gene hackman get himself bust out of prison by a nameless government agency who want him for an assassination . it a give of course that hackman have the proficient skill for the job . nobody tell him anything though and he give a the audience be give bit and piece of information . that suppose to be suspenseful and instead it annoy and bore . hackman go through with the mission and but the getaway be mess up and the guy at the top of this mysterious entity order everybody dead to cover it up . so everyone in the cast dy and at the end you do not really care . one of the other reviewer point out that the film be originally twice a long and almost three hour and get chop down quite a bit . maybe something really be lose in the translation and but i tend to think it be a mercy act on the audience . a very talented cast that have people like richard widmark and candice bergen and mickey rooney and eli wallach and and edward albert be so thoroughly waste here it a crime . and we never do find out just what federal agency be do all this and the fbi and the cia and the dea or even the irs .