Der tödliche Schatten des Mr. Shatter

I have a long association with SHATTER going back to the mid 1970s when it was one of those films that instead of going straight to DVD, went straight to cable. In the early days of HBO where it was known as CALL HIM MR SHATTER, the movie was a late night fixture airing after more respectable viewers had gone to bed. I remember thinking at the time what an oddball cinematic exercise it was to mix a film noir plot (doublecrossed hit man seeks revenge) with martial arts (or kung-fu as Americans used to say) activity.

And what were stalwarts Peter Cushing and Anton Diffring doing in this East-West hodgepodge? Surely this wasn't a Hammer production? Indeed it was. In fact it was Cushing's last role for the company where he had been a mainstay since starring in CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN 17 years earlier and he makes the most of his brief appearances as an amoral police official.

SHATTER was the second and last collaboration of Hammer with Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers after the notorious but hard to dislike LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES. Both movies were made in 1974 and while LEGEND proceeded fairly smoothly and wound up making money, SHATTER was a troubled production and didn't recoup its meager budget which is why it went to cable so fast.

Cult American director Monte Hellman (TWO LANE BLACKTOP) started the film but was replaced halfway through after complaining about nearly everything (just listen to his commentary). Michael Carreras found himself directing another film where the director was unable to complete his assignment. World weary Stuart Whitman looks as if he'd rather be anywhere else but at least it's not THE MONSTER CLUB or DEMONOID. Not a good movie but it's not without some merit. The ending sums SHATTER up perfectly. For true Hammer aficionados only.

Collaborating for the second and final time, Hammer Studios and Shaw Brothers Studios again tap into the martial arts market for this watchable crime fiction that has the benefit of being filmed entirely in Hong Kong. Stuart Whitman ("The Mark") stars as the title character, a hitman who completes a job in Africa, assassinating a dictator. Then he goes to HK to collect payment from a weaselly banker named Hans Leber (Anton Diffring, "Circus of Horrors"), and of course the guy reneges on the deal. Shatter must take it on the lam, being unable to trust most people. However, he does receive crucial assistance from Kung Fu expert Tai Pah (Lung Ti) and masseuse Mai-Mee (Lily Li).

The story goes that this was a very troubled production, with Hammer producer and sometime director Michael Carreras ("The Lost Continent") stepping in to replace original director Monte Hellman, the American cult-favorite filmmaker who made such classics as "Two-Lane Blacktop" and "Cockfighter". This, after Hellman had already shot *at least* half of the picture. Given its problems, it's fortunate that the finished product manages to tell a reasonably coherent story, although it's required of special guest star Peter Cushing (wonderful as always) to utter quite a bit of exposition. Even then, Shatter doesn't know the whole story until the movie is almost over.

The action scenes are very well done, in any event, with Lung Ti showing off great athleticism and having a relaxed presence on screen. Whitman is fine as usual, Li is simply adorable, the great German actor Diffring is appropriately slimy, and Cushing remains a delight. Several Shaw Brothers players, Li and Lung Ti among them, have roles large and small. The movie is full of HK sights and sounds, possessing a very exotic appeal, and also has a jaunty score composed by David Lindup.

While not as invigorating as "The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires", this entertains its audience fairly well. Fans of both Hammer and the Shaw brothers will want to see it for curiosity's sake.

Six out of 10.

Part of a three film deal (only two pictures were actually made -- the other being LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES), SHATTER was intended as a copy of the hip actioners being made in the U.S. Unfortunately, much of the film involves the title character hiding out from pursuers, as he tries to sort out a killing he'd been contracted to provide, but which he'd been undercut on and set up as the fall guy for. In the meantime, the guilty parties and others are on the hunt for Shatter, and he can't be certain of his few allies.

Peter Cushing's final Hammer role, as a cynical intelligence operative who refuses to help Shatter and may have an undisclosed agenda of his own.

Very minor material and only for Cushing completists.

I have almost no memory of this film, yet I'm writing a review. Go figure!

I seem to remember Stuart Whitman as some sort of hit-man in Hong Kong. It was entertaining and badly dubbed and fairly gory; the sort of movie HBO used to fill up their schedule with when they weren't showing more traditional features and before they went off the air at midnight.

My suggestion is to read the ten other reviews and, if this long-lost and forgettable Kung Fu/Spy flick piques your interest, rent it or buy a used copy.

Enjoy!

Hammer helped define the gothic vampire genre, for which we should be thankful, but they also found need to dabble in other fields with mixed results. Shatter did not have the most inspired mixture and doesn't stand the test of time very well. Perpetually grouchy killer for hire Stuart Whitman fails goes to Hong Kong where he fails to collect from disreputable banker Anton Diffring. Corrupt government official Peter Cushing has his men beat the pulp out of Whitman, who stumbles off to a massage parlor where kung fu master Lung Ti treats him to a freebie from adorable Li-Li Li (whose name sounds like the refrain to a doo-wop song). Whitman finds his apartment blown up so he takes refuge at his new friends' dojo. He slips underground for a while but gets attacked at a martial arts invitational won by understated Ti. Without questioning the moral validity of his instincts, they help him in his quest to extort a mil from Diffring. International affairs gets somewhat sticky from here, and the bullets fly freely until the predictable climax. Carreras tries his best to present Whitman as a then-prevalent philosopher killer, but the weak introspective sequences that show Whitman roaming around his apartment fail to do the trick. The apparently sensitive regret he feels for his victims comes off as a brooding doom with little real emotion backing it up. Shatter's intolerance for international culture makes a few unexpected peeps from its veneer of acceptance. Snooty references to eating snakes evidence a discomfort with the behavior of a foreign country. The background story sets this attitude in stone: Whitman's being tracked down for getting involved with political affairs in Badawi, a corrupt puppet country in Africa in which brothers contentedly murder brothers for money and power. Such situations may perhaps at time truly occur, but the same can be found in Shakespeare with less disapproval asked of the audience. The degree of acceptance present can be seen as a sense of tragedy, completely disconnected with the random slaying of evil black or Asian characters. I don't mean to push the point, but I found it odd that both major black characters were played no-name Yemi Ajibade in an otherwise internationally well-known cast. Cult director Monte Hellman apparently assisted Carreras, far more experienced as a producer, but did not receive credit. Writer Don Houghton produced the other Shaw/Hammer co-production, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires and also takes credit for the awful but amusing Dracula AD 1972. Scenes allegedly shot in Badawi, a country that does not exist, were probably done in Hong Kong.