Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

seymourblack-1 The visual style of this late-1950s crime thriller is typical of the period as it makes extensive use of outdoor locations, sets a great deal of its action in bright daylight and places the emphasis strongly on grittiness and realism. Less typical though, is its rather jaunty score and offbeat humour which play along with its observations on how closely the behaviour of a contract killer reflects the attitudes of the society from which he's emerged.After attending a job interview with Mr Moon (Michael Granger) and passing a test to prove that he has the necessary personal qualities, a young man named Claude (Vince Edwards) is hired as a contract killer. The well-educated, well-groomed and self-disciplined operative soon distinguishes himself by efficiently eliminating a couple of targets in Manhattan before stabbing Moon to death on the orders of the unseen Mr Brink, who's Moon's boss.Claude is an ambitious person whose desire to purchase a house adjacent to the Ohio River motivated him to abandon his secure, well-paid job so that he could earn the kind of money that would enable him to pay off his mortgage much sooner than would ever be possible if he'd remained in any more conventional form of employment. At $500 per hit, he's soon making the kind of progress he wants and is also given an opportunity to earn even more when he's sent to California to eliminate a key witness in a mob trial.In California he's met by Marc (Phillip Pine) and George (Herschel Bernardi) who also work for Brink. They're surprised by his relaxed attitude to his work and preference to go sightseeing before completing his contract. After giving himself sufficient time to be sure that his handlers aren't being followed, the ultra-confident and highly-professional hit-man checks out the property in which his target lives. He immediately recognises that this job will be challenging when he sees that the house is heavily guarded by police officers but things get even worse when he realises that the witness is a woman.He thinks that women present a special problem because they're not dependable and believes that he should be paid double his agreed fee for killing her. Unfortunately, however, he's left with no alternative but to proceed when he realises that, if he demands more money or doesn't fulfil his contract, he too will be guaranteed to be killed. Some shocking and dramatic developments then follow as Claude attempts to complete his mission whilst also becoming progressively more and more unstable.This movie's plot unfolds in a style that's lean, fast-moving and very direct. It's obviously a very low budget offering and does a great job of being entertaining and intriguing whilst also making some interesting points along the way. With consistently good performances from its talented cast and Vince Edwards outstanding as the cold-blooded hit-man who has a problem with his attitude to women, "Murder By Contract" is riveting to watch and definitely one that's not to be missed..

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.

J. Spurlin Claude (Vince Edwards) 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.This quirky crime film has the usual symptoms of a low budget and a tight shooting schedule: some poorly written scenes, poorly acted scenes and plot holes. But much of it works very well, especially the opening sequences depicting Claude's unusual job interview and his initial series of hits. I especially liked how the barber shop murder was handled. Vince Edwards is good in the lead, though he's better when he's not forced to mouth pretentious monologues that lay on the irony a bit too thick. (At one point I was reminded of Charlie Chaplin's fatuous comments about murderers versus soldiers in "Monsieur Verdoux.") The spare electric guitar score is effective. It's worth watching, especially since Martin Scorsese has acknowledged it as an influence on his films, notably "Taxi Driver."

antcol8 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.