‘Murder by Contract’ or — The Logical Lethality of The American Dream?
(No spoilers)
Claude wants a house. This house costs $28,000. Claude’s got a decent job but it’ll take him 25 years to save that much and he wants that house now. This is why Claude decides to become a hitman.
Claude is given some jobs by a certain Mr. Brinks, which Claude carries out with startling efficiency. Claude never uses a gun. Claude uses his mind. Soon Claude is given a high profile job with a huge payout — kill the key witness for an important trial. The witness, a certain Billie Williams, is under tight security at their heavily guarded home. Billie never comes to the door. All Billie does is watch TV. No one can get to Billie.
To make matters worse Claude’s handlers, George and Marc, keep reminding Claude he’s only got two weeks to carry out the hit. George and Marc are nervous. It’s their skin too if the Claude fails and time is running out. So why the hell is Claude wanting to go sunbathing and deep sea fishing instead of planning the job? It’s almost as though this Claude is some sort of cold, monstrous psychopath on vacation! He must have a plan… but what is it? And does Claude even know himself?
Watch ‘Murder by Contract’ and find out!
Okay, I’ll simply state up front that ‘Murder by Contract’ (1957) is absolutely phenomenal. It was a huge influence on Martin Scorsese and you can see why, the scenes of Travis Bickle in ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) and ‘Cape Fear’s (1991) Max Cady working out in their rooms lifted straight from this thriller, as well the fact ‘Murder by Contract’ is an examination of the violent male. But there’s a whole lot more than just that going on here.
Perry Botkin’s purely guitar soundtrack evokes a similar sonic atmosphere to ‘The Third Man’ (1949) as well as emphasising the isolated and solo nature of Claude’s life and work. There’s also an aspect of ‘Murder by Contract’ that evokes Melville’s ‘Le Cercle Rouge’ (1970), especially during a scene where there’s a test of skilled marksmanship and a stylised, circular target. ‘Murder by Contract’ also has some of that cool Melville style wrapped about it too and with director Irving Lerner pulling off some seriously impressive shots (there’s one involving an airplane and a giant golf ball that’s just great).
Yet this isn’t an action film as such with the primary focus firmly on Claude and his relationship to his handlers. At times we feel like we’re simply killing time, as opposed to witnesses, with these guys only to discover that Claude has a reason for his odd behaviour all along. This Claude guy is weird but he’s got brains, even if George and Marc can’t figure them out. These are three clearly defined characters with distinct ways of speaking, three guys trying to figure each other out as well as how to pull off the impossible.
Claude’s ideas are pretty outrageous, but super fun, when they’re revealed. This might be a film shot on location and with a stripped back, realistic look but it’s also ridiculously excessive with some of its ideas. In fact, the entire film is pretty outrageous.
There’s one inspired moment in particular, which I won’t spoil, when ‘Murder by Contract’ looks like it might potentially explode and go completely, and gloriously, off the rails. I found myself sitting there thinking that if the film actually did what it was hinting it was going to do then I could be on the cusp of witnessing one of the craziest films ever made. To be less coy, it reminded me of ‘Thunderbolt and Lightfoot’ (1974) where the solution to a difficult job is an increase in artillery power. It’s about overkill. ‘Murder by Contract’ toys with this but reigns it in, not quite “going there”, pulling it all back to a more intimate affair. But it’s a fleeting rush of intoxicating brilliance that the movie even plays with the proposed idea as well as opening out the thematic nature of the film.
This allows the script to then start dealing with some very interesting subject matters, specifically in relation to proportionality in war and the psychopathic nature of America foreign policy. In fact, psychopathology is running throughout ‘Murder by Contract’. After all, Claude has a dream and all he has to do is kill to achieve it.
And Claude is a stone cold psychopath. At one point he commits an incredibly violent off-screen killing by lead piping that’s all in the imagination and all the more horrifying for it being there as opposed to outside our heads. George might be impressed by some of Claude’s views on society, killing and survival but George is an idiot. Oh, and if you think Claude’s views on society are fucked up then that’s nothing compared to his views on women! Oddly enough, it’s all this that provides ‘Murder by Contract’ with its humour (this is, at times, a very funny movie) with Claude’s clinically savage nature mined for some real satirical swipes.
‘Murder by Contract’ is a genuinely excellent, cleverly written, smartly directed, well acted thriller that’s really pretty unique as well as being extremely exciting and entertaining. The sound design is sophisticated (a ticking clock metronoming along to the score at one point is nice) and the idiosyncratic soundtrack perfectly binds and knits all the various elements together, as well as adding a cool vibe to the crisp visuals.
‘Murder by Contract’ is about a hitman, it’s about murder and how it is carried out but most of all it’s about dreams that can kill you because in the land of the free nothing need stand in the way of aspiration. Unless the dream is a lie and, for some, that’s even more terrifying than death itself.
