Portrait of a Hitman
Portrait of a Hitman
| 11 May 1979 (USA)
Portrait of a Hitman Trailers

A professional hitman is hired to kill a brain surgeon. However, it turns out that not only are he and the surgeon old friends, but they are both in love with the same woman.

Reviews
Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.
Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
John Seal According to IMDb, this film wasn't released until 1984, seven years after its completion. When you watch Portrait of a Hit Man (as the title appears on screen), you'll understand why it sat in the can so long. Jack Palance delivers one of his anguished non-performance performances as Jim Buck, a professional gunman (and amateur painter) hired by Max Andreotti (a svelte Rod Steiger) to rub out Dr. Bob Michaels (Bo Svenson). Problem: Jim and Bob are best buds from way back, and Jim is most reluctant to carry out the hit. There's a ton of navel-gazing, some very boring sex scenes, an embarrassing turn from Richard Roundtree as a Jamaican drug dealer, some Asian wisdom offered by Philip Ahn, and even a brief appearance by legendary singing cowboy Herb Jeffries, who wisely chose to hang up his acting spurs after appearing in this film.
sugarbabe9 What in the world were Jack Palance and Rod Steiger thinking about when they agreed to appear in this film? It is so poorly written and the characters so shallow as to be beyond belief. It reminds me of the really trashy porn movies of the early 70's where plot and character development didn't feature, just the naked flesh. There is no porn here just the lack of plot and every other item that makes for an interesting and enjoyable film. The lack of realism is also evident and all concerned appear to be 'going through the motions' as if paying back some obligation . My vote is 1/10. why oh why did you do it Jack? you can't have been that hard up.
PatBateman23 This movie sounded to me exciting because I like films about hitman and stuff like this. But his film has a boring story and I only watched it half before I fell asleep
Flixer1957 **Possible Spoilers Ahead**Jack Palance as a talented painter/vicious hit-man? Bo Svenson as a brilliant neurosurgeon? The casting is almost as weird as the plot, in which Palance and Svenson are old friends in love with the same woman and Palance has been hired to murder Svenson. Ann Turkel, Rod Steiger and Richard Roundtree are on hand also. Full of flashbacks, occasionally bloody and entertaining in spite of itself. An amusing companion piece to another Palance wonder-work, ONE MAN JURY.