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The Appropriate Tune - "Terroristi!", by Ennio Morricone
In this world of corporations trying to erode the very fabric of art and expression through gallons of A.I. slop, what’s the important thing to keep in mind? That’s right, humanity. The human factor, and during a mad scroll through my streaming services I found one that’s all about that. It’s even in the title!
In The Human Factor, George Kennedy (The Naked Gun) stars as John Kinsdale, a computer engineer working for an electronic company in Naples.Things are going great, birthdays are coming up, patios coming in, until Kinsdale returns homes to find his family has been murdered. Wife, children, all of them dead. Why? For what reason was this horrific crime committed? Well John is going to find out, and he’s going to have his vengeance.
It’s a bit of a surprise to see George Kennedy as the lead in a thriller film. Much like his friend and Naked Gun costar Leslie Nielsen I’ve always seen Kennedy as a comedic actor, but of course their comic acting was informed by their past as in dramatic acting. Either way I like him here as John Kinsdale, he falls into the role very naturally, personable but perfectly able to be serious when needed.
It’s also nice to see movies back when computer stuff was fun. Nowadays computers and the internet are ubiquitous, almost as common as air, but back in the 70s when this movie came out there was still a novel charm about it all, a sense of wonder and mystery. It reminds me of the Coppola film The Conversation actually, starring Gene Hackman, that centered around recording devices, writes, bugs and the like. Technology which is extremely dated, even obsolete by the standards of today, but which comes across as science-fiction in films of this time.
I’ll give The Human Factor the thumbs up. It’s an okay thriller, and a good chance for George Kennedy to show off his craft. Give it a shot, if you want.
STATUS: RECOMMENDED
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