A few days in the life of a murderer go under the microscope in this offbeat and intense low-budget film noir, the first feature from director Allen Baron. Frankie Bono (Baron) is a hired killer from Cleveland who travels to New York City a few days before Christmas on an assignment. Bono, a bitter loner who has few friends and little use for relationships with others, has been brought to the Big Apple to rub out Troiano (Peter Clume), a second-rate mobster. After a less than pleasant encounter
with Big Ralph (Larry Tucker), a rotund underground gun dealer, Bono begins casing out Troiano and discovers his target is out of town for a few days, giving him some time to kill. Bono bumps into a childhood friend who thinks he could use a friend and introduces Frankie to Lorrie (Molly McCarthy), but when she invites him to her flat for dinner, the evening doesn't go well and Bono feels more alienated than ever. While keeping tabs on Troiano, Bono runs into Big Ralph again, with consequences that put the hit man and his career in great danger. Blast of Silence features a distinctive and highly dramatic second-person narration read by Lionel Stander (whose name does not appear in the credits); the narration was written by the then-blacklisted Waldo Salt under the name Mel Davenport. Director Allen Baron originally cast Peter Falk as Frankie Bono, but ended up playing the lead after Falk dropped out to take a better paying role in the crime drama Murder Inc. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
With its finger-popping jazz score and beat-inspired interior monologue (in second person, no less), this might seem comical if it weren't so rooted in existential dread.
The lost noir classic starts off a bit dubiously... but the increasingly sleazy, realistic atmosphere begins to take hold of you, until you're fairly well rapt.
Absolutely eye-popping film noir about an alienated hit-man. Not without a certain musty charm, especially the scene at the Village Gate where a "beatnik" jazz musician sings "Dressed in Black".
The film plays like an unholy marriage between the realist films noir of the '40s like The Naked City and the early independent dramas of John Cassavetes...
The tension doesn't so much revolve around the antihero's job, redemption, or ultimate fate but rather the disconnect between its mundane milieu and the grandiose flourishes they're meant to convey.
A hired killer takes us for a stroll through Manhattan's wet pavement, along with his misanthropic thoughts, and especially directed feelings of utter disgust and hatred for his new target; like he was some kind of a grown up Holden Caulfield.The film, like everybody points out, lacks storytelling expertise. The voice
over narration is unnecesary and takes away the emotional impact the images for themselves could have had. Perhaps this only inconvenience is what keeps it away from being a real contender when compared to others.But having stark realism and nihilism all over it, makes Allen Baron's obscure opera prima what film noir is all about, the complex character study of a man trapped on a hellish existence.
tough film to rate. some of the acting is poor and the voiceover is mostly annoying and unnecessary. also the 'music' in the jazz club scene is like comic relief. still i'm not sorry i watched it. it's nicely shot and kind of existential. worth seeing for fans of film noir and pulp
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