Human Factor

After his family was brutally massacred by a terrorist group, a top computer expert uses his sophisticated machines to track them down and avenge them.

George Kennedy stars in this 1970s revenge film as John Kinsdale, a military employee stationed in Naples who uses state-of-the-art (for the time) computer technology to track down the terrorists who killed his family. Local police inspector Dr. Lupo (Raf Vallone) and Kinsdales commander (Arthur Franz) both try to stop him from taking the law into his own hands. Even his friend MacAllister (John Mills) attempts to reason with him, but nothing can prevent Kinsdales computer-assisted vendetta from its path of bloody destruction. One of the film´s interesting aspects is in the antiquated computer technology Kinsdale employs, such as an early modem that connects into the phone receiver; but the real worthwhile element is the believable performance of veteran actor Kennedy.

Mature-white-male-on-a-rampage movies were big at the time, due to the earlier success of films like DEATH WISH and DIRTY HARRY, but Kennedy´s performance here is in a whole other league than Eastwood or Bronson: overweight, emotional, and devoid of swagger, he---along with Ennio Morricone´s surreal score--makes up for the low-budget ambiance and crude camerawork of this, one of director Edward Dmytryk´s last films.