While it is set up with an interesting premise, a man losing his family as collateral damage caused by some spy stuff, this starts strongly and then just fizzles. The character played by Rod Taylor is so dull. He seems to recover from an incredible tragedy very quickly, then finds himself embroiled in espionage and a need to avenge the event. There are a series of connections that he must make and finally face the person at the top. This could have been OK but its so tiringly dull. There are encounters, handled so incompetently by the bad guys, that he is allowed to roam free. Anyone who is involved in the upper levels of this type of crime would have taken one of many opportunities to just finish him off. Obviously, there is the ubiquitous briefcase, but we don't even know what that's all about. It's so obvious when a film is made for TV with so little effort to fill in the spaces. Taylor is apparently a Green Beret, but there is so little character development that we don't get in his head at all. Could have been good. Isn't.
9 Reviews
Erin Go Boom.
rmax3048238 September 2014
Warning: Spoilers
It's an enjoyably tense television movie. Written by Frderick Forsythe, it has little action in it but a good deal of suspense. Forsythe has the peculiar characteristic of being able to invest small details with interest, especially technical details and complicated identity scams. This, being a TV movie, is going to lack much in the way of that talent and concentrates instead on simple intrigues and mysteries, some of which are left unexplained. People come and go, lying to and cheating one another, but it's not high drama and it's not witty.
The MacGuffin here is some formula for a super antibiotic, as if we didn't have enough antibiotics. It winds up by accident in Rod Taylor's hands and the head honcho of the biggest, most villainous corporation you ever heard of wants it back. That accident, by the way, involves a light airplane crashing directly into Taylor's cottage on the Kerry coast and killing his wife and two children. It's made clear at the opening that Taylor is an ex Green Beret but that plays little part in the narrative until the ridiculous ending.
It may be one of Taylor's best performances, TV movie or not. He's aged, like a good wine. No longer the confident, tanned young hero of "The Birds", he's now a little puffy and from some angles looks uncannily like Robin Williams. By the time of "Welcome to Woop Woop," he was a goggle-eyed caricature of his former handsome self but it didn't bother him and it was a viewer's delight.
Joanna Petit has held up well. In fact -- pretty well indeed. Her role, though, is a stereotype, the ambitious female reporter. Didn't Dirty Harry get saddled with one of them somewhere along the line of sequels? The script is functional but lacks poetry. The location shooting in Ireland is just fine and County Kerry is just as I remember it -- rainy, with "sun breaks." At the climax, the film implodes. Characters change their personalities for reasons of the utmost stupidity. Here's the grim villain who does the wet work, combing the grassy wind-swept hills, looking to kill Taylor who is hiding somewhere among the brush. This dedicated assassin has always been a cool customer, dressed in black, silent, full of self control.
But now he must cold cock one of his partners in a fit of pique, which is stupid. Then, unable to determine Taylor's hiding place in the grassy hills and the furze bushes, he whirls around wildly, firing his pistol in all directions until he's out of ammunition. He runs until he's exhausted. Taylor corners him and the villain drops to his knees, sobbing and begging for mercy. Right.
There is one gem of a performance in the movie. Cyril Cusack's police detective. The role, like that of the reporter, the head honcho and his goons, is a cliché. Cusack shows up once in a while to politely inform Taylor to keep his nose out of police business, forget about revenge, and let the cops do their jobs. But Cusack turns his appearances into something that brightens the whole show. He was equally good in another Forsythe story, "The Day of the Jackal." Not the revolting remake, but the original.
The MacGuffin here is some formula for a super antibiotic, as if we didn't have enough antibiotics. It winds up by accident in Rod Taylor's hands and the head honcho of the biggest, most villainous corporation you ever heard of wants it back. That accident, by the way, involves a light airplane crashing directly into Taylor's cottage on the Kerry coast and killing his wife and two children. It's made clear at the opening that Taylor is an ex Green Beret but that plays little part in the narrative until the ridiculous ending.
It may be one of Taylor's best performances, TV movie or not. He's aged, like a good wine. No longer the confident, tanned young hero of "The Birds", he's now a little puffy and from some angles looks uncannily like Robin Williams. By the time of "Welcome to Woop Woop," he was a goggle-eyed caricature of his former handsome self but it didn't bother him and it was a viewer's delight.
Joanna Petit has held up well. In fact -- pretty well indeed. Her role, though, is a stereotype, the ambitious female reporter. Didn't Dirty Harry get saddled with one of them somewhere along the line of sequels? The script is functional but lacks poetry. The location shooting in Ireland is just fine and County Kerry is just as I remember it -- rainy, with "sun breaks." At the climax, the film implodes. Characters change their personalities for reasons of the utmost stupidity. Here's the grim villain who does the wet work, combing the grassy wind-swept hills, looking to kill Taylor who is hiding somewhere among the brush. This dedicated assassin has always been a cool customer, dressed in black, silent, full of self control.
