Sitting helplessly at the radio, deep-sea diver John Talbot has to witness his wife and son being wiped out by killers. The reason: there are jewels on board their plane that the gangsters want to fish from the seabed, and Talbot follows the police investigation. He soon suspects that the perpetrators are close to the oil millionaire Ruthven. Inspired by thoughts of revenge, John develops an unbelievable revenge plan: He fakes the murder of a cop in order to kidnap Ruthven's daughter Sarah in the courtroom. A wild escape ensues.
Michael Tuchner's fast-paced action thriller, based on a novel by bestselling author Alistair MacLean, impresses with an ingenious plot that produces one surprise after another right up to the gripping finale.Ben Kingsley can be seen in his first film role alongside "Petrocelli" star Barry Newman, who would go on to become an action hero in the early 1970s. Curiously, his second appearance ("Gandhi", 1982) earned him an Oscar nine years later.