Eyewitness (released as Sudden Terror in the United States) is a 1970 British thriller film directed by John Hough and starring Mark Lester, Susan George and Lionel Jeffries.

[2][3] Its plot follows a young English boy who, while staying with his grandfather and adult sister in Malta, witnesses a political assassination, and is subsequently pursued by the killers—however, due to his habitual lying, those around him are hesitant to believe his claims.

[4][5] Ziggy, an English boy, spends the summer in Malta with his adult sister, Pippa, at their grandfather's lighthouse.

One day, Pippa drives to town with Ziggy to join crowds welcoming a visiting African dignitary.

As Pippa makes the acquaintance of a young tourist named Tom, Ziggy slips away to seek a better view of the festivites.

As the evening progresses, however, Grandfather discovers Ziggy might be telling the truth when police mysteriously show up to check on who is staying at the lighthouse.

As they approach the rocky coast, the assassin uses his police cruiser to ram Pippa's car off the road.

[13] Variety called it "a fairly conventional crime chase yarn" which "has some exciting moments but lacks much of the tension that more astute and experienced directors than John Hough might have given it.

After shooting the wrong man by mistake, the Mafia-affiliated villains chase round the island leaving a trail of bodies and providing an excuse for a lot of spectacular motorcycling and car-driving.

Many of the shots are of action reflected in motorbike or car mirrors, or taken at assorted odd camera angles; devices like the Colonel seen through his own spectacles as they lie on a table are common; and the director's passion for distortion is evident in scenes like the one where a waiter is murdered with a jewelled hatpin.

The continual cross-cutting between the different strands keeps the action moving, and effective use is made of the Maltese location, with its narrow, winding, cobbled streets, long flights of steps, cliff-tops and catacombs.

', but considering the banality of most of his lines, Lionel Jeffries makes quite a character out of the old-world grandfather who puts on dress uniform for dinner, and Peter Vaughan is a suitably sinister villain.

"[15] Paul Moody, in his history on EMI Films, called Eyewitness "an excellent and neglected thriller, intelligently directed and with strong performances, especially from Jeffries.

Thankfully for Forbes, this was his first critical success, with most reviews commenting on the performances of Jeffries and Peter Vaughan as the villainous policeman.

Under John Hough's direction, the picture raucously careens after the sprinting lad, with the nervous color camera all but doing a back flip, plus a blaring score of eerie sounds and spookier rock 'n' roll.