Murder by Contract

Frankly, I came in expecting little from this totally anonymous abbreviated 50s crime drama and left the theatre shocked at how much bang for my 67 minutes I got. I am hard-pressed to think of another movie of this length which accomplishes as much plotwise or entertains as much audiencewise as this thoroughly neglected late-50s gem.

Vince Edwards leaps off the screen with amazing charisma to burn and Bernardi and Pine are nearly as effective as the hapless bumbling mobsters assigned to chaperone him through his contract. Conflict, wit, suspense, and outright humor abounds in this simultaneously clever and tense little script. Even the non-existent production values are completely camouflaged by economic and nimbly staged set-pieces.

The ending is probably the one weak point... it's a bit sudden and anti-climactic given what the movie seems to be building to. However, the good performances, nifty cinematography (some good POV work), and satisfyingly unconventional script make this slightly warped b-movie a classic which deserves far, far more attention. Melodramatic? Hell yeah. But in the best self-aware and crowd-pleasing tradition. 9/10 and worthy of the time of any crime drama or noir fan. Trust me.

Selected for an important contract killing due to his detached and unemotional approach towards murder, an arrogant young assassin questions his own skills after discovering that his next target is a woman in this slick thriller. Vince Edwards is excellent as the confident contract killer who simply sees murder as a great way to supplement his income. Along the lines of 'Strangers on a Train', he also professes that "the only type of safe killing is when a stranger kills a stranger" and the film has some fun comic relief moments as he often unsettles two goons sent to accompany him. Solid as Phillip Pine and Herschel Bernardi are as the goons though, their purpose is never clear and film veers close to being a comedy at times with the goons and his failed attempts to kill the woman from afar. Generally speaking though, this is an intense and riveting thriller. The film benefits from a catchy, taunting music score inspired by 'The Third Man' and Edwards has an undeniably fascinating character. Is he worried about killing her because he has more moral fibre than he would like to admit or is it genuinely harder to kill a woman? Whatever the case, this is a fascinating look into a dangerous mind.

Murder by Contract is a unique little film. It operates within its own little hermetic (back- projected) world, and it is no accident that one of its main scenes is set on an abandoned film studio. Vince Edwards plays a disaffected antihero, and, with its brilliant minimalistic guitar score (by Perry Botkin) it could be possible to read this film as Jarmushian WAY avant la lettre! The ending is quite disappointing - the film just kind of peters out, but there are so many beautifully observed details along the way. Not for nothing is the great Lucien Ballard the cinematographer. But who is Irving Lerner and what happened to him? Hershel Bernardi plays such a perfect kind of Second Avenue Theater role as one of the two "boys" who are the hit-man's handlers, and the over-sensitive call-girl scene is hilarious. Highly recommended - see it in a theater if you can! A film like this makes me angry at films like the way - over-hyped Reservoir Dogs. That film is SO overdetermined - the antithesis of a modest work like this one, which only reveals itself to the patient viewer.

This little gem has dialogue to die for. Production values? We don't need no stinking production values. Not with lines like "You know what you have to be to get a gun like that, George? A civilized country. Are you a civilized country?" Vince Edwards is awesome. I am convinced this is an ancestor of "Pulp Fiction".

I first saw this movie when I was a kid and had a crush on Vince Edwards as Ben Casey. Well I am all grown up, no longer have a crush, and still think this movie was excellent for its time. The cold blooded approach of Edwards character Claude, his lack of affect, makes him more menacing than those shouting gun waving villains you usually see in film. This guy knows his job and that's all it is, a job. The music is so monotonous it fits the characters attitude (or lack of one). Even the other bad guys in the film know there is something not quite right about their hired gun. I liked it. Whenever it's on I make it point to try and catch at least some of it.