This is a film that belongs both in a museum and in a time capsule as a time machine back to the New York City of the early 1960s. Reminding me of the John Cassavetes film "Shadows" and other independently made films of the era on a very small budget with only a camera and a dream, this dragged me in instantly with the new wave style overwhelming, the direction and writing of star Allen Baron respectable and unique, and the narration of the then blacklisted Lionel Stander truly creating a mood. Certainly, Baron is not a trained actor, but he's put together something so artful that it's obvious that people are going to either love it or hate it and I am one of the former, with great respect to those of the later.
Brought in from Cleveland to perform a hit on a mob boss, he stalks his prey all over New York city, following him from Staten Island into East Harlem and back into midtown where the Christmas holidays have Rockefeller Center lit up and the spirit for everybody else but him quite merry. He tries to relax but hates parties, is a brute with his not quite willing instant girlfriend, an obvious pick-up, and his moods definitely impacted by the knowledge that he may not survive this.
The camera is as much of a character as Baron and the other mostly non-professional actors, and Stander, so recalled by me as the tough body guard for Gary Cooper in "Mr. Deeds goes to Town" and later as a lovable ex-con Max working for the Harts on the successful '80s TV mystery series. This really gives a glimpse into the cultural atmosphere of New York at the time, with some of the characters so crude in their appearance and mannerisms that they become like ghosts of the time captured forever on celluloid.
This is the New York City I feel late at night walking through midtown, so quiet yet echoing of past nights going back over a hundred years. Jazz enthusiasts will love the soundtrack. There's no empathy for the leading character, but by the end of the movie, he has become another one of those ghosts. This is art at its most real, and the kind that didn't need a multi-million dollar budget to get that adjective.
Brought in from Cleveland to perform a hit on a mob boss, he stalks his prey all over New York city, following him from Staten Island into East Harlem and back into midtown where the Christmas holidays have Rockefeller Center lit up and the spirit for everybody else but him quite merry. He tries to relax but hates parties, is a brute with his not quite willing instant girlfriend, an obvious pick-up, and his moods definitely impacted by the knowledge that he may not survive this.
The camera is as much of a character as Baron and the other mostly non-professional actors, and Stander, so recalled by me as the tough body guard for Gary Cooper in "Mr. Deeds goes to Town" and later as a lovable ex-con Max working for the Harts on the successful '80s TV mystery series. This really gives a glimpse into the cultural atmosphere of New York at the time, with some of the characters so crude in their appearance and mannerisms that they become like ghosts of the time captured forever on celluloid.
This is the New York City I feel late at night walking through midtown, so quiet yet echoing of past nights going back over a hundred years. Jazz enthusiasts will love the soundtrack. There's no empathy for the leading character, but by the end of the movie, he has become another one of those ghosts. This is art at its most real, and the kind that didn't need a multi-million dollar budget to get that adjective.