If there was ever a film that could be placed within a dictionary description of the word hard-boiled, Blast of Silence would be it. This lean thriller from 1961 fits the cold, cynical mode of the detective stories usually associated with the adjective, but it is free of any redeeming qualities or anti-heroes that you root for in spite of their actions on screen. Even when the film threatens to lean towards a moment of tenderness, it is quickly undercut by anger and violence.

The story follows a hit man from Cleveland, Franky Bono, who has come to New York to facilitate the death of a mobster. Bono is wound up tight, a quality evident in his stone-faced gaze and furrowed brow, but expressed more fully by narration that spells out his internal struggles and his distrust of anyone but himself. Bono arrives in New York at Christmastime, quickly settling down to the task at hand, but along the way, his conscious starts to creep in - represented here by a young woman who captures his attention. As he fights with the warring emotions inside of him Bono gamely tries to do the job he was paid to do, but not before getting himself in trouble with his employers, sealing his eventual doom.

Read like that, the plot aligns itself with plenty of noir and neonoir classics, but it is rendered in a much grittier fashion. The narration (written by Midnight Cowboy scriptor Waldo Salt) is a large part of it, but the rest all comes from the atmosphere of the film. The wintertime setting gives it the bone deep chill that is matched with every dead-eyed stare Bono gives to his mark, and so many of the scenes are shot on the streets of the city, giving it a bustling restlessness that feeds into the paranoia of the story. Director and star Allen Baron also doesn't waste anytime in this movie - the running time is a mere 77 minutes. This was most likely an economic decision considering the movie was independently produced and made, but it helps to trim away the fat of a typical crime thriller, leaving nothing more but raw energy and action.

Upon its release in 1961, the response to the film echoed its title, quickly running through its theatrical release, but it has long been a source of inspiration and fascination of film fans and directors - the feel of the movie has since been copied by directors like Jim Jarmusch and John Cassavettes in their early works. This DVD release is nothing short of a revelation, and that it was handled with the careful touch of the Criterion Collection, makes its reemergence that much more worthy of celebration.

As to be expected, Criterion took the utmost of care to clean up the negative and make a gorgeous black and white transfer (tinged a bit in blue, but somehow that makes the film that much more compelling).

Requiem for a Killer: The Making of Blast of Silence (2007)
Rare on-set Polaroids
Locations revisited in 2008
Trailer