Hit Man

Summary

“They said, ‘Your old man’s dead.’” 

Warner Archive has given me a lot of joy over the years with their numerous releases of Blaxploitation cinema out of the Warner Vault. When I was very young I had a large coffee table book that focused on the beautifully done poster artwork for films that ranged from Coffy to Superfly to Blacula. As a child, I had to guess at what those films would offer me if I ever got to see them, and most of them I have only just seen in my thirties as labels have released them on Blu-ray. One of the posters that I always thought looked great was the poster for George Armitage’s film Hit Man. When I saw that Warner was releasing the picture, I immediately ordered it to quell my curiosity. First off, I did not realize until now that the same director that gave me the exceptional Miami Blues and Grosse Pointe Blank had written and directed a blaxploitation picture. I love those two films, so that news got me legitimately excited. When I found out the picture was also a loose adaptation of Get Carter, I was even more excited. Mike Hodges’ classic crime film starring Michael Caine is a great hardboiled picture. Needless to say, my expectations for what I was about to watch were set high by all of those elements coming together. The good news is that I honestly had a blast watching Hit Man, and I think fans of black crime cinema of the Seventies will find a lot to like about the picture as well.

Tyrone (Bernie Casey) arrives in town to take care of the affairs of his dead brother Cornell. At the airport, Tyrone phones a prostitute that Cornell had been tangled with, Irvelle Way, but she hangs up on Tyrone. He goes to see her and gets some information about Cornell’s whereabouts before he died. He demands that she attend the funeral. Next he goes to Cornell’s home and retrieves his double barrel shotgun. He notices that he has been followed by two men, Baby Huey and Leon. Cornell’s teenage daughter Rochelle is also nowhere to be found. Tyrone attends the funeral of Cornell and finds out that his brother had drowned in alcohol before his car had hit the water. He sees his niece Rochelle and the prostitute Irvelle. There is tension between them. Rochelle refuses to come live with Tyrone. Outside the service two heavies approach Tyrone telling him to head back to Oakland. Suspecting his brother’s death was caused by others, Tyrone begins his own investigation which will run him up against gangsters and pornographers.

Hit Man is a whole hell of a lot of fun. It’s exploitative and trashy, but man is it entertaining. The screenplay was written by George Armitage. The story goes that Armitage was given the script for Get Carter with the title removed and was told to rewrite it by MGM, who claimed they owned the script. Armitage rewrote the script without having seen the classic British picture. Afterward, Armitage attempted to have star Bernie Casey direct the picture, but his producers balked at that. In order to keep everyone on the cast and crew employed, Armitage reluctantly agreed to direct the picture. He encouraged his cast to rewrite dialogue on set to make it more authentic and urban, and the resulting picture turned out to be extremely entertaining and enjoyable. Bernie Casey digs into his role and has a blast playing the antihero Tyrone. Casey was a star track athlete and NFL player, and like Fred Williamson and Jim Brown before him, he had the right chops to carry the leading role. The picture features a young Pam Grier just before her big break in Coffy, and just after starring in a couple caged women flicks for Corman. She is fantastic, as per usual, with ample screen presence. Don Diamond, Roger E. Mosley, and John Lupton all have smaller parts in the picture that are noteworthy.

The Get Carter through the lens of Black Cinema aspects of Hit Man made the picture feel like an Elmore Leonard novel to me, and I mean that as the highest form of compliment. Armitage would go on to do even better films in the future, but I would still stack Hit Man against almost any picture in its genre that came out in its era. Fans of the genre will absolutely want to add this movie to their collection. Immediately. Highly recommended.

Video

Warner have done a great job on the restoration of the film working from a new 4K scan from the original camera negatives of Hit Man. Presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio in 1080p with an MPEG-4 AVC encode, the film shines on Blu-ray. There is a fine level of grain. Fine detail is handled well. The film is very colorful becuase of all the vibrant clothes and cars of that time alongside the many outdoor sequences in the picture. Warner’s team did a wonderful job of bringing the best out of the elements of the film, and unless we are treated to a 4K UHD someday, this will be the best way to view the movie.

Audio

Warner have provided a great DTS-HD MA 2.0 track that presents the original Mono track in split channels. Dialogue is very clear. There are no issues with sound levels to cause you to grab the remote. No notable hiss or distortion. The score sounds crisp and clean. Overall, it is another winning track from Warner.

Supplements:

Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – .5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

After just one screening, I can safely say that Hit Man is easily one of my favorite blaxploitation films. The picture is violent and gratuitous and sleazy, and an absolute blast to watch. I have seen a lot of pictures in this genre, and I would say that this ranks as one of the most entertaining. Bernie Casey shines as the vengeance seeking Tyrone. Pam Grier has a stand-out part just before her big break in Coffy. George Armitage wrote and directed this Get Carter adaptation years before he would direct the excellent Miami Blues and Grosse Pointe Blank. By allowing his cast to fine tune their own dialogue, the film has a little something extra to it that might have been lacking otherwise. Genre fans will definitely want to add this to their collection. The Warner transfer is fantastic and despite the lack of supplements, this release deserves to sit on your shelf. Highly recommended!