The Perfect Killer (1977)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Please don't spend money on this.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Lee van Cleef plays professional assassin Harry Chapman (also known as The Perfect Killer or The Satanic Mechanic) in this entertaining (if low-rent) Spanish-Italian co-production. Chapman gets sprung from jail early in order to fulfill an important contract, but naturally things don't go quite as planned and he finds himself the stalkee, not the stalker. Co-star John Ireland adds a modicum of Hollywood cachet to the film but doesn't have a great deal to do. If, however, your idea of a good action film involves knife fights between macho thugs and transvestites, you'll be in seventh heaven here. Star Classics VHS features letter-boxed credits but is otherwise lazily panned and scanned. On the plus side, however, Stelvio Cipriani's score is a funky delight!

Betrayed by his girl and best friend, thief Harry Chapman (Lee Van Cleef) takes the fall for a racetrack robbery. While in prison, he is offered a chance to participate in an escape plan. What he doesn't know is that once he is on the outside, the group responsible for the prison break has Harry in their debt and they use him as a hit-man. Naturally, he grows tired of the job and splits because he is hellbent on getting revenge on the former partners. So the mob puts young hit-man Luc (Robert Widmark) on Harry's trail. It is kind of surprising that Van Cleef didn't do more Italian crime flicks in the 70s. To my knowledge, he only did this, MEAN FRANK AND CRAZY TONY (aka ESCAPE FROM DEATH ROW), and THE SQUEEZE. As it stands, this one is just kinda average. It doesn't really pick up until the last third. However, there are some great stand alone scenes like an attack by razor-wielding cross dressers (shades of the previous year's STRANGE SHADOWS IN AN EMPTY ROOM) and the final beach showdown. The craziest thing is how every woman seems to find Van Cleef - sporting a really bad rug - to be hot. Tita Barker (aka Carmen Cervera) is the love interest and John Ireland is Harry's confidant. Director Mario Siciliano previously worked with Widmark (aka Alberto Dell'Acqua) on some SARTANA westerns and also did the odd horror flick EVIL EYE (1975).

Perfect Killer is an odd and rather stupid crime film made in Italy in 1977, although most of the comments that I've read on it seem to be unduly harsh as while the film is silly and trashy, it is at least watchable. The film takes organised crime as its main theme and mixes it with plenty of action. The main selling point is undoubtedly the presence of the great Lee Van Cleef who stars as a hired killer. He's found himself in jail but takes an opportunity to escape after given one by a mysterious 'organisation'. He's then given a job as a killer for the organisation, but decides to leave when he is asked to kill a friend. However, it turns out that there was no 'get out' clause in the contract and the organisation sends out a killer after him. The plot of the film is good in that it moves very quickly, and everything that I've described (and a bit more) happens in the first half hour. After that, however, the film really begins to slide downhill as the action becomes less interesting and things don't flow as well, which is a bit of a shame. The film is mostly satisfying in terms of violence, as there's plenty, and there's a fair bit of sex too. There's also a few silly scenes which manage to amuse; a sequence that sees Van Cleef's nemesis fighting a trio of transvestites is memorable though not necessarily for the right reasons! Overall, I can't recommend anyone going out of their way to see this film; but it's really not all that bad and is decent enough for an hour and a half's entertainment.

You may see this film under the title "Satanic Mechanic" I suggest to anyone who likes great bad films to view this little gem. The montage is absolutely insane. Fantastic dialogue. Porkchop sideburns. This film has it all.