This 1974 film of "Callan," lets itself down due to a screenplay that is thinly plotted and the sense of intrigue and tension has been diluted. The film is on for too long, about 15 minutes should have been edited from the final version. "Callan" is a remake of the play that started it all, "A Magnum For Schneider." Whilst that latter production was filmed entirely in the studio, the suspense and tension never let up. Every scene counted for something. This 1974 movie has a lot of location shooting but so what? It doesn't compensate for a slack narrative. The story is very good at 55 minutes on television but at 100 minutes, it becomes tiresome and irritating. There are a few bits that are OK but that's about all. The scene where Callan deals with Darth Vader himself - Dave Prowse - demonstrates a bit of the tension from the series. It was the right decision to have Edward Woodward and Russell Hunter reprise their respective characters. Who else would we fans want except those two? Eric Porter is effectively cast as Hunter but he's no match for Ronald Radd. Peter Egan is bloody terrible as Meres! He couldn't fight his way out of a rubber Johnny!
The music is all wrong for the film. That harmonica noise soon grates on my nerves. It's much more suited to Westerns.
A disappointing experience.
Review of Callan