But now he must cold cock one of his partners in a fit of pique, which is stupid. Then, unable to determine Taylor's hiding place in the grassy hills and the furze bushes, he whirls around wildly, firing his pistol in all directions until he's out of ammunition. He runs until he's exhausted. Taylor corners him and the villain drops to his knees, sobbing and begging for mercy. Right.
There is one gem of a performance in the movie. Cyril Cusack's police detective. The role, like that of the reporter, the head honcho and his goons, is a cliché. Cusack shows up once in a while to politely inform Taylor to keep his nose out of police business, forget about revenge, and let the cops do their jobs. But Cusack turns his appearances into something that brightens the whole show. He was equally good in another Forsythe story, "The Day of the Jackal." Not the revolting remake, but the original.
"It isn't your family that was murdered. It was mine!"
classicsoncall6 October 2012
Warning: Spoilers
So I'm watching the sabotaged plane go down in the Irish countryside, making a direct hit on a farmhouse where the Donegin family is on holiday, and I have to think to myself - how incredible are the odds of something like that happening? For starters, the plane was supposed to blow up in mid-air if I'm not mistaken, and secondly, on any other given day, the Donegin's wouldn't have been in the house to get wiped out like that. Talk about bad luck, but Steve Donegin's (Rod Taylor) was a gazillion to one shot.
I have to second another reviewer for this film, the dialog in it was pretty bad, and in my case it was for over half the picture. Going in I had to rely on a brief synopsis on the DVD sleeve, and coming out I had to read the other reviews here. The main point of the picture being a revenge flick I pretty much figured out on my own, but then there was some other business about a revolutionary new antibiotic and an international enterprise corporation called Intent, which stood for International Enterprise. You can see I'm trying to come up with stuff for this review.
So if Rod Taylor's character was a former Green Beret and Viet Nam vet we have to believe the math works for his character who looked every bit of fifty years old that Taylor was at the time. Not buying it. As the investigative reporter looking into the circumstances of the plane crash and industrial sabotage, actress Joanne Pettet's character is written like she might be falling for Donegin. Not buying that one either. The only thing I did buy was this film as part of a two hundred fifty Mystery Movie pack from Mill Creek Entertainment at a cheap enough price that makes the occasional clunker bearable.
I have to second another reviewer for this film, the dialog in it was pretty bad, and in my case it was for over half the picture. Going in I had to rely on a brief synopsis on the DVD sleeve, and coming out I had to read the other reviews here. The main point of the picture being a revenge flick I pretty much figured out on my own, but then there was some other business about a revolutionary new antibiotic and an international enterprise corporation called Intent, which stood for International Enterprise. You can see I'm trying to come up with stuff for this review.
So if Rod Taylor's character was a former Green Beret and Viet Nam vet we have to believe the math works for his character who looked every bit of fifty years old that Taylor was at the time. Not buying it. As the investigative reporter looking into the circumstances of the plane crash and industrial sabotage, actress Joanne Pettet's character is written like she might be falling for Donegin. Not buying that one either. The only thing I did buy was this film as part of a two hundred fifty Mystery Movie pack from Mill Creek Entertainment at a cheap enough price that makes the occasional clunker bearable.
Okay time-killer with one standout feature
vandino123 October 2005
This is an Irish film that premiered on American TV back in 1980. It's nothing special. It's a conspiracy story involving industrial spying and a plane from Rome that crashes in Ireland: certainly elements that you could see coming from the pen of Frederick Forsyth. It's Rod Taylor's family that is wiped out in the plane crash and, outraged at discovering that it was no accident, he finds a way to gain revenge on the people behind it. Taylor plays an American insurance exec in Ireland, but of course that isn't a position with enough muscle and craftiness, so the writers also provide him with a background as a former Green Beret. This gives him filmic license to be as sharp and as deadly as they come. Guess those villains picked the wrong family to accidentally wipe out---now they've got an angry Rod to deal with. Actually, Taylor's character and most of the others are cliché (including Pettet as the intrepid female reporter---yawn). But there IS one actor and character that stands out: Cyril Cusack as the Irish police inspector. His rumpled, calm and casual, yet brilliant inspector is the best thing in the film. He steals every scene. Too bad nothing further (another movie or even a TV series) was done with this delightful character. It's the one thing to recommend in this otherwise ordinary revenge saga.
Former Green Beret sees red
Chase_Witherspoon19 February 2012
Taylor stars as an insurance executive (and ex-Green Beret) whose family is killed when a private jet crashes into their holiday house. Initially thought to have been a tragic accident, the wily local inspector (Cusack) discovers that a bomb brought the plane down, a revelation that has Taylor seeing red and bent on finding those responsible to take revenge. Pettet co-stars as an intrepid reporter whose expose on shady corporation "Intent" suggest industrial espionage may have caused the death of Taylor's family. Its wealthy CEO (Davenport) appears to be unconnected, but a quick sojourn to Corsica reveals more intrigue and implication.
