The story is simple: hit man Frank Bono arrives in New York City at Christmas time to do a job, and things go wrong. What makes Blast of Silence (dir. Allen Baron, 1961) compelling is atmosphere, external and internal: a bleak vision of New York and the bleaker vision of human character that unfolds in Lionel Stander’s voiceover.
In a 1990 documentary about this film, Allen Baron says that he had wanted Peter Falk to play Frank Bono. The role would have been a fitting followup to Falk’s performance as Abe Reles in Murder, Inc. (dir. Burt Balaban and Stuart Rosenberg, 1960). Baron though ended up doing the job himself: “We did the best we could with what we had. And I was the best actor available to me at the time, and I was the only one I could afford.”
Blast of Silence is available, beautifully restored, from the Criterion Collection. I think it’s one of the great low-budget films, along with Carnival of Souls (dir. Herk Harvey, 1962) and The Honeymoon Killers (dir. Leonard Kastle, 1970).
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse : Baby Face : Born Yesterday : The Dark Corner : Deception : Dream House : The Little Giant : The Man Who Cheated Himself : Murder, My Sweet : Nightmare Alley : The Public Enemy : Side Street : Sweet Smell of Success : This Gun for Hire
comments: 2
Michael, do we just watch and love the same films? This is one of my favorite movies ever. I saw it for the first time decades ago in a cinema in Germany, where it was presented as a lost American precursor of the French "New Wave." I then obtained a VHS version, which was very rare. I am glad that it is out now in DVD. My favorite parts are the almost documentary-style scenes in Harlem as well as the Christmas Eve walk through Manhattan...
Seems like! The street scenes are just great. I’d add the final visit to Big Ralph.
I found the film by chance at Netflix while looking for Peter Falk films — I’d never heard of it.
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