L'éliminateur

Despite the fact of never even having heard about this 1993 action thriller titled "The Hit List", I still opted to watch it solely because it was a movie that I hadn't already seen.

Writer Reed Steiner put together an okay script. It wasn't spectacular or outstanding, but it proved to be watchable enough for what it was. But in all honesty, the movie was a bit bland and mediocre.

The movie actually has a surprising amount of familiar faces on the cast list. Aside from leading actor Jeff Fahey, there is the likes of Yancy Butler, James Coburn, Michael Beach, Sherman Howard, Jeff Kober and Erick Avari. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

For an action thriller, I will say that the movie was a bit on the stale side. Sure, it was a watchable movie, but hardly an outstanding or noteworthy action thriller. In fact, there are far, far better action thrillers readily available.

While I did sit through the movie in its entire 97 minute runtime, I was only mildly entertained. It definitely isn't a movie that warrants more than a single viewing, as the storyline simply isn't layered enough to support more than a single viewing.

My rating of director William Webb's 1993 movie "The Hit List" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Like I said, this is quite a trashy movie. I didn't realize that it had been on TV until I checked this web site recently. Anyway, I saw the movie on video; so I'm sure that it was edited severely before it hit TV. There is a topless breast shot in the first ten seconds. As far as what that says for the rest of the movie, do your own math. Even though I am a huge fan of Yancy Butler, this movie just didn't do it for me. And that's saying something because I'm an open minded person who's willing to give anything a chance. (See my comments on the police action thriller "Jailbait".) There is a funny scene where Jeff Fahey and Yancy Butler are making out, and her hair gets in his mouth. (As you can tell, I find just about anything humorous.) Now that James Coburn has won an Oscar, he is probably trying to erase all connections between himself and this movie.

Yancy Butler has never been sexier... In this cool flick she hires Jeff Fahey, who works for an organization run by James Coburn, to find the killer of her husband. The film looks great and has lots of twists and surprises. Probably Fahey's best role. The film is better than I thought it would be. And the ending is a shocking surprise.

the hit list is an awesome film . i think the jazz soundtrack adds to the 'mood ' and suspense . his film adds to the fact that all you need to make a great suspense film is a man , a woman , an old man , a villain and most definitely ... a room with a view (preferably a view offered by a telescope ) i mean , now , how many erotic thrillers have featured glass windowed apartments which have a telescope ...?

the beauty of watching such films is the fact that they have residues of great suspense moments created by many directors and storytellers over the years . hence you always end-up feeling or rather being reminded of some classics .

one doubt though . the film was R-Rated for most things . however the version i saw had none of hose things . people out there please educate me if there is an uncut version or at least if what i saw was probably cut .

Jeff Fahey (Psycho III, The Lawnmower Man) stars as Charles Pike, a professional hitman. His boss, Mayhew (James Coburn), puts him in contact with Jordan Henning (Yancy Butlerz), an old family friend. Pike wants out of the game, but he agrees to speak with Mrs. Henning. It turns out her husband was murdered and she wants revenge.

Pike carries out the hit on the man thought to be responsible for the death of Mrs. Henning's husband. They begin an affair. Soon Pike is questioning what's really going on. Has he been played? People have been following both Pike and Mrs. Henning. Does someone want to eliminate both of them?

I typically enjoy Jeff Fahey, but I did find The Hit List to start losing steam after about an hour in. It was an okay watch, but I don't think that I would watch it again.