| Hard Contract | |
|---|---|
Trailer for Hard Contract |
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| Directed by | S. Lee Pogostin |
| Produced by | Marvin Schwarz |
| Written by | S. Lee Pogostin |
| Starring | James Coburn Lee Remick |
| Music by | Alex North |
| Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
| Editing by | Harry W. Gerstad |
| Release date(s) | April 30, 1969 |
| Running time | 106 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $4,070,000[1] |
| Box office | $1,750,000 (US rentals)[2] |
Hard Contract is a 1969 film written and directed by S. Lee Pogostin and starring James Coburn and Lee Remick. It premiered on April 30, 1969.
Contents |
CIA assassin John Cunningham, a cold blooded killer with nerves of steel and no conscience kills a man on election day, votes in the local election and spends the rest of the afternoon with Ellen, a prostitute. The next day John goes to see James Ramsey, his mobilizer, a CIA man whose cover is a job as a college physics professor.
Ramesy offers Cunningham one big, final lucrative job or "hard contract" as he calls it, that can allow him to retire from the business for good. This consists of three hits, two in Spain and Belgium, and the last victim to be revealed after the first two are dispatched.
On his way to Spain to make the first hit, Cunnigham meets two women that will change his life: American tourist and jet setter Sheila Metcalfe, and her naive but good hearted friend, socialite Adrianne.
He does kill the first two victims, but later as remorse slowly takes hold over him, Cunningham can't bring himself to knock off his third target, former top CIA hit-man Michael Carson.
Carson, a more vicious and effective hit-man in his day than Cunningham is now has become so passive he wouldn't even defend himself.
Ramsey flies to Spain to persuade Cunningham to complete the job, but falls in love with Adrianne and is converted to a pacifist himself.
At the end of the film we see Cunningham and Sheila and Ramsey and Adrianne romping in the grass. Everyone in the film only wants to live in peace.
Hard Contract was first broadcast on television by ABC in 1974. It was released on VHS by 20th Century Fox in 1982 in the UK and by Fox Video in 1996 in the United States.