Murder By Contract

1958, US, directed by Irving Lerner

A compelling picture with which I was completely unfamiliar to this point: an existential hit man makes a name for himself and then hesitates when his next, highly lucrative target turns out to be someone quite different to what he imagined -- though before that occurs, there's an extended, often comic, sequence that comes across as a kind of Waiting for Godot-in-LA. The photography, by Lucien Ballard, is terrific, and it feels like a film a good decade or more ahead of its time in terms of the approach to the material (while also functioning very effectively as a thriller).