The defence The Big-Idea Head
“Form is the argument.”
Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.
Back to trending 
Murder by Contract
Thriller · Crime · 1958
Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer. His next target, a woman, is the most difficult.
Movie details
Murder by Contract
“Double rates for women... because a woman is always double-trouble!”
1958 Thriller · Crime 1h 21m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.8 / 10
Community rating
Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer. His next target, a woman, is the most difficult.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Murder by Contract?
For the defence
The Big-Idea Head
“You watch with your brain, not your gut.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Underworld U.S.A.
Crime · 1961
A bitter young man sets out to get back at the gangsters who murdered his father.
Wardriver
Thriller · 2026
He’s a Wardriver: a hacker who steals from banks, not people—until he’s noticed. Now the money turns violent, and the woman caught in it could save him or kill them both.
The Killer
Crime · 2023
After a fateful miss, an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn't personal.
52 Pick-Up
Crime · 1986
Harry Mitchell is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer whose wife is running for city council. His life is turned upside down when three blackmailers confront him with a videotape of him with his young mistress and demand $100,000. Fearing that the story will hurt his wife's political campaign if he goes to the police, Harry pretends that he will pay the men, but does not follow through.
City of Ghosts
Thriller · 2002
A con man who is on the run from law enforcement in the U.S. travels to Cambodia to collect his share in an insurance scam but discovers more than he bargained for.
Cohen and Tate
Crime · 1989
A boy kidnapped by two mismatched hitmen puts them at each other's throats while being driven to their employers, possibly to be killed. Cohen, an older professional becomes increasingly irritated with his partner Tate, a brutish killer, when their prisoner uses unnatural guile and resourcefulness to play them off against each other.
Jolt
Action · 2021
A bouncer with an anger management problem goes on a furious and resentful rampage after the murder of a friend.
Grindhouse
Thriller · 2007
Grindhouse combines Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, an action thriller about a murderous stuntman who kills young women with modified vehicles. It is presented as a double feature with fictitious exploitation trailers preceding each segment.
The Killers
Crime · 1964
A hit man and his partner try to find out why their latest victim, a former race-car driver, did not try to get away.
The Virtuoso
Thriller · 2021
Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.
Where it lives
Watch in your region.
Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.
Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Irving Lerner
Written by
Ben Simcoe · Ben Maddow
Vince Edwards
Claude
Phillip Pine
Marc
Herschel Bernardi
George
Caprice Toriel
Billie Williams
Michael Granger
Mr. Moon
Kathie Browne
Mary
Joseph Mell
Harry
Court is in session
Put Murder by Contract on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Technique in search of a pulse.”
Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.