Classical art professor and collector Dr. Jonathan Hemlock, who doubles as a professional assassin, is coerced out of retirement to avenge the murder of an old friend.Classical art professor and collector Dr. Jonathan Hemlock, who doubles as a professional assassin, is coerced out of retirement to avenge the murder of an old friend.Classical art professor and collector Dr. Jonathan Hemlock, who doubles as a professional assassin, is coerced out of retirement to avenge the murder of an old friend.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
- Mrs. Montaigne
- (as Heidi Bruhl)
- Freytag
- (as Reiner Schoene)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis is the only movie that John Williams has scored for Clint Eastwood. He was suggested by the studio and producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown, after Jaws (1975), and because Williams knew that Eastwood was a huge fan of jazz. He did incorporate that style into his score, which also featured a classical, more traditional orchestral sound.
- GoofsIn Hemlock's house on the wall over his desk there are pictures of him on various climbs. One of these pictures is of him dangling from the rope by the railway tunnel door at the end of the movie.
- Quotes
Dr. Jonathan Hemlock: [to his class] Some of you will continue in your education. Some of you will continue with your interest in art. Some of you will have interests other than that. If we've learned nothing else this year, I hope you've learned the stupidity of the statement that art belongs to the world. 'Cause art belongs to the cultivated who can appreciate it. The majority of the great unwashed does not fit into this category... and neither, I'm sorry to say, do most of you.
- Alternate versionsAn early cut of the movie showed, in detail, a man slitting Henri Bach's throat, reaching in, and retrieving microfilm that he had just swallowed. This was deemed too graphic, so the scene was edited to its current version.
This film was made in the mid-seventies and it shows in every frame. The decidedly non-political correctness in the scenes with the obviously gay guy, portrayed by Jack Cassidy (whose lapdog is appropriately named "faggot" and has a hilarious scene humping Eastwood's leg); with the Indian girl (Eastwoods laconic snarl "Screw Marlon Brando" is unforgettable); with the "black chick" (says Eastwood to the Afro-American actress Vonetta McGee) might turn off some of today's viewers or bring the film on the map for viewers who have grown up with Rap Music and consider the occasional four-letter word in "8 Mile" already daring.
The story itself is not really important (a classic spy/action thriller with a twist) but the camera direction is superb and Eastwood's well-known love for Jazz music seaps through occasionally. Today's movies are called movies for a reason - they are no longer "films" (like this one), where time is taken to tell a story and explore it in its own leisure fashion.
- bogdanovich
- Dec 9, 2002
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $9,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $14,200,000
- Gross worldwide
- $14,200,000
- Runtime2 hours 9 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1