Hard Contract *** (1969, James Coburn, Lee Remick, Lilli Palmer, Burgess Meredith, Patrick Magee, Sterling Hayden, Helen Cherry, Karen Black) – Classic Movie Review 10,210

Writer-director S Lee Pogostin’s 1969 thriller Hard Contract stars James Coburn, who is ideally cast in a quintessential role as John Cunningham, the cold-blooded American assassin who goes to Europe for one last hit, but sees the error of his ways when he falls in love with lovely, wealthy American Sheila Metcalfe (Lee Remick).

There is a lot of moody, existential chat in writer-director S Lee Pogostin’s wordy screenplay, and the sophisticated cast copes with the intellectualising with consummate skill. Pogostin’s screenplay and direction never entirely convince, but the movie is consistently interesting.

Also in the cast are Lilli Palmer, Lee Remick, Burgess Meredith, Patrick Magee, Sterling Hayden, Helen Cherry, Karen Black, Claude Dauphin and Sabine Sun.

This is the only cinema film directed by TV writer Pogostin, who was accused by Coburn of causing the film’s box-office failure by refusing to alter his wordy screenplay and having little idea how to direct a film. They might, however, have looked at the terrible poster and advertising as causes for box-office failure: ‘An Unmoral Picture’, ‘The undoing of a paid assassin’.

Coburn said the actors directed themselves while British cinematographer Jack Hildyard handled technical skills. Pogostin started as a radio writer and moved into live TV. He died on 7 March 2014, aged 87.

Hard Contract is directed by S Lee Pogostin, runs 106 minutes, is made by 20th Century Fox, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by S Lee Pogostin, is shot by Jack Hildyard, is produced by Marvin Schwarz, is scored by Alex North and is designed by Ed Graves.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,210

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