1961 crime drama Rating: 16/20
Plot: A hit man is born. He leaves Cleveland for a job in New York during the Christmas season because, as we all know, that is the most ironic time of the year to be hired to kill somebody. After finishing some preliminary stalking (and sulking), he's left with nothing to do but wander the streets and go to really lame parties with squares where he's forced into competitions involving pushing peanuts across the room with his nose. He tries to get some and fails. Circumstances cause him to rethink his life and occupation.
Very solid, stylish hit man story with a noir-ish elements and cheap but very good direction. I'm not generally a fan of narration (Sunset Boulevard being an exception because the narrator has died), but this one uses a second-person point of view that gets you inside the head of the protagonist. That and the fact that the protagonist is in every single scene drags you along through the melancholy streets of the big city and forces you to descend into hell right along with him. A good tight script reminiscent of a really watered-down Sin City. The opening and closing shots are really powerful, bookending the succinct tragedy in between. Life, we're reminded, isn't very good. And by the way, that scene with the peanut race is one of the silliest missteps I've ever seen in a movie. What the hell?
Here I am with my trigger thumb:
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