A contract killer (director and co-writer Allen Baron) comes to NY on Christmas Eve to do one last job. He meets an old flame (Molly McCarthy) and a dangerous man (Larry Tucker) and things get out of control.
Very interesting if not totally successful film noir. It's appropriately shot in black and white and uses audio in a very good way to make the Christmas time atmosphere at the beginning seem bleak and miserable. There's also plenty (but not TOO much thankfully) hard-boiled narration that fill us in on what the killer is thinking and/or feeling. It's very well made on a low budget...but that doesn't make it a classic! It moves very slow--even at only 75 minutes and Baron shows no emotion throughout the entire film. Some might say that fits the character but it just comes across to me as bad acting. There are plot holes galore and a music score that never even seems to match whats going on in the picture! It has its points of interest--but a classic? No. I give it a 6.
Very interesting if not totally successful film noir. It's appropriately shot in black and white and uses audio in a very good way to make the Christmas time atmosphere at the beginning seem bleak and miserable. There's also plenty (but not TOO much thankfully) hard-boiled narration that fill us in on what the killer is thinking and/or feeling. It's very well made on a low budget...but that doesn't make it a classic! It moves very slow--even at only 75 minutes and Baron shows no emotion throughout the entire film. Some might say that fits the character but it just comes across to me as bad acting. There are plot holes galore and a music score that never even seems to match whats going on in the picture! It has its points of interest--but a classic? No. I give it a 6.