Two escaped convicts (Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell) are on the run in an unnamed Latin American country. But everywhere they go, they are followed and hounded by a menacing black helicopter.

Figures in a Landscape (1970)
  • Rating: (384 votes)
  • Taglines:Freedom isn't force. » The Bird Has Come For Its Prey. »
  • Runtime:110 minutes
  • Director: Joseph Losey
  • Country:UK
  • Actors:
    MacConnachie
    Robert Shaw
    Ansell
    Malcolm McDowell
    Helicopter Pilot
    Henry Woolf
    Helicopter observer
    Christopher Malcolm
    Soldier (as Andrew Bradford)
    Andy Bradford
    Soldier
    Warwick Sims
    Soldier
    Roger Lloyd-Pack
    Soldier
    Robert East
    Soldier
    Tariq Yunus
    Widow
    Pamela Brown
  • Genre:Thriller
  • Producers:
    Judith Goodman
    associate producer  
    John Kohn
    producer  
    William Pigott-Brown
    executive producer  
  • Plot: Two escaped convicts (Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell) are on the run in an unnamed Latin American country. But everywhere they go, they are followed and hounded by a menacing black helicopter. Written by Jonathon Dabell <BC602070@pixie.ntu.ac.uk>
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  • User's comment:Weird cinema, but worth catching by Jonathon Dabell (barnaby.rudge@hotmail.co.uk)

    Figures in a Landscape is the most peculiar film I've ever seen. I've seen a lot of peculiar films (The Keep, The Island, A Zed and Two Noughts, Eye of the Devil, etc.) but this one beats them all in terms of its curious nature.

    It has almost no plot. What little plot there is details the efforts of two escaped convicts to evade a menacing black helicopter as they flee through the rugged landscape of some un-named South American country. Did they really commit a crime at all? Why does the chopper pilot want to catch them? Who are they? All these questions, so obvious and central to all the other films of this type, are left unasked and unanswered. This is purely a chase for the sake of a chase movie. Everything is left unexplained, and the immediate action is the only thing that is concentrated upon.

    Given the existentialist angle that the film adopts, it is little surprise that it is unpopular.Many people feel cheated by the lack of explanation. I have a soft spot for the film, because it lets me decide for myself what is going on and what has gone before. I feel that Robert Shaw's performance is commanding, and the aerial photography is outstanding. However, I'm not saying that this is some kind of overlooked classic; nor even that it is an excellent film. It's just a wrongly panned film that has enough interesting features within its running time to make it commendable to anyone who has yet to see it.


  • Also known as: Caccia sadica (Italy), Caza humana (Spain), Den långa flykten (Sweden), Deux hommes en fuite (France), Dois Vultos na Paisagem (Portugal), Figurák a tájban (Hungary), Figuras en un paisaje (Argentina), Hahmot maisemassa (Finland), Im Visier des Falken (West Germany), Lige på grænsen (Denmark), Oi dyo drapetai (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), Oi dyo megaloi drapetes (Greece - reissue title),

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