Murder by Contract (1958)

Directed by

Irving Lerner

Genre

drama film, film noir, crime film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 21m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 103 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A cool and detached hit man takes on a contract to kill a woman. The film follows his methodical preparation and the psychological tension of the assignment.

tenseminimalistchillingexistentialbleakstarkmethodicalunsettling

What happens

Murder by Contract is a 1958 American film noir crime film directed by Irving Lerner. Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Ben Maddow did uncredited work on the film. Centering on an existentialist hit man assigned to kill a woman, the film is often praised for its spare style and peculiar sense of cool. The film has exerted an influence on American cinema, most notably on director Martin Scorsese, who famously cited Murder by Contract as "the film that has influenced [him] most." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• The Mugger (1958)
• Touch of Evil (1958)
• I Mobster (1958)
• Never Love a Stranger (1958)
• The Man Who Died Twice (1958)
• Dial M for Murder (1954)
• Screaming Mimi (1958)
• Man with a Gun (1958)