On M List of Movie Reviews
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Murder by Contract (1958)
Rate:
2
Viewed:
1/25
1/25:
Vince Edwards stinks, and Irving Lerner stinks.
Because Murder by Contract was made before City of Fear, a film I saw
first, I thought the former would be better than the latter, but nope...it's much worse. The description
reads, "Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer." No, he is not; he's just an idiot. At one
point, his handler told Claude to use a gun, and he replied that he didn't believe in firearms. Eventually,
he decided to use a sniper rifle. Some hypocrite Claude is.
One of the two handlers is named Marc. He's the single reason why the movie sucks because he won't
shut...the...hell...up. I was hoping Claude would kill him already. He did, but it's way too late. The
other issue is the script. It's a lot of pointless talking. Just get the job done and move on; who cares
about the philosophies and all that bullshit?
On the last job, Claude decides to waste days (10!) by taking in the sights of Los Angeles and whatever. Finally,
he's ready to go to work before finding out it's a *gasp* woman he has to kill. He's shocked and then demands
a double of the price. No...no...no...get rid of him, and start all over again.
By the time Claude is inside the house, he has her in person. What does he do? Nothing, and he leaves.
Brilliant.
All in all, you can do way better than Murder by Contract by watching
Collateral.