Le Contrat

I would say I took a gamble by purchasing this movie, but it's hard to constitute $6.99 as a gamble. It came in a boxed with set with another old DeNiro movie, "Born to Run," which I haven't watched yet. Well, like I cynically expected, DeNiro is NOT the star of this film. Sure, his name appears first in the opening credits, but I'm guessing that's because the film was re-issued in 1980 and by then, DeNiro was already a moderately big star. The story basically centers around his character, but we only see him once in the first scene, and then momentarily in flashbacks. This was back when DeNiro had that Tom Selleck-like moustache, looking like an out-of-work porn star.

Not to be totally negative, the unknown actor who plays the main character gives a pretty good, though one-note, performance. The rest of the actors--except for DeNiro--could've been just as effective reading their lines off cue cards. And judging by the way this film was made--like a third-rate student film--I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

The cheap production values are as clear as day, but the film could've saved its integrity with a good script. Some of the dialogue is horribly laughable. But for $6.99, you often get what you pay for. At least it will serve as good filler for my extensive video collection.

My score: 4 (out of 10)