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Murder By Contract

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1958's "Murder by Contract" is a low-budget but highly effective noir thriller directed by Irving Lerner which tells the story of a cold-blooded killer who's an expert in the field of murder-for-hire. According to film noir author/historian Eddie Muller, certain scenes in this film inspired Martin Scorsese's direction of "Taxi Driver." You'll definitely notice similarities in the scenes of Vince Edwards working out in "Murder by Contract" and Robert De Niro in "Taxi Driver." This movie is often overlooked when historians mention important 1950's noir films, but it's scary realism, excellent performances, and superb direction make it one of the best of the late 50's noir thrillers.

Vince Edwards plays Claude, a man who quits his average job and becomes a freelancing killer-for-hire just so he can earn a hire income. After several assignments, he is given a tough job: kill a heavily-guarded female government witness who's planning to testify against mobsters. When he finds out that the target is a woman, Claude is upset. Not because he's been hired to kill a woman, but because he expects more money for killing women because they're extra "difficult" and not as easy to kill as men. Claude, along with two others, Marc (Phillip Pine) and George (Herschel Bernardi) try their best to kill the witness, but when the planned hit goes wrong, Marc and George try to double-cross Claude. Claude finally sets out on his own to take care of the witness, but killing her will prove to be much more difficult than he thought!

Vince Edwards is chilling as the heartless killer Claude, and Caprice Toriel, playing the female witness Billie Williams, is very convincing as a woman feeling incredible fear for her life, especially once she knows that a hired killer is on her trail. The offbeat guitar music throughout "Murder by Contract" is a little odd but given the nature of the story and setting it somehow seems to work well. Edwards was an exceptional actor who appeared in several notable noir films ("Rogue Cop," "The Night Holds Terror," & "The Killing") before becoming a tv star. "Murder by Contract" is no masterpiece, but it's certainly one of the most underated movies of film noir, and it's highly recommended for any film noir buff's collection.

"It's business. Same as any other business. You murder the competition. Instead of price cutting...throat cutting." -Vince Edwards in Murder by Contract

Martin Scorcese listed this as one of his "Guilty Pleasures" in a late 70s issue of Film Comment, a tough little black and white b-movie about a hit man (played by Vince Edwards pre-Ben Casey) with a conscience. Some of Edwards' getting in shape training scenes were copied by Scorcese in Taxi Driver. While this 1958 movie is very tame by today's standards, you will find this a taut and well-thought out piece. Too bad it hasn't shown up on DVD yet (that I know of!).

It's films like this that keep me lugging two different VHS players with me through life.

I first caught this one in a hotel room late one night. Actually, what caught my attention from across the room was the music -- an amazing minimal jazz guitar score by Perry Botkin consisting mostly of hypnotic guitar loops -- much ahead of its time and an intrinsic component to the overall package. In fact, without the score, I would not have flipped for this film half as much.

Murder by Contract may not be first on the list of Noir Masterpieces, but there is nothing that could have been improved upon within the film itself. The storyline is simple, matched by an economy of dialogue and movement that makes for a lean, clean 80 minute film. No blubber, no chaff. Synopsis: Vince Edwards plays a white collar Joe turned cold-blooded tough, trying to break into the world of contractual homicide as a means of supplementing his modest income. After doing a bunch of calisthenics in his hotel room, he finally gets the call. But he's no cowboy -- he does things at his own pace, and by his own decidedly convoluted methods. Needless to say, he upsets the higher-ups, things start to get hairy, betrayal ensues and people start to get murdered, (The Mechanic, anyone?), but in that always understated way people had of getting murdered in 1958...with class and off-camera.

I read somewhere that Scorcessee loves this film. This made me like Scorcessee all that much more. I wonder if he's watching his print on the same 20 year old VHS cassette put out by GOODTIMES Home Video recorded in LP that I paid too much for.

I'm contributing this review as a bug in the ear of any halfway interested parties who might have the notion to finally release this fine film on DVD. Yes, I am the goon who will pay thirty bucks for it -- preferably something with nice archival-grade packaging and maybe even an isolated film score, as opposed to being sandwiched into one of those 13 HOURS OF NOIR box sets to which so many good titles seem to be relegated.

unless my ears deceive me at least some of the underscore (also including the title theme? i haven't seen the film in years but i think that's the case) for MbC is the same as what you can hear in the 60's TV series "The Beverly Hillbillies", in particular, scenes featuring Ellie Mae. either way i too would like it if a separate soundtrack recording were made available; that guitar really sends me. as for the movie itself, i think it's a fine thriller in what i think of as 'post-noir' (or is there already a legit label for the genre? oh well, i'm no film scholar) an off-beat style that may have started with Kubrick's "The Killing", which also featured Vince Edwards- who IMHO is (was) maybe not in the top level as an actor, but the movie (both of them, actually, and come to that, even "Ben Casey") played to his strengths nicely.

THIS MOVIE WAS SUSPENSEFUL AND KEEPS YOU WANTING TO SEE HOW IT WILL PLAY OUT WITH THE MURDER AND THE ATTEMPED MURDER.
THE MOVIE KEEPS YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT.
YOU SIT THERE WANTING THE BAD PEOPLE TO GET PUNISHED BUT YOU AREN'T SURE OF WHO ACTUALLY DID THE KILLING OR WHO PAID WHOM TO KILL THE PEOPLE.
THE MOVIE IS GREAT. I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE THIS TO ADD TO MY COLLECTION.