Le dernier contrat

I'm sorry this this was never put out on DVD and apparently got almost no notice while out on VHS. I found it to be a surprisingly good movie, one I really enjoyed. It's not super, but it's certainly worth a look, especially if you like Southwest U.S.A. scenery, and I'm shocked I am only the second reviewer of this film. What a shame.

What I really appreciated was the beautiful colors in here and a pretty clean movie, language-wise. There is no nudity, either, so why this is rated "R" on the back of the video box is a complete mystery to me. That has to be a mistake.

What the film could have used was a bit more action, especially in the middle of the film when it begins to drag a bit with the romance, but it was still an intriguing. This was my first look at Brooke Adams since the 1978 film of Days Of Heaven, one of my all-time favorites. Adams lost her interesting and youthful look (age will do that!) but still looked okay. The male lead, Bryan Brown, has a rugged face which was perfect for the New Mexico terrain in this story.

Speaking of "Brown," the brown hues in this film are awesome, from dark to golden. I have never seen so many shades of that color together and it looks fantastic. I would love to see this movie on DVD.

Story-wise, it is a nice low-key movie most of the way except for a violent, shocking ending.

I stumbled across this movie on the Sleuth Channel and it mesmerized me from the moment Brown heads to New Mexico. I wish I knew exactly where in New Mexico it was filmed. I was surprised and pleased to find that I actually really liked the film itself. It was mystery, romance, action, but truly the real star was the knock-out beauty of New Mexico. I taped it off TV and have watched it several times. I definitely hope they someday decide to make a DVD of it. I highly recommend it to just about anybody. I imagine the brief episodes of violence are why it was rated R on the VHS. Certainly wasn't any bad language or nudity. I've always been a Brooke Adams fan and frankly have enjoyed a lot of Bryan Brown's work, especially "A Town Called Alice" and "FX." I found this an oddly compelling pairing of two very different actors and characters. Watch it if you get a chance!

When Michael Grant (Bryan Brown), an assassin employed by an intelligence agency, has his latest target in his sniper rifle sights, he suddenly decides against pulling the trigger and, thereby aware that his usefulness to his employer is at an end, he resigns from his position and purchases a rural New Mexico house close to that of his near victim Wilbur Bryant (Harris Yulin), with whose daughter Anna (Brooke Adams) he falls in love, complicating his general circumstances because his erstwhile handler apparently is determined to complete the killing assignment without Grant by deploying alternate personnel. Based upon a popular novel, "The Long Kill" (original shooting title of the production), by Reginald Hill writing as Patrick Ruell, there is a critical alteration from the book that concerns Grant's reason for retiring: changed from deteriorating eyesight to becoming emotionally involved in his assignments, and there is no need to inquire as to which condition has greater appeal to viewers. The scenario focuses upon the melodramatic and contains with very little that is original written for a storyline crammed with coincidence, but fortunately this film is one of those uncommon items that manages to rise above its script limitations, buoyed by superlative direction, playing, and camera-work to a satisfying level whereby it no longer is in debt to the Ruell piece. Director Jan Egleson paces the action impeccably to build an atmosphere of suspense, demonstrating a fine sense of detail, and the cast is uniformly excellent, Brown and Adams naturalistically effective as lovers in their mid-forties who must deal with complicated issues, while Yulin provides, as is customary, a dependable performance in his role of the nearly slain Bryant and Daniel von Bargen garners the acting honours as an intelligence agency overseer with a possible hidden agenda. Most of the goings-on are set and shot in very scenic locations near Las Vegas, New Mexico, with splendid cinematography by Tom Priestley, Jr. and a nicely wrought score from Gary Chang enhancing this interesting film of a government assassin driven into a corner by a combination of his murderous past and his current romantic involvement.