Kinda heavy on the blast, light on the silence, wouldn't you say? In other words, between the unrelenting, superfluous narration (penned by blacklisted Waldo Salt under a pseudonym and spoken by blacklisted Lionel Stander sans credit) and the noisome jazz score that just wouldn't stop wailing, banging and bopping I'm surprised I didn't develop a goddamn migraine. Also less than stellar were the two lead performers, Allen Baron and Molly McCarthy, although, to be fair, it wasn't as if Baron's screenplay gave them much to work with which is, aside from the cacophanous music, the most annoying thing about this "cult classic". The narration won't shut up and the characters, when they do speak, have little of interest to say.
So why a 7/10 'stead of a 5 or 6? Simple. Some of the best bleak, wintertime NYC cinematography until "French Connection" came along. And like Friedkin's non cult classic I love that it's perversely shot at Christmas. Kudos to DP Merrill Brody. Also, being a low budget/indie, along with the usual crappy acting and stiff set ups, you get stuff that more expensive studio productions would avoid, like shooting the ending in an actual friggin HURRICANE! Awesome. And, finally, there is no denying the power of the violent scenes, like the strangulation of a rat who keeps pet rats (an oleaginously wonderful Larry Tucker in the film's only decent acting turn) and the hit on a low level Mafioso, killed while on his way to an assignation carrying a teddy bear. It is in these scenes that Allen Baron shows his skills as a director and partially atones for the dull stuff with him and McCarthy and too artsy stuff like an endless shot of a hit man on an empty city street walking toward and then into the camera.
Bottom Line: Good first film from Baron. Comparable in overall quality to "Killer's Kiss".
Grade: B minus.
So why a 7/10 'stead of a 5 or 6? Simple. Some of the best bleak, wintertime NYC cinematography until "French Connection" came along. And like Friedkin's non cult classic I love that it's perversely shot at Christmas. Kudos to DP Merrill Brody. Also, being a low budget/indie, along with the usual crappy acting and stiff set ups, you get stuff that more expensive studio productions would avoid, like shooting the ending in an actual friggin HURRICANE! Awesome. And, finally, there is no denying the power of the violent scenes, like the strangulation of a rat who keeps pet rats (an oleaginously wonderful Larry Tucker in the film's only decent acting turn) and the hit on a low level Mafioso, killed while on his way to an assignation carrying a teddy bear. It is in these scenes that Allen Baron shows his skills as a director and partially atones for the dull stuff with him and McCarthy and too artsy stuff like an endless shot of a hit man on an empty city street walking toward and then into the camera.
Bottom Line: Good first film from Baron. Comparable in overall quality to "Killer's Kiss".
Grade: B minus.