Hunted (1972) and Assassin (1973)

[GlacierTuba]

I watched these films a while back as part of the Pemini Organisation box set from Indicator (I've not watched Moments yet). Figured to repost my brief Letterboxd diary entry here on both Hunted and Assassin, the other two films in the box set if folks may wish to talk about them too.




First up was the short film that started the whole (alas short-lived) Pemini Organisation project. 1972 thriller Hunted, starring a young Edward Woodward, and the magnificent June Ritchie whom I had oddly enough spotted earlier in the day when I was watching an episode of Tales Of The Unexpected. Specifically, the excellent episode Operation Safecrack, season 5 episode 3, where she plays Jenny. Oh and by the way, allow me to divert for a moment to include the following titbit of information. I was watching a lot of episodes of Tales of the Unexpected over the festive season this year, and I noticed that in one episode about a man who is found in a locked room with another man who has been shot and has to prove his innocence, the detective in that episode is none other than Danny Driscoll of The Driscoll Brothers in Only Fools and Horses!

Back to Hunted, and what a great little short film it is. This is one of those one room, one location features that ensnares the viewer, keeping you on the edge of your seat until the final plot twist at the end. It's really well shot and superbly acted by both lead roles. It is a shame though that the 14 minutes of prologue footage that was shot later on, when Hunted was touring the cinema circuit, has been lost forever. Though you do get a nice prologue dialogue with location photos that have survived the annals of time included on the blu ray and narrated by Peter Crane. Hunted is a fantastic short film and a great way to kick off the box set. It's just such a shame that the prologue footage is gone forever.




Next up in the box set is the feature film debut from the Pemini Organisation. 1973 grimy thriller Assassin, starring the late Ian Hendry, and also featuring one Verna Harvey, who you may recall I talked about earlier this year in Marlon Brando and Thora Hird's 1971 dairy-fuelled S&M shagging fiesta Nightcomers! (2023 update: She's also in 70's poliziotteschi hyperfilm 'Could You Be More Of A Bastard Than Inspector Ciff?'!)

This is a quality film. It focuses more on the assassin (played by Hendry) and the thoughts, feelings and processes that the hitman would go through prior to their next job. It's really nice to look at too, with some great shots particularly in the opening sequence and also later on where a more guerilla-style takes precedent as the story picks up the pace. Harvey's role as 'The Girl' initially feels a bit 'filler', but when you look back at the film as a whole you can see the role was added to reveal an extra layer to the psyche of the assassin, an emotional and almost human side but also how that can easily be surpressed. The look and tone of the film is gritty and grimy and almost leaves you feeling like you need to have a wash afterwards.

What's really interesting is the back story around how the film was made, and in particular the daily struggles that the cast and crew would have with Ian Hendry in particular, who at the time was battling the demons of alcohol and alas would sadly succumb to health issues from this in 1984 at the age of just 53. A talent gone much too soon. Still, his role in Assassin is to be admired, for he and the rest of the cast put in cracking turns here for what is a thoroughly enjoyable film.

Recommended.