The Hit - Die Profi-Killer

Before Diving into this film... And I honestly feel it deserves a DEEP DIVE....

But FIRST: Let Us FOCUS on this TITLE´s CONTENT & CONTEXT:

Sometimes things don't work out as expected. Sometimes a little reflection helps put things in perspective. The review you're reading now is vastly different from the one I sat down to write last night. The Hit seemed to have betrayed itself and short-changed the viewer by radically violating the principals set down throughout the course of the film. But that was last night. Today, at lunch, I "got it"! Last night you were getting the 2.75* Review. Luckily, patience and a little reflection, seem to have paid off: Today you're getting the 4.25* Deluxe Version! Willie Parker (Terence Stamp) is a former criminal who has had years to reflect on his life and on life, and death, in general. He has taken up reading books on philosophy, books on history, poetry, psychology and pretty much anything he can lay his hands on. Being a man in his 40's, he strikes one as a little young to be retired. Well, He isn't! Willie is living in rural Spain in the European Union's version of the Witness Protection Program; seeing as how he ratted out his buddies back in England 10 years earlier. Surprisingly, they didn't seem to buy Willie's explanation that "He had seen the light & it felt like the right thing to do". Willie's day of reckoning comes when his ex-blokes have him kidnapped and brought to justice, E. U. Mafia style. Throughout his entire ordeal, Willie looks more like someone going on a picnic than a guy who's about to decorate the wall with his brains. His captors, an icy jaded pro (John Hurt) and his hapless, hot-tempered apprentice (Tim Roth, in a breakthrough role) stand incredulous before Willie's apparent calm & indifference to his plight. Remember how SNL's Rosanna Rosanadana used to say..."It's always SOMETHING!" Well, in the course of transporting their victim to the slaughter, it's one constant "Something" after another. When The Hit is over (assuming you "get it") you'll have a slight smile on your face and a twinkle in your eye...just like the icy hit man's!

Terence Stamp is aces as a criminal who rats out his associates, then spends a decade hiding out in Spain. But his time is now up: two hitmen, the icy cold Braddock (John Hurt) and the cocky young Myron (Tim Roth, in his theatrical debut) have tracked him down. Now they are transporting him back to his execution in England. But things don't go quite the way that everybody expects, and Braddock & Myron end up taking a young Spanish woman (the sexy and feisty Laura Del Sol) along with them, and the idea of what to do with the captives seems to change from moment to moment.

"The Hit" is a solid British crime feature done with intelligence and nuance. While it has the typical violence for the genre, it doesn't play out the way that this viewer really expected. What made the difference is that this story (written by Peter Prince) focuses far more on the characters and the journey than the destination. And the characters are an interesting bunch. Stamps' character Willie Parker in particular takes a philosophical approach to his destiny that also functions as the theme of the story. He gets over his fear and resigns himself to his fate - something that Braddock apparently doesn't like.

Stamp and Hurt deliver standout performances in a film that also benefits from the chemistry among its cast. Although it's become something of a cliche by now to have two criminal types with contrasting styles, it's fun here to see the odd-couple dynamic between Hurts' Braddock and Roths' Myron. Del Sol has sufficient appeal to make the viewer tense about what might happen to her, and Aussie actor Bill Hunter is quite good in his brief appearance as a criminal who merely happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But Fernando Rey is rather wasted in his role as a senior policeman who usually just arrives at crime scenes after the fact, until a rather abrupt finale. Look for British character actors Willoughby Gray, Jim Broadbent, and Ralph Brown in small roles.

Although not as well as known as other favorites in the British crime genre, this is definitely worth your time, especially if you admire the actors, and the highly capable director, Stephen Frears, who went on to do films like "Dangerous Liaisons", "The Grifters", and "The Queen".

Eight out of 10.

Forget the flashy but empty "cor blimey guv" Brit crime movies of the last few years like 'Snatch' and 'Sexy Beast'. Apart from 'Croupier' and 'Gangster No. 1', most of them aren't worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as the brilliant but largely forgotten 'The Long Good Friday', 'Mona Lisa', and the most underrated of all, 'The Hit'. Terence Stamp, playing a character not too dissimilar from the one he later portrays in 'The Limey', is a former gangster who grassed up his criminal mates years earlier. Now living in semi-retirement in Spain he is unexpectedly kidnapped by two hoods (John Hurt and, in one of his earliest screen roles, Tim Roth) who plan on taking him to Paris and killing him as punishment for betraying the criminal code. Of course, things don't go quite as planned and along the way the sexy Laura del Sol gets forced against her will to accompany them. This is a very fresh and interesting film that is more character than action based so might not appeal to the Guy Ritchie crowd. It's their loss. Stamp is just brilliant and his interaction with Hurt and Roth makes this a must see movie. The supporting cast also includes the legendary Fernando Rey ('The French Connection') as the cop on their trail, and Aussie veteran Bill Hunter as a crim in the wrong place at the wrong time. 'The Hit' is one of the most overlooked British movies of the last twenty years, and highly recommend viewing for all discerning movie buffs.

I can't believe I'm discovering this little gem only now, about 20 years late! Shame on me. How comes...?

Now this is the kind of stuff I like. Intelligent, brilliantly written and directed, with mindblowing actors' performances by Tim Roth, John Hurt and Terence Stamp (gee I never realized before that Stamp was SUCH a talented actor!! Shame on me again!), a real personality, an outstanding camera work, and multiple references to the cinema history... all this with just the right amount of dignity, not too much, just the right amount. And an original and tasteful use of hispanic music, that is 100% adequate.

"The hit" is suspenseful, unpredictable, funny, challenging.

Makes me wonder how many times Tarentino viewed it... he obviously viewed it several times, for sure.

Great flick. I can't believe that there are only 395 votes for this movie on Imdb, meaning that only a very selected group of people actually had the luck to come across this little diamond. Such a shame. I bet many Coen fans would really love "The hit" if they only had the opportunity to view it...

Stephen Frears' highly original talent was evident in his first feature 'Gumshoe' from 1971. After thirteen years in the confining world of Television he has again been granted the opportunity of stretching his legs on the wider screen. Although not a palpable 'hit' when first released its merits have since come to be appreciated in retrospect as Frears' subsequent reputation as an accomplished filmmaker has been firmly established.

The plot here is pretty basic but Frears' skilful direction of his players, Peter Prince's sparse but loaded dialogue and Mick Audsley's taut editing have given us a tense, well constructed piece in which the dynamics between the four main characters are constantly shifting and our initial impressions of them are totally subverted as the film progresses. The landscape plays an active role and this, together with Paco de Lucia's score, gives this film the feel of a latter day Western.

Superlative John Hurt hasn't been required to learn many lines but his silences speak volumes and Tim Roth makes an assured screen debut whilst Terence Stamp has one of his best roles and one which enables him to exhibit a rarely seen comic edge. Sultry Laura Del Sol had made quite an impression in Saura's flamenco version of 'Carmen' the previous year and her transition here from eye candy to spitfire is extremely effective.

To say that Mr. Frears has gone from strength to strength would be an understatement and he now indisputably belongs to the select group that comprises truly world class British directors, the rest of whom are deceased.