Review of Hard Contract

Hired American assassin (with a predilection for prostitutes but an aversion to kissing--or, indeed, feeling anything) gets a new assignment: kill three men for one client, all in Europe. Once there, he meets a chatty jet-setter who works steadily to break down his walls, though getting to know her and her wealthy friends means becoming sociable with one of his targets. Modern-day story, an original from writer S. Lee Pogostin (who also directed), has plush production, beautiful cinematography by Jack Hildyard and lovely scoring by Alex North, but it cannot manage an even balance between drama, romance, intrigue and travelogue. Pogostin enjoys 'deep,' prattling conversations about the meaning of life, but his metaphor-heavy narrative (with political and fascist undertones and finger-pointing at the media for making us all immune to the horrors of violence) just isn't gripping. The scene transitions often overlap in a lazy, dream-like fashion, and the dazed performers are equally as narcotizing. Not a good vehicle for star James Coburn, who weighs in once in a while with a villainous, mischievous smile but otherwise seems at half-mast. Lee Remick plays his love-interest, Sterling Hayden is a bearded mystery man, Burgess Meredith is Coburn's boss, and a young Karen Black turns up as a hooker who loves to say "I love you." Curious, but memorable only because it is so blatantly odd. *1/2 from ****