While Taylor might do a realistic portrayal of an unhinged widow, he's less believable in Green Beret fatigues and face paint. Davenport appears late in the film and makes little impact, Alexander Knox has a pointless cameo as Taylor's war veteran father now living on Corsica, and Pettet is pretty but frivolous. Cusack has the best dialogue and is able to stand apart from the dreck.
Some picturesque Irish countryside together with the capable cast is all that saves this would-be thriller from going down in flames with the plane. Desperately in need of more action and suspense, and less clichéd conspiracy speculation.
While Taylor might do a realistic portrayal of an unhinged widow, he's less believable in Green Beret fatigues and face paint. Davenport appears late in the film and makes little impact, Alexander Knox has a pointless cameo as Taylor's war veteran father now living on Corsica, and Pettet is pretty but frivolous. Cusack has the best dialogue and is able to stand apart from the dreck.
Some picturesque Irish countryside together with the capable cast is all that saves this would-be thriller from going down in flames with the plane. Desperately in need of more action and suspense, and less clichéd conspiracy speculation.
Flat, dull "thriller"
gridoon202420 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I've liked Rod Taylor ever since I saw him in Hitchcock's "The Birds" (arguably his most famous role ever) - a sort of "everyman" version of the classic leading men of Hitchcock like Cary Grant. But he must have been going through a dry spell in his career when he agreed to make this little time-waster. Shot in a totally flat style that screams TV-movie, "Cry Of The Innocent" is mostly dull, when it's not unintentionally funny (check out that editing trick near the end to convince us of Taylor's "camouflage" skills!). Taylor himself walks through the film, and Joanna Pettet is not around long enough to help much. Another problem is the very poor sound recording - at least a third of the dialogue is hard to hear. About the only interesting point of the film is that it reflects the post-Vietnam era disillusionment of Americans (though it was shot in Ireland) towards big international corporations. * out of 4.
Routine Frederick Forsyth with obligatory manslaughter and intrigue
clanciai7 October 2023
This is not one of the best films of Frederick Forsyth, Rod Taylor, Nigel Davenport nor of Michael O'Herlihy, the story is a typical Forsyth thriller focussed on brutality, the slaughter of innocents, revenge and death, with a beautiful girl in between, who tries to save the show in the end, but that does not help the story. The music is fine, Cyril Cusack does a good job as the criminal inspector, but the film is rather bleak in character. Rod Taylor was good in parts like this in the 60s, but 20 years later he is not equally convincing any more. And the story, although well contrived, suffers from what seems to be the case with every Forsyth story, no matter how brilliant and intelligent, there is never any human depth and seldom any interesting psychology. The main human interest of his characters is usually only in the victims. Rod Taylor got his girl, but he still lost an entire family.
" It isn't your family that was murdered! It was mine! And I want to know why? "
thinker169126 August 2011
Director Michael O'Herlihy took a fascinating novel by famed novelist Fredrick Forsyth and combined them with the super talents of Rod Taylor and created yet another suspenseful thriller. The movie is called " Cry of the Innocent. " The story centers around an American, by the name of Steve Donegin (Rod Taylor) who works for an Insurance company stationed in Ireland. In what seemed like a typical aircraft accident a plane explodes and crashed into a countryside farmhouse, killing Donegin's family. Accepting the incident as an accident, Donegin learns that the crash was caused by a bomb. What the culprits do not know is that the family they killed, belonged to an Ex-Green Beret and they have filled him with deep revenge. The movie begins slowly, but like the novel ends up with great intrigue and exciting drama. With the likes of Rod Taylor, this movie is sure to please his many fans. Excellent movie fare which includes the talents of Cyril Cusack, Nigel Davenport and Alexander Knox. ****
"I'm The Luckiest Man Alive!"...
azathothpwiggins19 August 2021
In CRY OF THE INNOCENT, a family's holiday is brought to a sudden, tragic end. It's made clear to the viewer from the beginning that the incident was caused by an assassin. Now, the sole survivor, Steve Donegin (Rod Taylor) sets out to uncover what happened, and why.
Since he gets the runaround, Donegin does his own sleuthing, teaming up with a reporter (Joanna Pettet) to get to the bottom of things. Corporate espionage and murder ensue.
CRY OF THE INNOCENT is an above average made-for-TV thriller with a great role for Taylor. Ms. Pettet is also good in her dual role...
Since he gets the runaround, Donegin does his own sleuthing, teaming up with a reporter (Joanna Pettet) to get to the bottom of things. Corporate espionage and murder ensue.
CRY OF THE INNOCENT is an above average made-for-TV thriller with a great role for Taylor. Ms. Pettet is also good in her dual role...
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