428 Blast of Silence

[jbeall]

Good flick. The essay mentions that Peter Falk was initially offered the role of Frankie, and he certainly would have done a better job than Baron. I also think Falk's voice would have worked better with Lionel Stander's voiceover. The v.o. is so menacing and corrosive, and the sound of Baron's voice just undermines it somehow. Of course, nothing undermines the character's toxicity more than the peanut-race, so I shouldn't gripe about his voice too much.

But that's my only big complaint. Visually, the film's great. I love the locations and the shooting in less-than-optimal lighting conditions. If there was any way to add to the relentlessly noir feel, this was it.

[colinr0380]

Glenn Kenny reiminiscing about how he first saw the film.

[Narshty]

It's OK - a semi-memorable B-picture, but still a B-picture in every department (including imagination). Even the narration is used in the same way as music: apparently introduced in post-production to make long stretches of the film less boring (the narration tells us nothing that isn't perfectly lucid in the film itself). I suppose it had the same problem I find in the majority of films nowadays; it had everything I expected and nothing I didn't. I much prefer Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss for low budget New York noir.

[GringoTex]

What a totally inept film. Fat Boy and the raw shots of NYC street life were great. Everyting else was amateur clumsy cliched. I've never felt such satisfaction watching a protagonist get blown away- he was such a whiny little bitch.

[HypnoHelioStaticStasis]

Joe Dante on Blast of Silence

I love that trailer to death, and I love how it hints at the second-person narration.

[DDillaman]

Got this for Christmas, and hadn't realized it was a Christmas film, so I figured it was the perfect viewing for the day. Interesting to see an Christmas film that doesn't culminate on Christmas (like, basically, every other Christmas film ever made), and loved the second-person voiceover, the stunning music, and generally the whole feel of the thing. Anyone else breaking this out for holiday cheer?

[dad1153]

Saw this one over the weekend. From its 'birth' metaphor at the start to its mocking final voice-over

Spoiler

during Frankie's death (the VO actually mocks and makes fun of the dead guy while he's barely in the water for Pete's sake ),

"Blast of Silence" is as dark and heartless as detective 'film noir' gets. Which means it's a fun movie and even an outstanding one when its low-budget and not-ready-for-primetime leading man (writer/director Baron) are taken into account. While the story of a Cleveland hitman coming to New York City on Christmas to execute a 'contract' on somebody has lost its originality by now (way too many hitman movies for anyone to care) back in the early 60's it was a still fresh-enough concept. Combined with some excellent camera shots and B&W cinematography (which effectively cover how little of the movie was shot in an actual studio) "BOS" emerges as a killer piece of 'artsy' genre cinema. The script humanizes Bono just enough with the temptation of a normal life in the person of Lori (an OK Molly McCarthy) to make his eventual downfall all the more fun. I can live with the peanut race not diminishing Frank's bad-ass persona because Lionel Stander's VO (channeling a poe'd Walter Winchell) makes it clear he's pretending.

This being a 'noir' flick to its bone though, Frank's affection for Lori (which only results in further humiliation) becomes the weakness that eventually comes back to bite him in the rear by making him reveal his own weakness to his employers by asking out of the life. Larry Tucker (from Sam Fuller's "Shock Corridor") stands out from the rest of the cast as 'Big Ralph' but the real stars of "BOS" are Stander's VO (some of the best inner-monologue VO I've heard since the last time I saw a new "Dexter" episode), the B&W cinematography and the movie's unflinching faithfulness to the tenants of the 'noir' concept (which were already old hat by 1961). I had a, pardon the pun, blast watching "BOS"!

[manicsounds]

Whoever hasn't watched this yet, tis the season. A perfect Christmas movie. I happened to put it on and have it as background today. Obviously wasn't able to work 100% efficiently with it on....

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Have seen Blast of Silence on the Criterion DVD a couple of times, and was impressed each time - incredible movie. Great atmosphere, acting, period jazz score, and location. Early 1960′s NYC is as much of a character in the film as Frankie. Setting & filming the movie in winter added to the intentional starkness; even the daytime scenes were gloomy and morose. And, also setting the film at Christmas-time emphasized the alienation/loneliness of the main character.

The second-person narration took some getting used to, but I found it very appropriate & unnerving.

I also think the casting was spot-on; I can't imagine anyone other than Baron in the lead role.

Really liked the scene in the nightclub with the singer playing the drums?! - the lyrics to the song he was singing were appropriately grim, given the noir nature of the film.

