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 ****

I suppose if you were 12 years old and lived in a lighthouse on a small island, you might be as naive as Mark Lester's character, "Ziggy," in this film. I suspect, though, that "not very smart" would need to be added, and I wonder if the correspondence to the comic strip character of the same name is more than coincidental. Everybody in this movie is a stereotype, but most irritating was Mark Lester himself who, after doing such a fine job in "Oliver!," here only gets to run around looking perpetually frightened out of his wits. I don't know for whom exactly this one was intended, but if you're not totally impressed by loud motorcycles with bad mufflers, I'd give it a miss.

i bought this movie because i became a fan of mark lester after watching oliver. however i was somewhat dissapointed in this movie while it is exciting theres i snoyt much too it other than the boy being chased around by the bad guys. in is very voilent for a flim rated pg but of course pg 13 did not exsit back then.i guess basically it is a good movie to watch when you have nothing better to do.

Young Lester (of Oliver! fame) finds himself, his family and friends in the greatest danger, after witnessing an assassination. A nice cast and good use of Malta locations makes this an entertaining little thriller. However, the bad-guys Peter Vaughan and Peter Bowles are surprisingly bad for a movie that starts out -and ends- on such a happy note. They are willing to kill literally anybody in the quest for their goal!