Sudden Terror

One might think a thriller that begins with the (painstakingly-mounted) assassination of a political figure in broad daylight might have more on its mind than just the imaginative little boy who happened upon the shooter after he's committed the crime (such as why the President of Africa was killed while visiting Malta or what exactly did the motorcycle cops and their conspirator with the shopping bag have against this sitting president). No, the producers of this routine (if curiously sadistic) adaptation of Mark Hebden's novel "Eyewitness" wanted nothing more than another variant on the boy-who-cried-wolf theme, a somewhat dreary procedure which automatically puts the viewer a step ahead of everyone on-screen except for the kid and the killer. Young Mark Lester runs up and down the side-streets of Malta in a constant panic; he isn't allowed to use his personality--which we're told by the others is precocious in nature--nor he is able to use his generally relaxed, polite manner and pretty smile until the final scene. As the lad's blustery grandfather, Lionel Jeffries gives a noxious, one-note performance (not helped by a nasty dig at 'poofs'), while smudge-faced Susan George (playing big sister) is over-ecstatic, over-emotional, over-everything. The background score (credited to various names) is wacky at first but soon settles into a nice pattern. Director John Hough holds attention by framing his action with odd accoutrements (such as the shoes of the spectators along a street) and by shooting the action with the camera pointed up at his subjects, as if we were all children gawking at the world around us. ** from ****