This Gun for Hire (1991) (TV)

Director:

Lou Antonio

Writers (WGA):

Graham Greene (novel)
N.D. Schreiner (teleplay)

Release Date:

9 January 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

A killer for hire named Raven kills his target. However, he believes that he was just killing an ordinary person...

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Assassin | Remake | Based On Novel

Cast

Patrik Baldauff	...	Spicer
Lenore Banks	...	Mrs. Acky
James Borders	...	Bridge Cop
Dean Cochran	...	Larry
David Dahlgren	...	FBI Agent
Margaret Dubuisson	...	Anchorwoman
Robert Earle	...	Acky
Nancy Everhard	...	Anne
Ron Flagge	...	FBI Agent
Leslie Fortenberry	...	Callgirl
Larry Gamell Jr.	...	Marvin
John Harkins	...	Boynton
C. Robert Holloway	...	Harald
George Jones	...	Anchorman
Danny Kamin	...	Senator Laughton (as Daniel Tucker Kamin)
Eliott Keener	...	Tiny
Fredric Lehne	...	Mather
Fred Lerner	...	Officer Conroy
Kristina Loggia	...	Cynthia
John McConnell	...	Lt. Leoville
Soline McLain	...	Little Girl
Taylor Simpson	...	Louise Flanner
Marco St. John	...	Tom Scott
Carol Sutton	...	Guard
Robert Wagner	...	'Raven'
Joe Warfield	...	Mr. Souverain

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

MTE

Movie Connections:

Version of Short Cut to Hell (1957)

A Surprise: This Is A Good Re-Make

This re-make of the 1942 Alan Ladd-Veronica Lake film noir was surprisingly good. Unlike the original, it had color but it still had a good film noir feel, look and sound to it. The story had a few moralistic holes in it, but nothing big enough to ruin the film.

Robert Wagner was great to watch as the hit-man "Raven," actually more interesting than Ladd who played the same role. Wagner played the character accurately: a grim, no-smile kind of guy. Wagner, as people have seen in the popular Austin Powers movies, is not the young, slim, pretty boy most of us remember from the later classic movie era and that was good for this role. A few lines on his face made him more believable.

The film also had very little profanity, almost like an older made-for-TV film, yet it had its share of nudity so it maybe it was made for cable-TV. Don't look for a bunch of big name actors in this film. The rest of main characters are played by Nancy Everhard, Frederic Lehne and John Harkins.

At any rate, I enjoyed this and would like to see more of these updated 40s film noirs if they are done as well as this one.