Harry Lomart (Oliver Reed) is a vicious robber and murderer who is prepared to serve his long stretch in a maximum-security prison secure in the knowledge that, on his release, his beautiful wife Pat (Jill St. John) will be waiting for him. He spends his days maintaining his physical fitness with gruelling sessions of isometrics.
After five months, his wife visits him to let him know she has no intention of waiting fifteen years for him. Furthermore, she has found a new lover, got pregnant and wants a divorce.
Lomart explodes, smashes the protective glass between them and practically throttles the woman before guards pull him away and take him for a cooling-off bout of solitary confinement. He comes out of solitary with a bitter resentment towards his wife and a determination to break out of jail.
Two fellow prisoners – his constant associate in crime Birdy Williams (Ian McShane) and MacNeil (Freddie Jones) – agree to help him.
The jailbreak is accomplished, leaving a mass of unconscious warders strewn about the floor, together with a mangled guard dog. Lomart obtains a selection of high-powered guns, intent on exacting some bloody revenge before skipping the country.
Harry tracks down his wife at her flat and begins a relentless stakeout waiting for his chance to accomplish his mission.
Hard on Harry’s heels is Police Inspector Milton (Edward Woodward). Cue the car chases and shoot-outs – all earning Sitting Target one of the first “X” certificates for violence – and the net closes, but the surprise twist does not quite forestall the eventual climax.
The prison sequences were filmed in the abandoned Kilmainham Jail in Dublin, which was also used for The Italian Job (1969) and McVicar(1980).
Harry Lomart
Oliver Reed Pat Lomart
Jill St. John Birdy Williams
Ian McShane Inspector Milton
Edward Woodward Marty Gold
Frank Finlay MacNeil
Freddie Jones Maureen
Jill Townsend Gun Dealer
Robert Beatty Soapy Tucker
Tony Beckley Prison Warder Accomplice
Mike Pratt Prison Warder One
Robert Russell Prison Warder Two
Joe Cahill
Director
Douglas Hickox
Video
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