Although it is actually prior to the fabulous’ Out of Yes’, which we talked about last week, this dizzying ‘By profession murderer‘(Hit List) arrived before serial killer thriller by William Lustig. Starring Jan-Michael Vincent, Leo Rossi and Lance Henriksen, never released on dvd or bluray, this action film deserves a bit of attention.
Regular Action Heroes
(The trailer is in German because those available in the original version have a quality close to that of the movies when they are going to die)
Although it is said that he liked it more than ‘Above the law’, the great surprise of action cinema From that distant 1989, the distribution of ‘By profession murderer’ was not as successful as it should have been, and the film, despite opening a new opportunity for its director in sunny California, was a fiasco.
Part of the blame may fall on a protagonist during low hours. Jan-Michael Vincent, had just been going through a bad personal stage, with serious drinking problems. ‘Airwolf’ (Airwolf), a series as mythical as it is forgotten, was for two years the home of the star, and from there they warned Lustig of what could happen in a shoot with Vincent.
“I was already going through a downward spiral when I was doing ‘Airwolf’. It was known that during filming I drank and it was difficult to work with him. That reputation preceded him. But when we met him to make our movie, he had been in a recovery program and he was telling us that his drinking days were over. And he looked great. He was young at the time, and when he stopped drinking he immediately looked back to palm hearts. He arrived, he looked good, he assured us that he did not drink and we hired him. Literally the first day of shooting, I smelled the alcohol on his breath. We did new, tighter shots, mostly close-ups, to get shots of him without being drunk. If you look closely, there are big differences between wide shots and close-ups. “
A family man (Jan-Michael Vincent) and a mafia witness (Leo Rossi) try to stop a hit man (Lance Henriksen) who has mistakenly kidnapped the former’s son. Direct and to the point. ‘By profession a murderer’ is not best action movie of the decade. In fact, it may be one of the least good, but it has plenty of ingredients to enjoy.
The first of the great merits is the cast that surrounds its protagonist. Sadly, recovered or not, Jan-Michael Vincent is quite out of place as action heroIt is too tense and unconvincing at times, but where this movie shines is through its villains.
Lance Henriksen is really amazing how perfect hit man sadistic. His character, Chris Caleek, has a double life: by day he sells shoes, but at night he kills people regardless of gender, race or age. A figure. You also have Rip Torn as the boss of the mafia and Leo Rossi as a threesome mobster whom the FBI wants to turn into a witness to take down Vic Lucas, Torn’s character.
Another face known as Charles Napier feels in his sauce in these types of films, where he is liked as FBI agent with a terminal illness who wants to take down the mob as one last good deed before he dies.
‘Hit List’ is packed with action. Directed by William Lustig, who shows his talent with the camera from the funeral that opens the story, it has some pretty awesome chases, especially the last and unexpected race to the death. It may be a bit ridiculous and with a villain who actually looks like a Terminator, but it never ceases to be worthy entertainment.
With the obligatory saxophones and guitar chords, as the canons of the time mandated, ‘De profession murderer’ is a playful action story more or less satisfactory, quite halfway between direct-to-video and the genre be series of that time, whose biggest surprise continues to be not having had an official release on DVD or Blu-ray. If it came out tomorrow it would go straight to my collection.