The Hit (1984 film)

Last updated

The Hit
TheHitposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Stephen Frears
Written by Peter Prince
Produced by Jeremy Thomas
Starring John Hurt
Tim Roth
Laura del Sol
Terence Stamp
CinematographyMike Molloy
Edited by Mick Audsley
Music by Paco de Lucía
Title theme:
Roger Waters
Eric Clapton
Production
companies
Distributed by Palace Pictures
Release dates
  • 12 September 1984 (1984-09-12)(Toronto)
  • 8 March 1985 (1985-03-08)(United States)
Running time
98 minutes [1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish
Box office$876,775 [2]

The Hit is a 1984 British road crime film directed by Stephen Frears, and starring John Hurt, Terence Stamp, Laura del Sol and Tim Roth in his film debut. It was Stamp's first starring role in over a decade, and Roth won an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. The title music is provided by Eric Clapton and Roger Waters. [3] Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia performed the soundtrack music. The film was released by The Criterion Collection on DVD in April 2009 and on Blu-ray in October 2020.

Contents

Plot

London gangster Willie Parker gives evidence against his criminal compatriots in return for a very generous offer from the police. As he is led from the witness box at his trial, they begin singing the Vera Lynn song "We'll Meet Again".

Ten years later, Parker lives in a comfortable retirement in Spain. Four Spanish youths kidnap him and deliver him to British hit man Braddock and his sidekick Myron, hired by the kingpin that Parker helped put away. In the course of the kidnapping, the youths run down a Spanish policeman who has been assigned to guard Parker. Three of the youths are killed by a bomb in a briefcase handed to them by Braddock, which they believe contains their payment.

Braddock is a world-weary professional killer while Myron is his perky but volatile young apprentice. Parker quickly adopts a carefree demeanour, later explaining that he's had ten years to accept death as a simple part of life.

Braddock has the key to an apartment in Madrid where the owner is away and orders Myron to drive there. When they walk into the apartment however, they find the place occupied by an acquaintance of the owner. He is Harry, a middle-aged Australian with a young apparently non-English speaking Spanish girlfriend Maggie, who comes home as they are talking. Parker mischievously announces his identity to them, causing Braddock to take the girl with them as insurance. Harry gives them the keys to the owner's white Mercedes which is brought to the underground garage where the group leave their previous car. As they are about to leave, Parker makes a comment that causes Braddock to doubt that Harry will keep quiet and he goes back up to the flat and kills him.

The group head toward the French border intending to reach Paris, where the kingpin against whom Parker testified is apparently awaiting their arrival. All the while, Parker sows seeds of discord between the two hit men. The Spanish police, led by a senior inspector, begin following the trail of bodies.

Stopping at a roadside bar to buy beers, Myron is laughed at by four youths, so he attacks them and then runs for the car. Myron has developed sympathy for Maggie and feels protective of her. Braddock himself has a confrontation with her when they are alone in which she reveals she understands English and also bites his hand, drawing blood, from which he appears to derive some form of masochistic pleasure.

Braddock drives up a track leading to a wood by a river where they can rest up. Leaving Myron with Parker, he takes Maggie with him to get petrol for the car. Maggie tries to alert the station attendant to her plight, forcing Braddock to kill the young man. Braddock chases after the girl but is unable or unwilling to shoot her. They return to find Myron has fallen asleep and allowed Parker to slip away. Braddock finds him gazing at a waterfall. Parker tells him he’s not afraid, that death is just a stage in the journey.

The next day, Braddock stops the car at an isolated hillside ten miles from the border and announces that he has scrapped the plans to go to Paris. He relieves Myron of his gun and flings it into the scrub. Suddenly afraid, Parker insists that he cannot die until he gets to Paris. Braddock shoots him in the back as he flees. He then turns the pistol on Myron and kills him. Maggie surprises him and they wrestle violently. During the struggle, Braddock fires the last shot into the air and knocks Maggie unconscious. He leaves her alive and drives to a secluded spot where he changes into hiking clothes and walks off through the forest.

The police find Maggie and the two bodies. As Braddock attempts to cross the border on foot, Maggie identifies him to the police, who shoot him as he tries to escape. The police attempt to question the dying Braddock, but he only winks at Maggie.

Cast

Reception

At review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating of 89% from 18 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. [4] On Metacritic, The Hit has a rank of 75 out of a 100 based on nine critics. [5]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote about the actors: "These guys don't have to use guns. All they have to do is open their mouths and bore each other to death". [6]

Director Wes Anderson ranked it the fifth best British film. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Suburbia</i> (film) 1983 film by Penelope Spheeris

Suburbia, also known as Rebel Streets and The Wild Side, is a 1983 American coming-of-age drama thriller film written and directed by Penelope Spheeris and produced by Roger Corman. The film's plot concerns a group of suburban youths who run away from home and adopt a punk lifestyle by squatting in abandoned suburban tract homes. The punks are played by Chris Pedersen, Bill Coyne, Timothy Eric O'Brien, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and others.

<i>Eating Raoul</i> 1982 film by Paul Bartel

Eating Raoul is a 1982 American black comedy film written, directed by and starring Paul Bartel with Mary Woronov, Robert Beltran, Ed Begley Jr., Buck Henry, and Susan Saiger. It is about a prudish married couple who resort to killing and robbing affluent swingers to earn money for their dream restaurant.

<i>Sudden Impact</i> 1983 film by Clint Eastwood

Sudden Impact is a 1983 American neo-noir action thriller film, the fourth in the Dirty Harry series, directed, produced by and starring Clint Eastwood and co-starring Sondra Locke. The film tells the story of a gang rape victim (Locke) who decides to seek revenge on her rapists 10 years after the attack by killing them one by one. Inspector Callahan (Eastwood), famous for his unconventional and often brutal crime-fighting tactics, is tasked with tracking down the serial killer.

