SYNOPSICS
Murder by Contract (1958) is a English movie. Irving Lerner has directed this movie. Vince Edwards,Phillip Pine,Herschel Bernardi,Caprice Toriel are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1958. Murder by Contract (1958) is considered one of the best Crime,Drama,Film-Noir,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
Claude is a young man with a regular job, no history of trouble with the law and no chance of making any real money. He also has the brains and emotional detachment to make the big bucks as a hit man, and that becomes his new job title. A string of successful hits gets him sent to Los Angeles for his latest job. There he is accompanied by two goons: one who is perpetually nervous and the other who quickly worships the young man as a hero. The cold, ruthless hit man finally becomes unglued when he finds out that his latest target is a woman. She's a witness, set to testify against his boss, and guarded day and night by the police. It's her femininity that worries Claude: women are unpredictable, they don't do what you expect. Claude eventually proves that he is the unpredictable one and his own worst enemy.
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Murder by Contract (1958) Reviews
Simple but highly effective
Entertaining, low budget crime thriller. Vince Edwards was tailor made for the role of Claude, a cool and calculating hit-man who has to bump off a beautiful woman before she spills the beans to the authorities about a certain criminal King Pin. Edwards starred in several of these well crafted bargain basement efforts just before he became an international TV star as Dr Ben Casey. Stylish direction and some interesting camera work compliment a thoughtful script. Be watching for one particularly unsettling scene which unfolds in a barber shop. Masterfully underplayed but makes a lasting impact. Just like a sling - shot, this excellent little film is simple but highly effective.
Nearly Flawless
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.
A 'Quirky' Soundtrack & Movie Full Of Surprises
Murder By Contract was a strange film, but I really like something quirky now and then and this film noir had its quirks. I mean, dig that crazy music, man! The soundtrack reminded me of The Third Man with the zither, except here it was guitar. I found it so out-of-place that it was good that way. It got your attention and was effective in an odd manner. Vince Edwards' character, "Claude," a hit man with a lot of intelligence, was also fun to enjoy. His dialog, and just the way he carried himself through this film, was fascinating. My only disappointment was what he did - or did not do - at the end the film, but I understand why the movie ended as it did. I just thought it would be a perfect ending had they gone the other direction. I'm purposely being vague so as not to spoil things for those who haven't seen it. If you haven't, it is well worth watching, particularly if you're a fan of film noir. Although a low-budget "B" film shot in just seven days, this had a professional air to it with good acting, direction and photography. I'm glad to see Columbia Pictures do it justice by giving us a nice transfer in their "Columbia Pictures: Film Noir Vol. 1" box set, where this was made available. Not only did Edwards - a fine actor - achieve big fame a couple of years after this film was made with his mega-hit TV series, "Ben Casey," but Herschel Bernardi, one of the co-stars of this movie, did pretty well, too, by beginning his stint in TV's "Peter Gunn" later in this year (1958). Those two guys, along with Philip Pine, had plenty of small and large-screen work in their resumes. Did you know this movie was shot in seven days? Wow, it didn't have a rushed look to it. I wish there more of these late-50s noirs. Mixed in was the some of the slang of the '60s. I laughed out loud when someone mentioned "the fuzz," referring to the police. Man, I thought that was pure mid-t0-late '60s talk and was surprised to hear that in this 1958 film. This movie was full of surprises, and most of them were good ones.
Noir existentialism
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.
A slightly different low budget crime thriller.
Vince Edwards is Claude, a college educated young man from a middle class background with a decent job who decides upward mobility can be achieved by becoming a contract killer. Claude is clever and carefully plans his hits. However, he proves himself to be too clever when hired to kill a female witness in a federal mob trial. MURDER BY CONTRACT is a not bad, very low budget crime thriller made when the market for low budget crime thrillers was shrinking. Having the ruthless Claude come from a respectable background makes its slightly different from other films of this nature. The film at times shows some inventiveness in the camera work and editing. Phillip Pine and Herschel Bernardi give good support. There is one scene where Edwards is sent to kill a man on life support in a hospital. He sneaks in disguised as a doctor, which is rather ironic, considering future developments in Edwards career.