Shatter (1975)

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

SHATTER is Hammer's second attempt at a Hong Kong-backed movie after the cult classic that is LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES. Whilst not an inherently enjoyable film like the former, SHATTER is a mildly interesting diversion with a good enough cast to make it worthwhile. Although the film has a fair few slow patches where the interest wanes through lack of action, generally the plot, which concerns a hit-man trying to collect his fee, is engaging and the action realistic.This isn't a James Bond-style adventure as the title might suggest; the movie strives for realism over comic book style and the result is a gritty, downbeat, sporadically exciting foray into the world of the international thriller. The unconventional lead is played by Stuart Whitman, who enjoyed a brief status as a leading action man in the 1970s after he appeared in this and some Italian thrillers. Whitman is hardly an athletic hero, but his hang dog looks and his steely determination go part way in letting the audience empathise with his character's situation.Things begin with some stock footage of African race riots and moves into a bloody assassination scene, where Whitman uses a gun disguised as a camera to take care of his contract! From then on we see him hiding out in a seedy Hong Kong hotel room and biding time while he tries to figure things out. SHATTER isn't a film which shows Hong Kong in a very good light – in fact the film has a sleazy, depressing atmosphere and the crowded setting only makes things worse.Whitman visits his German contact Hans Luber (played by genre favourite Anton Diffring) but is unable to collect his fee, and instead finds himself beaten up by violent policemen. These two scenes highlight two excellent cameo performances. The first is Diffring's; the typically sinister character of Luber is a great role to play and Diffring is his usual snide, evil self in the part. Secondly we have Peter Cushing in the role of Paul Rattwood, which is more like an extended cameo. Rattwood is an official in the secret police and a rather nasty character who knows more than he lets on and who keeps a gang of thugs under his command. Cushing is of course excellent in the role and gets some nicely sharp-tongued dialogue to himself; but sadly this proved to be his last role for Hammer Studios and a rather inconspicuous swan song for the golden age actor. Still, the moments when he is on screen sparkle and he seems to be enjoying himself, which is enough for me.Whitman moves into a seedy massage parlour/restaurant owned by Ti Lung, at the same time beginning a tragic romance with Lily Li who works there. The rest of the film shows him basically hanging out and eventually doing a trade with Diffring (an unbearably suspenseful scene), who wants the top secret documents in Whitman's possession. But the treacherous Diffring betrays our down-at-heel hero, leading to an action-packed finale where Whitman and Lung storm the enemy's retreat.Most of the action towards the end of this film focuses on Lung, who is portrayed as a young, unstoppable martial arts hero in the line of Bruce Lee. Lung is a tour-de-force in the action stakes and the scenes of him fighting are tremendously exciting and violent. Lily Li is also pretty good as Mai, although she doesn't get to fight in this movie. SHATTER isn't a very engaging movie, but the direction is solid, there is enough action and gore to satisfy the male crowd, and the cast alone makes it worthwhile. Don't be fooled, this is no classic, but it remains watchable enough if you're in the right mood.

It seemed to have pretty low production values for a Hammer film. The music was pretty good, but I imagine it's not original to film. There were a few nice kung-fu fights, but nothing you couldn't find elsewhere.Stuart's character seems to be somewhat clever at times and extremely dim at others.Some of the locations were neat, but only in a documentary way (a look into 70's Hong Kong)You probably won't hate it if you see it, but it's basically a low budget action film with not much to offer.3/10

Long unavailable on home vid, this was just one of the many projects that cult maestro Monte Hellman ghost-directed. So when the good folks at Roan decided to release this on LD, I jumped at the chance to get a copy. At forty bucks, it was worth it. But I had to order off the Dollar Menu for the rest of the week.It was a long-held belief that Hellman only directed a small portion of the film before being sacked and replaced by producer Michael Carreras. But in the running commentary, Hellman, upon seeing the movie for the very first time, was surprised to see that at least 80% of the final cut is his.Though no "Background to Danger," this is a very passable B-adventure, with Whitman a fine hero/foil. Whitman's Shatter is another in the long line of Hellman loner-man-on-the-outside-looking-in protagonists. The film also bears striking similarities with the long forgotten "Karate-the Hand of Death" (1961)about an American Karate expert returning to Japan after the war and runs afoul of some mob types. "Shatter" is a decent way to spend an hour and a half on a rainy afternoon, and a find for Monte Hellman completeists.

Hammer helped define the gothic vampire genre, for which we should be thankful, but they also found need to dabble in other fields with mixed results. Shatter did not have the most inspired mixture and doesn't stand the test of time very well. Perpetually grouchy killer for hire Stuart Whitman fails goes to Hong Kong where he fails to collect from disreputable banker Anton Diffring. Corrupt government official Peter Cushing has his men beat the pulp out of Whitman, who stumbles off to a massage parlor where kung fu master Lung Ti treats him to a freebie from adorable Li-Li Li (whose name sounds like the refrain to a doo-wop song). Whitman finds his apartment blown up so he takes refuge at his new friends' dojo. He slips underground for a while but gets attacked at a martial arts invitational won by understated Ti. Without questioning the moral validity of his instincts, they help him in his quest to extort a mil from Diffring. International affairs gets somewhat sticky from here, and the bullets fly freely until the predictable climax. Carreras tries his best to present Whitman as a then-prevalent philosopher killer, but the weak introspective sequences that show Whitman roaming around his apartment fail to do the trick. The apparently sensitive regret he feels for his victims comes off as a brooding doom with little real emotion backing it up. Shatter's intolerance for international culture makes a few unexpected peeps from its veneer of acceptance. Snooty references to eating snakes evidence a discomfort with the behavior of a foreign country. The background story sets this attitude in stone: Whitman's being tracked down for getting involved with political affairs in Badawi, a corrupt puppet country in Africa in which brothers contentedly murder brothers for money and power. Such situations may perhaps at time truly occur, but the same can be found in Shakespeare with less disapproval asked of the audience. The degree of acceptance present can be seen as a sense of tragedy, completely disconnected with the random slaying of evil black or Asian characters. I don't mean to push the point, but I found it odd that both major black characters were played no-name Yemi Ajibade in an otherwise internationally well-known cast. Cult director Monte Hellman apparently assisted Carreras, far more experienced as a producer, but did not receive credit. Writer Don Houghton produced the other Shaw/Hammer co-production, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires and also takes credit for the awful but amusing Dracula AD 1972. Scenes allegedly shot in Badawi, a country that does not exist, were probably done in Hong Kong.