This is a cracking spy movie from 1974 and is a spin off from the TV series of the same name (although without the cracking and classic ‘swinging lightbulb’ opening credits). The plot revolves around a man called David Callan who is an armed robber and a man who has worked as an assassin for a shadowy British intelligence agency.
He’s called up for a new job with this agency and he finds himself fighting not only his enemies but also aspects of his own conscience. He’s happy to kill the target but wants to know the reason behind the task he’s been set to do.
This is an absolutely brilliant, tight spy thriller set against a backdrop of 1970’s London a time when there were still bombsites and the modernist concrete buildings had not yet been tarnished through time, weathering and use. It’s a film with a big name cast with Edward Woodward playing Callan and Eric Porter as Colonel Charles Hunter, as his old security agency employer.
It’s a great film for those who like 1970’s vehicles as this has a brilliant selection of them, some of which have long since graced Britain’s roads on a regular basis, including an old style ‘scoop and run’ Bedford ambulance and a Commer FC van, an example of which was once owned by my late father. There’s also some good period car chases involving a Range Rover doing its off road thing spectacularly well and a Jaguar doing Jaguar-ry things very very fast.
This film is well worth your time both as a good movie in and of itself but also as a historical document of a London that is no more.
Addendum:
Here's the opening credits for the TV version of 'Callan'. I can distinctly remember watching this on a 405 line TV.
