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The Black Windmill

The Black Windmill

Thriller · Action · Crime · 1974

A British agent's son is kidnapped and held for a ransom of diamonds. The agent finds out that he can't even count on the people he thought were on his side to help him, so he decides to track down the kidnappers himself.

Movie details

The Black Windmill

“The ultimate exercise in controlled terror.”

1974 Thriller · Action · Crime 1h 46m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.3 / 10

3.6K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

57 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

50 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A British agent's son is kidnapped and held for a ransom of diamonds. The agent finds out that he can't even count on the people he thought were on his side to help him, so he decides to track down the kidnappers himself.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Black Windmill?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Don Siegel

Written by

Leigh Vance

Michael Caine

Michael Caine

Maj. John Tarrant

Donald Pleasence

Donald Pleasence

Cedric Harper

Delphine Seyrig

Delphine Seyrig

Ceil Burrows

Clive Revill

Clive Revill

Alf Chestermann

John Vernon

John Vernon

McKee

Joss Ackland

Joss Ackland

Chief Supt. Wray

Janet Suzman

Janet Suzman

Alex Tarrant

Court is in session

Put The Black Windmill on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Momentum is a formal choice.”

The velocity sharpens instinct and tension, making every beat land before self-importance can settle in.

The prosecution The Auteur Devotee

“Speed as an alibi.”

The film races past its weak spots and hopes acceleration will keep the audience from inspecting the evidence.