This isn't as much of a spy melodrama as it is a glorification of mid 1970's terrorism in the middle east. It was the presence of veteran film noir actor Richard Widmark which got my interest to watch this cheaply made disaster about Russian and American spies in Jeruselam, both unlikable and both involved with the braying Gail Strickland. I had to research several movie books and references to find out what the plot was supposed to be, and what I ultimately determined was that it was nothing more than an excuse for tons of gratuitous violence, car chases and general bad performances. At first, I thought, OK, not so bad, but that changed after 20 minutes. I should have been forewarned about the movie's potential by the presence of Oliver Reed whose best films were ones which required a large ensemble cast (the Oscar Winning "Oliver!" most obviously) and didn't feature him as a leading character. Most of the action sequences suffer from bad lighting. I review this here not just as a warning to the consumer, but a reminder to me of how I once wasted 90 minutes (or more) of my life.
Review of The Sell-Out
