Murder by Contract

1958 "Double rates for women... because a woman is always double-trouble!"
7.3| 1h21m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 18 December 1958 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer. His next target, a woman, is the most difficult.

Genre

Thriller, Crime

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Director

Irving Lerner

Production Companies

Columbia Pictures

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Murder by Contract Audience Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life
Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
JKlein9823 This is an effective, enjoyable low budget crime film shot in 6 days. It is carried by the handsome and charismatic Vince Edwards, in a role before he achieved TV stardom as Dr. Ben Casey in the early 1960s. I came across this completely at random on YouTube and it was a pleasant surprise. This is the type of B-movie that thrived on the youth-oriented, highly profitable drive-in movie circuit. I recommend this.
moonspinner55 Hit man in Ohio (Vince Edwards) is flown to Los Angeles for his next assignment, and is momentarily rattled to find his next 'hit' is a woman. Tense, low-budget drama from director Irving Lerner (formerly an editor) and screenwriter Ben Simcoe was finished in just over a week, yet it has a sharp visual style that catches one off-guard, also a crisp, clear look courtesy of cinematographer Lucien Ballard. Edwards, swaggering with self-confidence, is well up to the acting challenge of portraying a killer-for-hire with no conscience, though his enigmatic early scenes working for Michael Granger's slightly-skeptical Mr. Moon are the film's strongest moments. Once the action moves to the California coast, the movie becomes a bit more conventional. Composer Perry Botkin contributes a deceptively simple but memorable theme. **1/2 from ****
blanche-2 Martin Scorsese claims this film was an influence on his work."Murder by Contract" is a low-budget film from 1958 starring Vince Edwards. Edwards, known to us baby boomers as Ben Casey, had a particular look and quality that for a time served him well. He looked and talked like a tough guy. Here he's a guy who wants to make a lot of money and knows he can, given the right opportunity. He becomes a hit man, considering himself smart and detached enough to carry out any hit.After a few hits, his boss assigns him to a biggie in LA. There he has two underlings attached to him. He drives one of them nuts, as he seems in no hurry to learn anything at all about the assignment, content to look at the sites. Finally he says he's ready for the details.One thing no one had told him -- his hit is a woman who in a matter of days has to testify against his boss. Her house is surrounded by police, and she's guarded inside the house as well.The tough guy shows some vulnerability. He can't do it, he says. Women are too unpredictable. He says he wants more money, double in fact.Interesting crime drama. I have to say, it might have been better with another actor with more of a range in the lead. I think a smoothness and maybe a charm was called for that Edwards lacked. Just my opinion. The story is a cut above the usual routine B movies, though, and worth checking out. Also, it was shot in seven days -- given the shooting schedule, it's remarkable.
dougdoepke This seven day wonder holds up pretty well considering how much tougher crime films have become since the demise of Hollywood's Production Code. Claude (Edwards) is one self- assured tough cookie, a killer with a philosophical bent. All in all, he's a rare bird, a Zen artist practicing the rare art of assassination. He does things his way or not at all, a stylish loner among a crowd of inferiors. Plus, with a name like "Claude" he better be good. But now he's got to take out a nervous woman in a hillside house surrounded by cops, and that presents him with a real challenge. Worse, his two local contacts, Marc and George, aren't much help. In fact all Marc (Pine) can do is whine since he's never been exposed to a Zen master like Claude. So, it's quite a contest, the ultimate in contract killers versus the LAPD, 1950's style. My one gripe is with the unimaginative ending. Given Claude's unique character, something more ironical than a commonplace shootout is needed, drainpipe or not.Edwards is excellent as the assassin, an icy exterior on top of an icy interior. Too bad Pine overdoes his loudmouth skeptic bit; you just know he'll get his, and it can't be too soon. On the other hand, is Bernardi as George, just then coming off the Hollywood blacklist, and fine as Marc's quiet counterpart. But my money's on kittenish Kathie Browne—what a dish. Note how the Code makes her Claude's dinner companion, and God forbid, not his bed companion, even when she's clearly a part-time call girl.But there's one scene that has stayed with me over the years. The fastidious Claude gets served a dirty cup on his breakfast tray at a hotel. Being the perfectionist he is, he berates the luckless waiter who's served it. Now, catch Joe Mell as the Bassett-faced waiter. He stands there with a single, dullish expression unlike any other I've seen. It's a perfect contrast in intelligence that each plays to the hilt. Note too, how even Claude is finally moved by the waiter's dull wits, giving him a five-dollar tip!Anyway, the film's a B-movie sleeper if there ever was one. Lerner directs writer Simcoe's tight little screenplay with flair and efficiency. I love obscure little triumphs like this, especially when contrasted with Hollywood's many overblown epics that are too often a waste of film. But certainly not this little gem.