Being a fan of Taxi Driver, I agree that there are lot of connections (either intentional or not) between both films.

[Ovader]

Blast of Silence: Independent Filmmaking, Then and Now

[Gregory]

What a totally inept film. Fat Boy and the raw shots of NYC street life were great. Everyting else was amateur clumsy cliched. I've never felt such satisfaction watching [censored for spoiler], [the protagonist] was such a whiny little bitch.

I must have missed this comment when it was current, and it may be pointless to question such an old post by a non-current member, but what in the hell? A "whiny little bitch"? He hardly even has any lines, let alone whiny ones.

[LavaLamp]

I completely disagree with that comment as well. Blast of Silence is one of my all-time favorite noir films, and one of the most underrated movies of the 1960's. Baron played the role of a stoic very appropriately, and had little dialogue. I thought the film was extremely well-done for something that was so low-budget.

Spoiler

The crux of the film was that, when the Hit-man (Baron) met the woman from his past, he couldn't stomach doing his "job" anymore, and that was the beginning of the end for him. I don't consider this "whiny", just that a previously unemotional person ended up finding out he did have some emotion left in him, which led to his inability to do his job & his ultimate doom.

[dad1153]

The Projection Booth podcast on "Blast of Silence."
Fast-forward to 29:21 to hear host Mike White struggle to interview Allen Baron. A little uncomfortable, but I'll take it over PB's more polished edited-for-clarity interviews (which they couldn't do this time for obvious reasons). :)

[D50]

Just saw this and got an instant Francis Ford Coppola feeling

Spoiler

after he shot the guy and kicked him over - my mind flashed to when Vito kicks Don Fanucci over after he shot him in Godfather Part II.

[FrauBlucher]

I watched Blast of Silence. I liked it, but I do agree with someone upthread saying the Lionel Stander voiceover not fitting with the voice of the protagonist. But it didn't bother me enough to make me feel less about the film. Eddie Muller had some really good nuggets before and after the film. He clearly is a big fan of this one. Domino way upthread mentioned the extras being light. Maybe the upgrade they will add more. I could see a Scorsese intro or some kind of commentary track added.

I will definitely look to pick up the upgrade

[Marwood]

I will definitely look to pick up the upgrade

Has this been announced to be re-released on blu-ray by Criterion or any other distributor?

[soundchaser]

Criterion is supposed to be releasing it, per Lee Kline. We’re just not sure when.

[sabbath]

I will definitely look to pick up the upgrade

Has this been announced to be re-released on blu-ray by Criterion or any other distributor?

Lee Kline talks about a new scan of Blast of Silence and its aspect ratio on his podcast The Dead Pixel Episode 2 (31:34-35:30).

He said "next year,"(35:24) so I was expecting it to be one of December announcements this year, but apparently they pushed it back.

[FrauBlucher]

After the DVD being listed as unavailable for a very long time it is "now available." Could that mean the upgrade is coming soon and announcement is imminent?

[DeprongMori]

With the depletion of the remaining DVD stock of Blast of Silence during the latest Flash Sale (now listed as CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE), now maybe we’ll finally see the new restoration in the 2.0:1 aspect ratio discussed by Lee Kline above.

It’s scheduled to show at this year’s Cannes Festival, so it can’t be long now.

[FrauBlucher]

Hopefully, we get an April announcement for a July (Barnes and Noble) release.

[yoloswegmaster]

It’s scheduled to show at this year’s Cannes Festival, so it can’t be long now.

Where does it say that it's going to show this year at the Cannes festival? The link you posted doesn't show anything.

[DeprongMori]

It’s scheduled to show at this year’s Cannes Festival, so it can’t be long now.

Where does it say that it's going to show this year at the Cannes festival? The link you posted doesn't show anything.

It doesn’t have a scheduled screening listed, but it is included among the “Cannes Classics 2023” selections.

[yoloswegmaster]

It doesn’t have a scheduled screening listed, but it is included among the “Cannes Classics 2023” selections.

I don't see anything about the Cannes Classics 2023 selections, and I would be very surprised to see news about the Classics selection since they typically reveal the lineup 2 weeks before the festival starts. I see that there are other films listed on that page, such as the Norman McLaren and Eisenstein films but those were part of the 2006 Classics lineup, alongside Blast of Silence.

[therewillbeblus]

This year's Cannes ticket: Wisteria - Blast of Silence 2023