Callan: The Movie

"Callan - The Movie" is a successful and worthwhile big screen adaptation of the pilot episode of the Thames TV Series of the same name.

The increase in budget suits the material very well. The always reliable Edward Woodward projects exactly the right amount of world-weary cynicism and fatigue in his role as the ace assassin brought out of retirement for one last job. While such a plot has been seen in countless other movies, there is still plenty to enjoy here, the highlight being a spectacular and hugely exciting car chase through the English countryside.

Russell Hunter turns up again as Callan's scared, scruffy underworld contact, Lonely, and Callan's boss, Hunter, is this time played by Eric Porter, a man so obviously devious and shifty that you wouldn't want to trust him to direct you to the nearest post office. Callan's rival in the department, Meres, is a vain creep, whose nasty habit of wearing blue-tinted spectacles and nasty '70s suits marks him out as man thoroughly deserving of Callan's vengeful wrath.

The pace occasionally drags and the plot is really nothing special. The main problem is that, the car chase aside, there's little to remember of the film after it has finished. For all fans of espionage, though, it's a fine way of killing one hour and forty one minutes.