Murder by Contract

"Double rates for women... because a woman is always double-trouble!"

1958 1h 21m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★6.8TMDB · 105🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes★7.2IMDB · 5,273

ThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer. His next target, a woman, is the most difficult.

“Double rates for women... because a woman is always double-trouble!”

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Cast

Vince Edwards
Claude
Phillip Pine
Marc
Herschel Bernardi
George
Caprice Toriel
Billie Williams
Michael Granger
Mr. Moon
Kathie Browne
Mary
Joseph Mell
Harry
Frances Osborne
Miss Wiley

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Irving Lerner
Writers: Ben Maddow, Ben Simcoe
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

81 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

68 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Irving Lerner, shot by Lucien Ballard. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Perry Botkin Sr.. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Carlo Lodato shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Vince Edwards and Phillip Pine and Herschel Bernardi carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Double rates for women... because a woman is always double-trouble!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0051959 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Irving Lerner directs. Lucien Ballard behind the camera. Perry Botkin Sr. scores. Carlo Lodato cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

181 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
268 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Irving Lerner, shot by Lucien Ballard. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Perry Botkin Sr.. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Carlo Lodato shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Vince Edwards and Phillip Pine and Herschel Bernardi carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Double rates for women... because a woman is always double-trouble!".
8IMDB entry: tt0051959 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Original score: Perry Botkin Sr.
Editing: Carlo Lodato
Makeup / hair: Ted Larsen
Runtime: 81 min · 1h 21m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Murder by Contract (1958)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 5,273 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

1 nomination total

Also by

Irving Lerner

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-06-03
★ 8/10
It's tough to kill someone who's not dependable. Murder by Contract is directed by Irving Lerner and written by Ben Simcoe. It stars Vince Edwards, Philip Pine, Michael Granger, Caprice Toriel and Herschel Bernardi. Music is by Perry Botkin and cinematography by Lucien Ballard. Claude (Edwards) one day decides he's had enough of being a regular Joe earning regular Joe wages. He decides to become a hit man, and after enacting a few clinical kills he works his way into the confidence of the mysterious Mr. Brink. This earns him a "big hit" in Los Angeles, where he is to snuff out the main witness in a big upcoming trial. All is going well until he finds out the target is a woman, so where once Claude was calm and assured, he now becomes irritable and irked... With the help of its appearance on the Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics DVD set, and a certain Martin Scorsese proclaiming it as one of the biggest influences on his career, Murder by Contract is getting the exposure it so dearly deserves. An odd, even kooky type of noir flavoured picture, it's a film that is like many of the late 50s film noirs that don't have the classic noir look. It's light, airy and set predominantly on the salty sea climes of the West Coast of America. It's with the characters, or in this case mainly the central character, where many of these "lighter" shot 50s crime movies get their noir worth. And Murder by Contract is a beaut in that respect. He doesn't like guns! For two parts of the running time it's a film oozing a sense of cool. Claude proves to be a calm and methodical protagonist, his dialogue sparkles with intelligence and sophistication, he knows the world and his place within it. Words like existentialism and spare, the latter of which Scorsese uses a lot, are words bandied about frequently in conjunction with Lerner's (City of Fear) movie. Those words signify how much of a great job Lerner and Ballard did, where shot in 7 days with a minimal budget they have crafted a picture of unique quality, where maximum impact is garnered from such minimal space and sequences. Perry Botkin's score also aids the oddness on offer, predominantly electric guitar based, it's a fusion of The Third Man and Zorba the Greek, unsettling and at odds with a hit man based yarn, yet sneakily putting a sense of disquiet into the mix. I don't like pigs! It's with the last third where film really comes alive, both physically and psychologically. Once Claude gets to Los Angeles and hooks up with Mr. Brink's men, Marc (Pine) & George (Bernardi), who are babysitting him while he enacts the hit, things change drastically. Marc and George are in turn fascinated and irritated by Claude's calmness, tagging along as Claude takes in the sights, gets a bit of R&R and generally chills out. But then it's revealed that the target is a woman and Claude changes, he become unglued. He tells all that a woman is not dependable, he wants double the money or he's not doing it. It's then where we realise there's Freudian repressions lurking underneath the once icy calm exterior. We recall his outburst upon finding lipstick on a cup, his irritation at the party girl sent to his room for company, again lipstick an issue. There's emotional scars and these are further given a scrape during the finale as Claude desperately tries to finish the job, his repressions leading to classic film noir closure. A terrific little "B" noir, excellently constructed and acted, with dashes of uniqueness and sly characterisations. 8.5/10
CinemaSerf2024-10-25
★ 7/10
I can't help but think this could have been so much better if only someone had taken a razor blade to the soundtrack. It's repetitive nature really annoyed me after about ten minutes. The story, though, is quite quirky and really centres around just three characters. "Claude" (Vince Edwards) is a contract killer - and an extremely efficient one - and his two minders who are supposed to liaise with their "chief" and sort out the logistics. All is going well until the latest target - a woman, a witness in an huge crime case - unsettles our otherwise meticulous and unshakable killer. Regrettably, this has been made on a shoestring with a tight turnaround, so we get little - if any - time to play any mind games with our assassin; what is it about killing a woman that troubles him? She's a relatively easy mark - even if she is guarded by the police 24 hours. The end of the film, therefore, feels just a bit rushed and thought there is a clear conclusion, it could have been much better developed and complete. Still, for what it is, it takes quite an innovative approach to a standard plot line and Edwards makes the whole thing certainly worth a watch.