When I did a “Ten best Christmas movies relay race” last year on the Dutch version of my site, there was one blogger who added this movie, which was a movie no one heard about and it remained in the list. It was a good reason for me to add this film noir from the sixties in my blindspot list for 2018 and watch it around Christmas time to make up my mind about it. Is Blast of Silence a Christmas movie and should you have seen it?
The story revolves around hitman Frank Bono (Allen Baron, who also wrote and directed the story) who travels to New York around Christmas to kill a mafia boss. Frank is a loner who grew up in an orphanage and prefers to avoid any social interaction. During his days in New York we see how he prepares his attack (getting hold of a weapon, shadowing his target), but also the effect that someone from his past has on him.
With a voiceover that talks to Frank Bono almost as a child, a beautiful, threatening cinematography of New York and the cold gaze of Allen Baron, who was not an experienced actor, Blast of Silence is a wonderful dark film noir with a lot of atmosphere. Maybe not a Christmas film for the whole family, but one that plays (just like Die Hard) against the background of the warmth of Christmas, which makes the contrast with what this hired killer has to do much greater.
[score8]