Lack of good storyline.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

*** This review may contain spoilers *** *Plot and ending analyzed* If it wasn't for the insipidly idiotic scenes, namely the ending, this would have been a little better. As it stands, the assassination plot should have been carried out with relative ease. Add a violent New Scotland Yard detective, who I may add is entirely dull, and he puts an end to Rod Steiger's complot and it further sinks into incredulity. Rod Steiger wouldn't be my first choice to play some competent detonation man on the lam. He makes plenty of mistakes to have both the IRA and New Scotland Yard detectives find him.The Day of the Jackal (1973) also had a similar ending and at least that was better throughout the film.Rod Steiger plays some Irish bloke who served in the North African Campaign of the Second World War, but comes back home a few years later to a divided Ireland. The IRA wants him for a job but he refuses, out of principal he says, but then his wife and kid get gunned down by a young trigger squeezing Royal Military Police lad who took a rock hit to the mug and then Rod Steiger plans a hit on Queen Elizabeth II. The IRA look for him since if he ices Queen Elizabeth England will destroy the IRA.It all seems a bit on the weak side.

Rod Steiger is "Hennessy" in this 1975 drama also starring Lee Remick, Trevor Howard, Richard Johnson and Eric Porter. Hennessy is an explosives expert living in Belfast who no longer believes in violence, even to the point of refusing to supply the IRA with explosives. He soon reverts to his former opinions when his beloved wife and child are killed in crossfire between the British army and rioters. From that point on, his agenda is his own, and he heads for London with the idea of blowing up the whole of Parliament when the Queen and her family come to address the body. He seeks out the widow (Remick) of an IRA agent and hits her up for a place to stay while he steals gelignite, practices impersonating a member of Parliament he has zeroed in on and arranges to have the bomb made. Both the IRA and the British Special Branch are on to him, and both want him stopped - the IRA because it realizes what the backlash will mean.Given recent times, this drama takes on a timeliness it did not have when it was first released and probably got lost among the plethora of international espionage films. Rod Steiger is always a surprise, as he could overact with the best of them (The Big Knife) or underplay beautifully, as he does here. His Hennessy is dead inside and quietly determined to achieve his goal via an intricate plot. Beautiful Lee Remick is wasted star power here but lovely nonetheless as a lonely widow who has already lost someone to the cause and wants nothing to do with it. Richard Johnson is terrifying as Hollis, a rogue member of the Special Branch who doesn't care who he beats to a pulp and whose property he destroys to get the information he needs. Trevor Howard, as his boss, gives his role a measured dignity and coolheadedness - and with Hollis on his team, he needs it.All in all, very absorbing.

Released at the time when the PIRA were blowing innocent Brits to pieces, it is instructive to re - assess "Hennessy" at a time when Islamic extremists are blowing innocent Brits to pieces .For their potential victims,the terrifying difference between the two organisations is the care the PIRA bombers took to protect their own lives and the indifference of the Islamists towards their own lives or anybody else's.It is depressing to note that the PIRA's present "Campaign" has been going on for forty years,and although they have clearly been bribed by a craven Labour Government to adopt a less overt profile,their aim remains the same. If the Islamists operate on such a time scale - and there is evidence to suggest that their plans are even more long - term - then Brits run the risk of being blown to bits for several generations to come.In that context what can we learn from "Hennessy"? Simply that revenge is the strongest of motives,and that a man who perceives he has nothing to live for is a deadly,unstoppable enemy. And that politics makes strange bedfellows. Mr Rod Steiger plays explosives expert Hennessy,a man maddened by grief at his wife's death (albeit accidental)at the hands of Brit soldiers during street disturbances in Belfast.He plans to extract a terrible vengeance by blowing up the Royal Family at the State Opening of Parliament. Fearful of a backlash,the IRA leadership co - operate with the security forces to stop him. It is a fact universally acknowledged that no terrorist organisation can flourish without at least the tacit support of the community it sprung from.The Provisionals have significant if silent support in a large part of Belfast.Thirty years ago it was more overt and vocal.Hennessy was not a Provo or even a fellow traveller - but he knew a man who was. As the Brits and the Bhoys close in, Hennessy single - mindedly gets on with his plan.And,as we have learned to our cost,there is no defence against a man with nothing to lose. Mr Steiger has somehow gained the reputation of being a "great" actor. Well,he is certainly recognisable as an "actor",I'll say that. Give him an accent i.e. "In the heat of the night","The Pawnbroker" and he showboats quite happily.Thus in "Hennessy" he does "Belfast" pretty well and is right at home playing a broken man,but unfortunately he is never Hennessy,merely Rod Steiger playing Hennessy,a small but important distinction. As we look over our shoulders in a tabloid frenzy of suspicion and fear we reflect that the great Alf Garnet once said "You can't have a democracy without shooting a few people" and it's looking increasingly likely that he may have had a point.

Back in 1975, when this controversial political thriller was released, critics were quick to call it "implausible", "unbelievable" and "far-fetched". But since then, the western world has had a few wake-up calls. The 9/11 terrorist attacks; the Madrid bombings; hunt-campaigners breaking into Parliament and hurling powder pellets onto the Prime Minister; the suicide bombings on the London Underground.... to name but a few. In retrospect, Hennessy may have been made at a time when the top-brass of Britsh and American governments and armies thought themselves invulnerable, but looking at it from a modern perspective this is a chillingly possible tale. It is not even slightly far-fetched or implausible.... this is a genuinely unsettling, suspenseful and thought-provoking thriller.Northern Irish explosive expert Niall Hennessy (Rod Steiger) lives a peaceful life in Belfast with his wife and daughter. He has IRA contacts, including the dangerous and wanted Tobin (Eric Porter), but Hennessy repeatedly refuses to get involved in their violent activities, even refusing to provide them with small amounts of gelignite. However, one day during a street riot the British Army inadvertently open fire on the rioters, and in the confusion Hennessy's wife and child are killed. Distraught, Hennessy heads for London with the aim of revisiting his loss on the English capital. His unthinkable plot is to blow up the Royal Family and the members of parliament in the House of Peers. Fearing a backlash and an influx of extra soldiers in Belfast, Tobin sets out to stop Hennessy. Also, Special Branch detective Inspector Hollis (Richard Johnson - who also came up with the film's story) races against time to prevent Hennessy's explosive scheme.As in The Day Of The Jackal, the audience knows from the outset that Hennessy's horrifying plot is doomed to fail.... but also like The Day Of The Jackal, this film still generates terrific excitement. Hennessy, as essayed by the excellent Rod Steiger (in one of his most subtle, least hammy roles), is a very sympathetic figure and it is only because his revenge plot is so terrible that we do not want him to succeed. Hollis, the cop out to stop him, is very convincingly played by Richard Johnson, and there are further notable performances from Lee Remick as the widow of a one-time IRA saboteur and Trevor Howard as Hollis's over-confident, under-cautious superior. Director Don Sharp, whose films are usually mediocre at best, is in uncommonly good form, serving up a thriller of considerable tension and topicality. In today's vulnerable society, films of this kind remind us of the perilous position we're in at the mercy of embittered extremists.... and Hennessy is one of the best of its type.