Hard Contract

1969 film

Hard Contract

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| S. Lee Pogostin
Written by| S. Lee Pogostin
Produced by| Marvin Schwartz
Starring| James Coburn
Lee Remick
Cinematography| Jack Hildyard
Edited by| Harry W. Gerstad
Music by| Alex North

Production
company

20th Century Fox

Distributed by| 20th Century Fox

Release date

* April 30, 1969 (1969-04-30)

Running time

| 106 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $4,070,000[1]
Box office| $1,750,000 (US/ Canada rentals)[2][3]

Hard Contract is a 1969 American drama mystery film written and directed by S. Lee Pogostin and starring James Coburn and Lee Remick. It premiered on April 30, 1969 in Panavision.

## Plot

[edit]

CIA assassin John Cunningham, a cold-blooded killer with nerves of steel and no conscience, kills a man on election day, votes in the local election and spends the rest of the afternoon with Ellen, a prostitute. The next day, Cunningham goes to see James Ramsey, his mobilizer, a CIA man whose cover is a job as a college physics professor.

Ramsey offers one final, lucrative job, or "hard contract" as he calls it, that can allow Cunningham to retire from the business for good. This consists of three hits, two in Spain and Belgium, with the last victim to be revealed after the first two are dispatched.

On his way to Spain to make the first hit, Cunningham meets two women in Tangier who will change his life: American tourist and jet setter Sheila Metcalfe, and her naive but good-hearted friend, socialite Adrianne.

He does kill the first two victims, but later, as remorse slowly takes hold over him, Cunningham can't bring himself to knock off his third target, former top CIA hit-man Michael Carson. A more vicious and effective hit-man in his day than Cunningham is now, Carson has become so passive, he wouldn't even defend himself.

Ramsey flies to Spain to persuade Cunningham to complete the job, and promises Cunningham that if he does not do so, he will himself be killed, and so will Sheila. Cunningham drives Ramsey, Sheila, Carson, and everyone else who knows about him back down a mountain, and is close to deliberately causing a car crash that would free him for all time, only to relent at the last moment, telling a confused Ramsey afterwards that murder is obsolete. Ramsey is then romanced by Adrianne, much to his bemusement, and it's unclear if he has also weakened in his resolve.

The ending is enigmatic, with Cunningham and Sheila running off together and beginning to make love, as Cunningham tells her that the worst deeds can be done for the best motives. The final image of them narrows to a circle around their heads, reminiscent of the image one would see in a rifle scope.

## Cast

[edit]

* James Coburn as John Cunningham
* Lee Remick as Sheila Metcalfe
* Lilli Palmer as Adrianne
* Burgess Meredith as Ramsey Williams
* Patrick Magee as Alexi
* Sterling Hayden as Michael Carlson
* Claude Dauphin as Maurice
* Helen Cherry as Evelyn Carlson
* Karen Black as Ellen
* Sabine Sun as Belgian Prostitute
* Jo Nupie as Flemish lady
* Miquel Bordoy
* Gerda Marchand
* Vic Moeremans

## Production

[edit]

Pogostin was an award-winning TV writer and director, who had written some features including Pressure Point.[4] Producer Marvin Swartz approached him to see if he was interested in adaptating a story for the screen. Pogostin instead pitched an original story of his, Hard Contract, and Schwarz was enthusiastic. Pogostin insisted on directing. Schwartz financed the writing of the script over 15 months.[5]

Filming began in May 1968. The film was shot in Spain, Belgium and Tangier.[6]

## Reception

[edit]

### Critical

[edit]

Variety said it was a "skillfully-mounted film" and "most audiences should buy it to the profit of 20th and the exhibs."[7]

Harlan Ellison declared the film was "that incredible rarity, a film of entertainment that comes to grips with secondand third-level philosophical concepts. A film of meaning."[8]

Sight and Sound called it a "slightly pretentious oddity of a metaphysical thriller" with "limping direction, but a script which lakes its attractive cast out on some rather intriguing limbs."[9] A later review in the same magazine from Tim Lucas said, "Lurking behind its John Woo-like title is a movie that lures people in with the promise of an action thriller but then presents them with a heady talk-fest about love, morality and commitment. It may be the artiest picture produced by a major US studio up to that time."[6]

Sam Peckinpah, who at one stage was going to form a company with Pogostin, said of Hard Contract, "I read the script and I saw the film. I think he’s a very talented writer. But he doesn’t understand making films."[10]

### Box office

[edit]

According to Fox records the film required $7,200,000 in rentals to break even and by December 11, 1970, it had made $3,200,000, making it a loss for the studio.[11]

## Subsequent release

[edit]

Hard Contract was first broadcast on television by ABC in 1974. It was released on VHS by 20th Century Fox in 1982 in the UK and by Fox Video in 1996 in the United States.

Ster-Kinekor Video and CBS/Fox Video released the film with 20th Century Fox, which was released on VHS in 1990 in South Africa.

## See also

[edit]

* List of American films of 1969

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p255
2. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p231
3. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1969", Variety, 7 January 1970 p 15
4. ^ "Emmy-Nominated Writer-Director S. Lee Pogostin Dies at 86". Variety. 12 March 2014.
5. ^ Champlin, Charles (Apr 15, 1969). "Director and Producer Do the Possible". Los Angeles Times. p. h1.
6. ^ a b Lucas, Tim (February 2017). "Hard Contract". Sight and Sound. p. 102.
7. ^ "Hard Contract". Variety film reviews 1968-1970. Vol.12. 8 April 1969.
8. ^ Ellison, Harlan (1989). Harlan Ellison's Watching. p. 63.
9. ^ "Film guide". Sight and Sound. January 1970. p. 56.
10. ^ Peckinpah, Sam (2008). Sam Peckinpah : interviews. p. 150.
11. ^ Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 328. ISBN 9780818404856.

## External links

[edit]

* Hard Contract at IMDb
* Hard Contract at AllMovie
* Hard Contract at the TCM Movie Database
* Hard Contract at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* Hard Contract at Letterbox DVD
* Hard Contract at BFI