Murder By Contract (1958)

My favourite moment in Murder By Contract (1958) was when Claude (Vince Edwards), the cool out-of-town contract killer wearing a suit and a pair of shades, is picked up by two hoods (Philip Pine and Herschel Bernadi) who will oversee his assassination of a jury witness. Claude wants to tour the sights of LA. “I’d […]

Battles Without Honor And Humanity (1973)

Taking up Lewis Rice O’Donnell’s strong recommendation, I was looking forward to experiencing the Yakuza Papers series of films. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku (of Battle Royale and Doberman Cop), Battles Without Honor And Humanity (1973; Jingi Naki Tatakai) is the first film, which follows the journey of ex-soldier Shozo Hirono (played by Bunta Sugawara) and […]

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965)

Richard Burton is perfectly dour and weary in the title role of the John Le Carre adaptation, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965). Shot in black and white by cinematographer Oswald Morris and directed by Martin Ritt (who made Hud and Hombre), the film is set during the Cold War and follows […]

La Caza (1966)

I took another chance on a film screening on The Cinephobe TV website. La Caza (1966) aka The Hunt was directed by Carlos Saura, a major Spanish director whose work I was generally not familiar with except for seeing one of his late-1980s flamenco movies (El Amor Brujo), which are gorgeously visual with bold colours. […]

Stray Dog (1949)

In Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog (1949; Nora inu), a young Toshiro Mifune plays a rookie detective named Murakami who feels shame and twists himself in knots over losing his newly acquired Colt pistol to a pick-pocket on a tram. This is both a film noir and a police procedural, which seems to have influences on […]