The film's opening prologue states: "Rome - January 1978. Italy is in chaos. A group of terrorists calling themselves the Red Brigade has brought a shocked society to a state bordering on revolution...it is the "Verliebt in die Gefahr"¨ this expression seen in a title card at the start of the movie is the film's "Year of the Gun" title spelled in German . The film takes place in 1978 , a young American called David Raybourne (Andrew McCarthy) arrives in Rome , he is a reporter who begins a novel based on the political instability around him , using the names of real people in his first draft . Soon , an ambitious photojournalist wants to collaborate with him and the Red Brigade terrorist group wishes to remove anyone associated with the book . Then , the photojournalist , Alison King (Sharon Stone) , photographed them in action . Both of whom , Andrew McCarthy and Sharon Stone experience the nasty activities of the Red Brigades terrorists close up in Rome, 1978.

The picture deals with the violent and turbulent times when the dangerous terrorist organization Red Brigades committed terrible crimes , kidnaps and massacre . As the Brigate Rosse or Red Brigades is the principal character in the yarn . This is a thrilling and twisted flick about the political scene in Italy at the time of the kidnapping of the former prime minister Aldo Moro (16 March 1978) . In fact the film's closing epilogue states: "Fifty-four days after he was kidnapped, Aldo Moro's bullet ridden body was found in the trunk of a car parked in the center of Rome". It is a mediocre movie that takes place in ups and downs with surprises and plot twists , but also with unfortunate and unpredictable events . Everything revolves around the unstable highly charged political environment : the university in Rome at that time and politics in Italy during those days of civil unrest during the 1970's .The picture depicts accurately those thunderous and criminal times . Although failing on occasion to balance the thin line it establishes between perception and reality , offering a semi-realistic look at the priorities and lives of political terrorists . Mediocre performances from Andrew McCarthy as American journalist covering political news in Italy discovering the mafia net is at all levels and entangled with the Red Brigades when attempting to help a friend and Sharon Stone as a nosy and snooping photo-reporter nosy who becomes involved in all kinds of problems . Some love scenes starred by Andre MacCarthy , Sharon Stone and Valeria Golino are really torrid. They're accompanied by a mostly Italian cast , giving acceptable interpretations such as : John Pankow , George Murcell , Francesca Prandi , Lou Castel , among others.

It has an anticlimatic and unappropriate soundtrack composed by synthesizer Bill Conti who previously musicalized the classic Rocky . Atmospheric and sombre cinematography by Blasco Giurato. The motion picture was middlingly directed by John Frankenheimer . At the beginning he worked for TV and turned to the cinema industry with The Young Stranger (1957) . Disappointed his with first feature film experience he came back to his successful television career directing a total of 152 live television shows in the 50s . He took another opportunity to change to the big screen , collaborating with Burt Lancaster in The Young Savages (1961) and Birdman of Alcatraz (62) ending up becoming a successful director well-known by his skills with actors and expressing on movies his views on important social deeds and philosophical events and film-making some classics as ¨The Manchurian candidate¨, ¨Seven days of May¨ and ¨The Train¨ and , in addition , ¨Grand Prix¨ also with great car races . Rating : 5.5/10 . Well worth seeing for John Frankheimer completists . Only for thriller, suspense buffs and Sharon Stone fans .

It's 1978 Rome. Violence is in the air threatened by the revolutionary Red Brigade. American David Raybourne (Andrew McCarthy) returns to write for a small paper and a fictional book about them. His friend Italo Bianchi (John Pankow) is a leftist American lecturer at an university. His girlfriend Lia (Valeria Golino) is the estranged wife of rich and powerful Marco. Photo journalist Alison King (Sharon Stone) is also after the Red Bridgade and sees Raybourne as a possible lead. This is a fictionalized account of events leading to the real kidnapping and murder of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro.

The directing from John Frankenheimer seems inferior or obsolete. The tension needs to be higher. This feels more like a 70's movie. Instead of three lead American characters, I would prefer to see a movie about Italian characters in this Italian drama. I'm not that interested in these Americans although the political intrigue seems compelling. The Americans can always walk away from any danger. It's an extra layer that separates these characters from the intensity of the story.

From right away, I wanted to yell at this film: get your plot straight, and tell it properly! OK, so, it would seem that David(Andrew, who returns to Rome to author a book, that turns out to be fictional - though it uses the real names of people, seeming to potentially get them in serious trouble... and in a twist that wouldn't have played out in a Saturday morning cartoon, what he writes is mistaken as documenting it) is with this chick who is divorcing a wife-beater and who she has a son with. And terrorists(who are only made out to look pure evil, which I could have understood if this had been made back in '78, but not in '91, where it was becoming clearer that calling such individuals and organizations freedom fighters can be more reasonable) are causing bad stuff to go down in Italy, though it's never made clear to what end, or if the government really *is* corrupt. All we know is that they're Communist, rendering this potentially a propaganda tool for the red scare. If we could at least care about the characters, however, the very introductions to our main characters ensures that they are wholly unappealing human beings(Stone is almost getting herself killed taking freaking photographs, obnoxious McCarthey wants to blow people up that we know nothing about(at that point or at all),etc.) and I couldn't care about them for the rest of this. Not one person in this had me engaged. Frankenheimer does infuse some scenes with tension and excitement... although this is definitely a thriller, with next to no real action, if it can be effective when it is there. The filming isn't bad, and the editing, as well(if some of the FX shots and stunts are poorly hidden). There is some moderate to strong language and a little female nudity and sexuality(at least one of the sequences is hot and with Sharon(the two are connected) in this. The DVD comes with a trailer. I recommend this to those who never support the people rising against those in power. 5/10