''The Hit'' is a 1984 British

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

crime film directed by

Stephen Frears Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...

and starring

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...

Terence Stamp Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Stamp is known for his sophisticated villain roles. He was named by ''Empire Magazine'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades inc ...

Laura del Sol Laura del Sol (born 27 November 1961) is a Spanish flamenco dancer and film actress, specially well known for her titular role in Carlos Saura's 1983 film '' Carmen''. She worked with Saura and Antonio Gades in ''El Amor brujo'', and in Italy, sh ...

and

Tim Roth Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the " Brit Pack". He made his television debut ...

. It was Stamp's first starring role in over a decade, and Roth won an

Evening Standard Award The ''Evening Standard'' Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are the oldest theatrical awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. They are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre, and are organised by the ''Evening Standar ...

for Most Promising Newcomer. The title music is provided by Eric Clapton and Roger Waters.

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

guitarist

Paco de Lucia Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. According to folk etymology, the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order; his name was written in Latin by the order as ''Pater Communitatis'' (fat ...

performed the soundtrack music. The film was released by

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

on DVD in April 2009 and on Blu-ray in October 2020.

Plot

London gangster Willie Parker gives evidence against his criminal compatriots in return for a very generous offer from the police. Ten years later, Parker is living in comfortable retirement in Spain. Four Spanish youths kidnap him and deliver him to British hit man Braddock and his sidekick Myron, hired by the kingpin that Parker helped put away. In the course of the kidnapping the youths run down a Spanish policeman who has been assigned to guard Parker. Three of the youths are then killed by a bomb in a briefcase, which they believe to contain their pay-off, handed to them by Braddock. Braddock is a world-weary professional killer while Myron is his perky but volatile young apprentice. Parker quickly adopts a carefree demeanour, later explaining that he's had ten years to accept death as a simple part of life. Braddock, who has the key to an apartment in Madrid where the owner is away, orders Myron to drive there but when the three walk in they find the place occupied by an acquaintance of the owner. He is Harry, a middle-aged Australian with a young apparently non-English speaking Spanish girlfriend Maggie, who comes home as they are talking. Parker mischievously announces his identity to them, causing Braddock to take the girl with them as insurance. Harry gives them the keys to the owner's white Mercedes which is brought to the underground garage where the group leave their previous car. As they are about to start Parker makes a comment that causes Braddock to doubt that Harry will keep quiet and he goes back up to the flat and kills him. The group head toward the French border intending to reach

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where the kingpin against whom Parker testified is apparently awaiting their arrival. All the while, Parker sows seeds of discord between the two hit men. The Spanish police, led by senior inspector, follow quite closely the trail of bodies. Stopping at a roadside bar to buy beers, Myron is laughed at by four youths, so he attacks them and then runs for the car. Myron has developed sympathy for Maggie and feels protective of her. Braddock himself has a confrontation with her when they are alone in which she reveals she understands English and also bites his hand, drawing blood, from which he appears to derive some form of masochistic or self-penitential gratification. Braddock drives up a track leading to a wood by a river where they can rest up. Leaving Myron with Parker he takes Maggie with him to get petrol for the car. Maggie tries to alert the station attendant to her plight, allowing in Braddock to kill the young man. Braddock chases after the girl but is unable or unwilling to shoot her. They return to find Myron has fallen asleep and allowed Parker to slip away. Braddock finds him gazing at a waterfall and confronts him about his lack of concern over his impending death. Parker reminds Braddock that death is inevitable for all and quotes John Donne's poem "

Death Be Not Proud "Sonnet X", also known by its opening words as "Death Be Not Proud", is a fourteen-line poem, or sonnet, by English poet John Donne (1572–1631), one of the leading figures in the metaphysical poets group of seventeenth-century English literat ...

". The next day, with ten miles to the border, Braddock stops the car at an isolated hillside and announces that he's scrapped the plans to go to Paris. He relieves Myron of his gun and flings it into the scrub. Suddenly afraid, Parker insists that he can't die until he gets to Paris. Braddock shoots him in the back as he flees. He then turns the pistol on Myron and kills him. Maggie surprises him and they wrestle violently. During the struggle, Braddock fires the last shot into the air and knocks Maggie unconscious. He leaves her alive and drives to a secluded spot where he changes into hiking clothes and walks off through the forest. The police find Maggie and the two bodies. As Braddock attempts to cross the border on foot, Maggie identifies him to the police, who shoot him dead as he tries to escape. The police attempt to question the dying Braddock but he only winks at Maggie before he dies.

Cast

as Willie Parker *

as Mitchell Braddock *

as Myron *

as Maggie * Bill Hunter as Harry * Fernando Rey as Senior Policeman * Lennie Peters as Mr Corrigan * Willoughby Gray as Judge * Jim Broadbent as Barrister

Reception

At review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film is certified "fresh" with an overall approval rating of 88% from 16 reviews, with an

average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 7.9/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, ''The Hit'' has a rank of 75 out of a 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. His films are known for their eccentricity and unique visual and narrative styles. They often contain themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Cited by ...

ranked it the fifth best British film.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote about the actors: "These guys don't have to use guns. All they have to do is open their mouths and bore each other to death".

References

External links

* *
''Chef du Cinema: The Hit''
an essay by Ron Deutsch at the Criterion Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Hit, The 1980s crime drama films 1984 independent films 1980s psychological thriller films British crime drama films British psychological thriller films 1980s English-language films 1980s Spanish-language films Films directed by Stephen Frears Films set in Spain Films shot in London Films shot in Madrid Films shot in Spain British independent films Films produced by Jeremy Thomas Films scored by Eric Clapton 1984 multilingual films British multilingual films 1980s British films