Product Details

• Actors: Allen Baron, Molly McCarthy, Larry Tucker, Peter H. Clune, Danny Meehan
• Directors: Allen Baron
• Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Criterion Collection
• DVD Release Date: April 15, 2008
• Run Time: 77 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0012Z363A
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #49,087 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Blast of Silence - Criterion Collection" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Somewhere between film noir and The Sopranos lies Blast of Silence, a concise, compelling psychological portrait of a low-level hit-man, shot in 1961 on a shoestring budget with New York City grit. This is the sort of movie, unique but out of sync with its time, that Criterion practically exists to rescue. Accompanied by an avant-jazz soundtrack and hard-boiled Beat narration from the gloriously gravel-voiced Lionel Stander, the blue-collar assassin wanders through the city at Christmastime, revolted by human contact but sucker enough to think a girl he once knew might redeem him. Writer/director Allen Baron stepped into the lead role when he lost Peter Falk; while he's certainly not as expressive an actor, his face has an uncomfortable mixture of yearning and defensiveness that suits the character to a T. Stylishly framed images and sharp, staccato editing, combined with the almost documentary feel of the performances and settings, wrap the entire movie in an alienated tension. This being a Criterion release, it's got fantastic extras: A relaxed interview with the chatty, garrulous Baron, which is combined with a short documentary from 1990 in which Baron went back to all the locations used in Blast of Silence and reminisced; Polaroid photos from the set that look like lost Weegee photographs; a loving essay by critic Terrence Rafferty; and more. But the movie doesn't need any of this to make its mark--it's an American classic, as crucial to the launch of independent film as Cassavetes. Highly recommended. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

Swift, brutal, and black-hearted, Allen Baron s New York City noir Blast of Silence is a sensational surprise. This low-budget, carefully crafted portrait of a hit man on assignment in Manhattan during Christmastime follows its stripped-down narrative with mechanical precision, yet also with an eye and ear for the oddball idiosyncrasies of urban living and the imposing beauty of the city s locations. At once visually ragged and artfully composed, and featuring rough, poetic narration by Lionel Stander, Blast of Silence is a stylish triumph.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

New, restored digital transfer

Requiem for a Killer: The Making of Blast of Silence (2007)

Rare on-set Polaroids

Locations revisited in 2008

Trailer

PLUS: An essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty and a four-page graphic-novel adaptation of the film by award-winning artist Sean Phillips

(Criminal, Sleeper, Batman: Jekyll & Hyde)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cool 'Blast' from the past., February 21, 2008

By	G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"You were born with hate, and anger built it. Took a slap on the backside to blast out the scream. And then you knew you were alive."

Allen Baron spent most of his career directing television dross like The Dukes of Hazzard and Charlie's Angels--35 years of it, to be exact. (To be fair to Baron, he also directed two series I must confess I liked back in the day, The Brady Bunch and Night Gallery.) But in 1961 he made this one really cool noir film, Blast of Silence, a film that will appeal to anyone who likes the early NYC work of Cassavettes (Shadows) or Scorsese (Who's That Knocking at My Door?). Shot in gritty black and white on the streets of Manhattan, this dark, low-budget crime/thriller tells the story (through a pulp-poetic interior monologue performed by blacklisted Lionel Stander) of a professional hit man, not-so-handsome Frankie Bono (played by Allen Baron himself), suffering from a severe case of existential malaise. With Christmas approaching, he is hired to whack a "second-string syndicate boss" lacking ambition. While plotting the assassination, Bono is recognized by an old friend from the orphanage, whose happily-married domestic existence forces Bono to confront his own solitary life. (His hands sweat in the company of other people.) The 77-minute film has an edgy, ragged, beat quality, with a hip jazz score. The Criterion edition features a newly restored digital transfer, "Requiem for a Killer: The Making of Blast of Silence," on-set Polaroids, and a booklet featuring an essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty and a four-page graphic-novel adaptation of the film by acclaimed artist Sean Phillips (Criminal, Sleeper, Marvel Zombies). I am truly amazed Blast of Silence has not achieved classic cult-film status. Blast of Silence is 77 minutes of time well spent in noir at its best.

G. Merritt

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Original" is a Vast Understatement, April 28, 2008

By	Marilyn Jones (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This movie was not like any other I have ever seen, but I haven't seen them all and I haven't seen all of Cassavetes' work, which keeps being mentioned in connection with it. Dated? Not to me unless you are referring to the Village Gate scene and I prefer to call that "period" rather than "dated."

I'd recommend this movie to anyone who happens to be reading about it--you are obviously interested in noirs and this, for being a little past the noir period, is about as noir as you can get. Unforgettable, too.

The extras on the DVD were terrific. Wish that Criterion Collection movies weren't so expensive, but I must admit they are worth it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ALLEN BARON, OPUS 1, April 28, 2008

By	wdanthemanw "wdanthemanw" (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

**** 1961. Written and directed by Allen Baron. Frank Bono, a hitman, arrives in NYC in order to kill the mobster Troiano. While he's carefully preparing the hit, he meets Lorrie, a girl he knew when he was at the orphanage. I sincerely admit that I hadn't heard of this motion picture before last night and wouldn't have had the curiosity to take a look at it if a different collection than Criterion had released it. I simply had confidence in the team who already made me discover such great movies as Sidney Gilliat's Green for Danger - Criterion Collection or Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls - Criterion Collection. In short, BLAST OF SILENCE is a film noir that deserves to be rediscovered. Far away from the Hollywood dream machine, Allen Barron shot a realistic film noir whose mood can be compared to the films of Jules Dassin of the late 40's or the first motion pictures of the French New wave. Highly recommended.