<i>The Dead Pool</i> 1988 film by Buddy Van Horn

The Dead Pool is a 1988 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Buddy Van Horn, written by Steve Sharon, and starring Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. It is the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry film series and is set in San Francisco, California.

<i>Le Samouraï</i> 1967 neo-noir crime film

Le Samouraï, is a 1967 neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, and Cathy Rosier. A Franco-Italian production, it depicts the intersecting paths of a professional hitman (Delon) trying to find out who hired him for a job and then tried to have him killed, and the Parisian commissaire (Périer) trying to catch him.

<i>See No Evil, Hear No Evil</i> (film) 1989 film by Arthur Hiller

See No Evil, Hear No Evil is a 1989 American thriller comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller. The film stars Richard Pryor as a blind man and Gene Wilder as a deaf man who work together to thwart a trio of murderous thieves. This is the third film featuring Wilder and Pryor, who had appeared previously in the 1976 film Silver Streak and the 1980 film Stir Crazy. The film was released in the United States on May 12, 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Fisk</span> Comics character

Richard Fisk is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #83 and was created by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. He is the son of Wilson Fisk and Vanessa Fisk. Although originally portrayed as a villain, he later became an antihero.

<i>Rivers Edge</i> 1986 film by Tim Hunter

River's Edge is a 1986 American crime drama film directed by Tim Hunter, written by Neal Jimenez, and starring Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye Leitch in her film debut, Daniel Roebuck and Dennis Hopper. It follows a group of teenagers in a Northern California town who are forced to deal with their friend's murder of his girlfriend and the subsequent disposal of her body. Jimenez partially based the script on the 1981 murder of Marcy Renee Conrad in Milpitas, California.

<i>Made in Britain</i> 1982 British film

Made in Britain is a 1982 British television play written by David Leland and directed by Alan Clarke. It follows a 16-year-old racist skinhead and his constant confrontations with authority figures. It was broadcast on ITV on 10 July 1983 as the fourth in an untitled series of works by Leland, based on the British educational system, which subsequently acquired the overall title of Tales Out of School. It marked Tim Roth's television debut.

<i>Keeping Mum</i> 2005 British comedy film by Niall Johnson

Keeping Mum is a 2005 British black comedy film co written and directed by Niall Johnson and starring Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze. It was produced by Isle of Man Film, Azure Films and Tusk Productions, and was released in the United Kingdom on 2 December 2005, by Summit Entertainment.

<i>Wise Blood</i> (film) 1979 film by John Huston

Wise Blood is a 1979 black comedy drama film directed by John Huston and starring Brad Dourif, Dan Shor, Amy Wright, Harry Dean Stanton, and Ned Beatty. It is based on the 1952 novel Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor. As a co-production with Germany the film was titled Der Ketzer or Die Weisheit des Blutes when released in Germany, and Le Malin when released in France.

<i>A Small Town in Texas</i> 1976 film by Jack Starrett

A Small Town in Texas is a 1976 action film directed by Jack Starrett and starring Bo Hopkins, Susan George, and Timothy Bottoms. It was filmed in Lockhart, Texas.

<i>The Client</i> (1994 film) 1994 American legal thriller film directed by Joel Schumacher

The Client is a 1994 American legal thriller film directed by Joel Schumacher, and starring Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Renfro, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia, Anthony Edwards, and Ossie Davis. It is based on the 1993 novel by John Grisham. It was filmed in Memphis, Tennessee.

<i>The Late Show</i> (film) 1977 film by Robert Benton

The Late Show is a 1977 American neo-noir mystery film written and directed by Robert Benton and produced by Robert Altman. It stars Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, Bill Macy, Eugene Roche, and Joanna Cassidy.

<i>Walking Tall: Final Chapter</i> 1977 film by Jack Starrett

Walking Tall: Final Chapter is the third installment of the Walking Tall film series. The film was directed by Jack Starrett. It opened in the U.S. on June 17, 1977; its on-screen title is Final Chapter: Walking Tall. All Walking Tall films were shot in Chester and Madison Counties, Tennessee; Buford Pusser was sheriff of McNairy County.

<i>The Mind of Mr. Soames</i> 1970 British film

The Mind of Mr. Soames is a 1970 British-American sci-fi–drama film directed by Alan Cooke and starring Terence Stamp, Robert Vaughn and Nigel Davenport about a man who awakens from a 30-year coma with an immature brain. The film is based on Charles Eric Maine's 1961 novel of the same name.

<i>Blue</i> (1968 film) 1968 film by Silvio Narizzano

Blue is a 1968 American Western film directed by Silvio Narizzano and starring Terence Stamp, Joanna Pettet, Karl Malden, Ricardo Montalbán, and Stathis Giallelis. The film was made in Panavision anamorphic and released by Paramount Pictures on May 10, 1968.

<i>The Con Is On</i> 2018 film

The Con Is On is a 2018 heist comedy film directed by James Oakley and co-written by Alex Michaelides and Oakley. The film stars Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Alice Eve, Sofía Vergara and Maggie Q.

References

  1. ↑ "The Hit (18)". British Board of Film Classification . 25 June 1984. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  2. ↑ "The Hit". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  3. ↑ Holger Kaminski. "Pink Floyd a Tree Full of Secrets: The definitive Pink Floyd rarities compilation – Volume 6 (CD11 – CD12) Soundtracks 1970 – 1988". Hokafloyd.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  4. ↑ "The Hit". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  5. ↑ "The Hit (1984)". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  6. ↑ Canby, Vincent (8 March 1985). "Screen: Terrence Stamp in 'The Hit'". The New York Times . p. 18.
  7. ↑ "100 Best British Film Contributors: Directors". Time Out . 17 February 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.