Mondo pioneer Franco Prosperi proved himself a more than capable director of narrative cinema with this intriguing suspense feature. Robert Webber stars as Clint Harris, a morose, high-paid New York hit-man sent on assignment to Paris to locate and eliminate the mysterious Frank Secchy, who's making a move on Manhattan's criminal underworld and was also responsible for the murder of Clint's brother. Compelled by his boss (Cec Linder, the original Felix Leiter from Goldfinger) to take along deadweight sidekick Tony Lo Bello (a very young looking Franco Nero), Clint runs into trouble with a heroin-addicted woman who holds the key to Secchy's whereabouts. There's lots of shooting, some great Big Apple location footage for the first couple of reels, a fine score by Robby Poiteven, a twist ending, and even a night club scene where Take A Heart, the great freakbeat anthem by The Sorrows, plays out in its entirety. The film is decent in a washed-out, pan and scan print, so I imagine it would look great on disc. Here's hoping.
Review of The Hired Killer
