Blast of Silence

[ChiO]

Today, just in time for our film noir poll, I received the new Criterion release of BLAST OF SILENCE. It is now in crisp black & white (mostly black), but luckily none of the sleaze and grime of the story was eliminated.

It was filmed in 1959-60 and released in 1961. Written, produced, starring and directed by Allen Baron, it is the tale of Frankie Bono, out-of-town hitman in NYC to bump off a mid-level mobster, but this movie is about tone and atmosphere. To call it "bleak" is only to scratch the surface. It is nihilistic -- we come from nothing and end as nothing. If anything resembling happiness occurs in between, it will be snuffed out quickly. Redemption is not in any part of the universe that Bono inhabits.

We experience the birth of the movie and Bono right at the start with dramatic shots of New York and a voice-over -- in the second-person. Given the story, the narration by Lionel Stander (written by Waldo Salt) is likely the voice of Satan rather than God.

Remembering, out of the black silence...you were born in pain...you were born with hate and anger built in...took a slap on the backside to blast out the scream and then you knew you were alive. Eight pounds, five ounces. Baby boy Frankie Bono. Father doing well. Later you learned to hold back the scream and let out the hate and anger another way.

You come into Manhattan by dark, whatever time of day it is. Through tunnels, like sewers, hidden under the city. But you don't mind that. It's always that way, whatever city it is.

You're alone. But you don't mind that. You're a loner. That's the way it should be.

The film was made for about $22,000 cash, some raw stock and equipment that Baron "liberated" after acting in CUBAN REBEL GIRLS. Baron, as Bono, looks and sounds like George C. Scott...without Scott's good humor. Peter Falk, a friend of Baron's, was going to do the role, but was offered a paying role in MURDER, INC. as filming was to begin. Baron decided to play the role because "I was the best actor available...and the only one I could afford." Larry Tucker (actor: ADVISE & CONSENT, SHOCK CORRIDOR; writer/producer: I LOVE YOU, ALICE B. TOKLAS, BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE; writer: episodes of The Monkees) is fabulous as Big Ralphie, a slimy gun dealer.

The DVD has no commentary, but it includes a 60 minute documentary on the making of BLAST OF SILENCE. Originally filmed by a German team in 1990 (Baron won raves as a undiscovered Welles shortly before at a Munich film festival), an American in 2006 added footage that had been edited out and a new interview with Baron.

At 77 minutes, BLAST OF SILENCE is a near flawless film noir gem.

[Mr. Arkadin]

You've got me hooked ChiO. This sounds like a great film. I can hardly wait to see it for myself!

[vallo]

I ordered the film yesterday,can't wait. It was also filmed in parts on Long Island, New York during Hurricane Donna. I remember that storm, I was 6 at the time and living on the Island. Baron also directed alot of TV shows during the 60's thru the early 80's. I hope I receive it soon.


Bill (vallo)

[ChiO]

I just read Dave Kehr's review in the NY Times -- "bleak" appears to be the operative term.

[Ollie]

I've really enjoyed this film. I've watched it twice. The first time, I was rather unpleased with the huge portion of narration. It felt so, well, "overdone" or just too much. "Could these people write, like, 4 consecutive lines of dialog?!!"

This was an "as watched" criticism of mine but if I'd asked myself, "Would dialog make this better, or any scene better?" I don't think it would have. The Droning Nature of the narrative's voice may not have been purposeful, but it does create an almost suffocating oppressiveness to this character's life as we know it. Which is what the words are trying to say, and what this assassin's own thoughts of his life probably were.

On rewatching this, I think I'm a bigger fan of this film's 'weak points' - those elements that seemed to displease me upon first watching. It's not the bad acting or maybe amateurish shots - but rather their inclusion that makes me wonder if Baron knew better techniques but decided to use off-putting or lesser 'skills' as if to create an off-balance audience?

I would love to see some film-festival put this up against MURDER BY CONTRACT (with Vince Evans and Elly May's theme song) and see how these two films played.

[ChiO]

Glad you liked it, Ollie. I sometimes get so wrapped up in proselytizing for a film that I fear I lose all perspective (as friends who are sick of me trying to explain why Wanda and Killer of Sheep are two of the greatest films ever made will attest).

The only almost-flaw for me is the party scene. The idea that Bono could smile and approach happiness seems out of place, but luckily it turns out to be a set-up for the plunge further into the void.

When I saw Murder by Contract for the first time a few weeks after I saw Blast of Silence for the first time, the idea of pairing them hit me, too. The similarities are striking. But -- and this seems odd to say -- in comparison, Murder by Contract seems almost too slick to me.

Blast of Silence -- my 3rd favorite film noir ever. An unpaid movie message soliciting votes.

[Ollie]

I think both BLAST and MURDER are set in about the same year, yes? (I should go back and compare makes of the cars to see if this is correct - or how far 'off' they are.)

They have so many similarities - parallel story points - but I have a feeling that if a high school class was given an assignment to write about solo hired killers brought into a big city for a single hit, we'd have an equal number of similar points.

The differences are fun to chart, too. We get to see Vince Edwards transition into this job, and we see his detached, "list and calculate everything" attitude. We see him list his reason for seeking such a job, and we get to step thru some of his 'training', and all the preparations. It's not that he's cold-blooded - it's more like he's no-blooded. So detached, so step-by-step that he's almost rote. He is confronted about his lack of experience, but turns it around and asks if his two handlers have killed people before - almost, "If I have to list my experience, you list yours, too."

BLAST shows us the end-of-a-career, or at least someone who's contemplating this job as his last. (We don't know if he's said this time after time, but that occurred to me as well.) He is anything but no-blooded - he's sweaty, he pays attention to his hands (cold, dry, anxious), we get to see the effect of this job has on his life, and we hear how his life pushed him into this job.

Each film deals with "other people in the assassin's life" - the two handlers in LA versus Baron's avoidance of people in NYC, his dread of meetings and then the whole Boy-Girl mistake, and the party scene.

I was SO uncomfortable throughout most of BLAST, by the way. Edgy and fidgety, wishing it would move faster. But here again, I can't tell if Baron was sloppy and ill-timed in his direction, action and editing, or if he was dangling me over the same fire that his character felt, making every minute of my viewing try to emulate the discomfort that Baron's hit man endured.

It doesn't really matter - in the end - whether it was planned or not, but I was certainly uncomfortable watching this film. I even flipped ahead, checked the ending and couldn't tell what happened. I couldn't leave it at that, so I scrolled back to a middle chapter and picked it up all over again.

It really didn't make a difference what the end was - the rest of the story was what the whole film was about.

I have a feeling that, if I don't see either of these films for a few years, I'll have forgotten the endings entirely, but I'll remember a lot of the other scenes, like some of my favorite mysteries.