Noir City: Murder by Contract

(1958) dir Irving Lerner w/Vince Edwards, Phillip Pine, Herschel Bernardi, Caprice Toriel [81 min; 35mm]

Cold, ruthless Claude (Edwards) has no prospects in his young life – so he decides to stake his place in the world as a hired killer – but when he’s sent to sunny California to kill a gangland witness, his sudden discovery of ‘ethics’ could prove fatal. An ultra-low budget gem from director Irving Lerner, shot in only seven days, with a strangely hypnotic pace and a spare, haunting musical theme by guitarist Perry Botkin. A personal favorite of director Martin Scorsese, who’s admitted this film’s stylistic influence on Taxi Driver – particularly the Travis-in-training sequences.