see it, or has forgotten it if he did. "A violent, bloody chronicle..." he opines. Any man who truly loved his family would become violent and would spill the blood of those who took away his most cherished things on earth, his wife and children. I saw this film during it's initial release in Europe in 1975 and it gave me an enhanced appreciation for my family. I highly recommend it and will purchase it on DVD if it's available. The only reason I don't already own this film is I'd forgotten the title over the years. Thanks to the staff of IMDb for the excellent filmographies that allow searches of this type.

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6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Impressioning, 21 diciembre 1999
Author: fresca102 de Pearl City, Hawaii

When I first saw this movie, I was only 9 years old. The movies idea, losing one's entire family to terrorists, haunted me for years. George Kennedy's strong portrayl of a father who is obsessed about tracking down the killers of his family, can easily be outdone by newer more daring plots. For it's time though, The Human Factor was 'on the edge of your seat' suspense that left you with a weary, empty feeling when the movie was over. Although dated, I feel it can still create an emotional response for someone who looks for more than special effects in a picture. Too bad it is out of print.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Fat man's revenge..., 17 septiembre 2003

Author: Mikew3001 (mikew4001@yahoo.de) de Hamburg, Germany

"The Human Factor" is a typical revenge movie in the wake of "Dirty Harry", "Death Wish" and "Straw Dogs" with an American special agent and computer specialist in Italy losing his family by a terrorist's assault at his home and taking bloody revenge.

This British-Italian co-production from 1975 contains many typical subplots of the seventies - conspiracy movies, secret agent films, left-winged political terrorism, high-tech-computers and revenge dramas. George Kennedy plays the hero and does a good job as hard-edged, desperate family father turning to a merciless killer, although he is no Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson. Especially in a long hunting scene overweight Kennedy seems to be very out of breath...

The scripts lacks a bit of logic sometimes, as the real motivation of the terrorist group is never really explained, but all in all the film keeps the action, thrills and suspense always going and adds some very scary moments and furious action sequences, especially the big showdown in a supermarket. Ennio Morricone's sound tracks puts even more thrills and atmosphere to this dark political thriller that can be seen as a "sleeper" for fans of seventies' hardcore action cinema. Recommended!

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Really hit home while working overseas!, 6 junio 2007

Author: philip-evans de United States

I generally don't care for revenge films but this was a rare exception! I did not see it when it was first released, but a few years later while I was working as an American ex-patriot in Saudi Arabia. My family and children were with me in Saudi, and we lived on the local economy, as George Kennedy did in the movie. This movie really hit home with me and a lot of other ex-pats that were overseas at the time! It showed how vulnerable we really were living in a foreign country where we were quite often resented for even being there!

I've always been a George Kennedy fan, even though he's probably not the greatest actor of all time. He's a very likable and believable actor that consistently does a good job! I give him and this film both of my thumbs up!

I highly recommend this film to anyone that is even thinking about taking a job in a foreign country!

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3 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Violent revenge melodrama., 3 septiembre 2003

Author: Jonathon Dabell (barnabyrudge@hotmail.com) de Wakefield, England

Did Edward Dmytryck really once direct The Caine Mutiny? On the evidence of this totally uninvolving, blood stained revenge tale, it's hard to believe that Dmytryck ever possessed any directorial talent. The Human Factor is slow-moving, cynical and emotionless.

Also difficult to smallow is the presence of several fine actors. George Kennedy looks suitably frantic throughout, but is unable to make his predicament convincing due to poor scripting. John Mills has a major supporting role but his performance is as cold and inexpressive as the tone of the whole film. Raf Vallone (an Italian Oliver Reed look-a-like) meanders in and out of the story pointlessly as a policeman out to solve a multiple murder.

The story has Kennedy as a NATO war-game computer programmer who lives and works in Naples, Italy. He returns home one day to find his wife and children dead, clinically executed by a mystery gunman or gunmen. He uses his computer access to track down the killers, and figures out that those responsible are a terrorist gang intent on murdering American families that live in Europe. Instead of passing this information on to the police, he decides to turn vigilante, tracking down and killing the terrorists himself.

By 1975, film-makers clearly understood that audiences were hungry for Death Wish style revenge stories. But here, they have left out the sensational aspects of films like Death Wish, and tried (unsuccessfully) to give their story a political subtext. All this does is to slow down the action and make the plot treacherously confusing. The unpleasant finale, in which the villains lay siege to a crowded supermarket, is the only sequence which comes close to being powerful but it is over so quickly that you might miss it if you blink. All things considered, The Human Factor is a pretty dismal movie experience.

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0 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Worth watching (once), 15 diciembre 2001
Author: glockenspiel de GA

Although it surely didn't wow me, I think this movie had an interesting and somewhat suspenseful storyline. George Kennedy was practically a superhero here: running up flights of stairs and jumping rooftops without pausing for breath, nailing every target with his trusty handgun, and fighting the bad guys despite knife and bullet wounds. How did he do it? Anyway, it was an extremely serious film without a joke or gag in there (hard to believe from this that George went on to be in the Naked Gun trilogy), so don't put it on if you're almost out of anti-depressants. You can have a bit of fun by counting Pepsi references, though. I counted 3.

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0 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Inhumane end for a talented and wasted director, 19 agosto 2002

Author: Michael (Waiting2BShocked@aol.com) de Bridgend, South Wales

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

** ENDING SPOILERS (which might save you the bother of watching it!!) **

NATO electronics expert Kennedy is out for blood after his family are done in by terrorists, with Mills on hand rather incongruously to give technical advice. The most worrying facet of this appallingly scripted and unprepossessingly staged bit of misanthropic reactionary violence is its marking of the passing of the surely senile Dmytryk; however its apogee of tastelessness is reached in the climactic supermarket shoot-out, replete with women and children cowering on the floor whilst blowsily unlikely 'Lone Wolf' Kennedy riddles his adversaries with very visceral holes amidst a maelstrom of baked beans and soap powder.

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