BLAST OF SILENCE
March 31st 2010 06:01
One of the first American independant films ever!
“When people see you, baby boy Frankie Bono, they see death – DEATH ACROSS THE COUNTER!”
Blast Of Silence
What a treat! Made after 50’s film noir had reached the end of the line and made three decades before movies like Pulp Fiction made this kind of story fashionable again, Blast Of Silence (1960) remains suspended in time, waiting to be periodically rediscovered, as it does every few years. What’s really exciting about Blast Of Silence is in the dichotomy of it’s style, it was part of the first wave of American independent film’s made, along with John Cassavetes’ Shadows, Shirley Clarke’s A Portrait Of Jason, Lionel Rogosen’s On The Bowery, Robert Kramer’s Pull My Daisy and Morris Engel’s Lovers & Lollipops. These were the first independent film’s made, in fact that term didn’t exist yet, they were simply called ‘home made films’. These all came out of the spirit of rebellion, yet Blast Of Silence is the only one of these that embraces the traditional Hollywood formula of genre film making. No underground revelations were being sought out, it was a moody, fast pace, plot driven film and it also got picked up by Universal.
This was the first film to be written and directed by Allen Baron. Baron was a comic book illustrator who thought he would be able to make a film (it appears he was right). Raising $20, 000, Allen Baron cast himself as the film’s protagonist after he was turned down by Peter Falk. Baron plays Frankie Bono, a gun for hire who arrives in New York by train on Christmas Eve to do a hit. The streets of New York are filled with memories of where he grew up, the memories fill his mouth with a bad taste, the smoky streets are a place he’s returning to through pure necessity – and too make it worse – on Christmas Eve too. Frankie Bono doesn’t like Christmas, it’s a reminder of cheer, warmth, people being with friends and family, all the things he is without, but the film has no trace of sentiment. He occasionally runs into someone from his past, which seems to be what he is in constant fear of. He just wants do a job and get out of this city before it gets the better of him.
When meeting with an old flame turns bad
Baron himself doesn’t have much dialogue as the main character, wandering around alone. His character’s view point, anger, uncertainty, denial, despair and most of the story’s exposition are wrangled together by one of the most extraordinary, one of a kind voice overs ever created, written by the legendary Waldo Salt (Midnight Cowboy), under a pseudonym, while he was black listed in Hollywood. This voice over holds exceptionality because of it’s narration in the third person, which shouldn’t work, but amazingly does. The narrator speaks directly to Frank in a raspy and frightening voice spoken by, also blacklisted, actor Lionel Stander, regularly breaking the fourth wall. This phenomenon is a miracle of dramatic construction and lifts the film from competently made to sublime.
“You’re alone. But you don’t mind. You’re a loner. That’s the way it should be. You’ve always been alone. By now it’s your trademark. You like it that way.”
When Frankie is with someone else for a brief time, the voice over disappears, Baron’s performance seems self-conscious which brings unintended dimensions to his character as some accidental truth slips into his acting. This fits in nicely with the ragged, bare bones, anti-style of the film. I’d also mention that while the film may not show itself off visually, it communicates a keen sense of bearings as Frankie Bono walks through the streets, alone. There is a scene where he overlooks an orphanage from his room and plenty of other blurred pieces to fill out a larger picture of his background. The characters remain true to themselves whether we like it or not in this stark production that's been made exactly how it should have been. There is a manic, hyper awareness of his surroundings while he scruffily executes a murder. The character never comes off as a cold pro, whenever there is an action scene it’s easy to see the violence turning against him as it often does. He’s simply an amateur gun, trying to convince himself he’s a pro while his mind wanders, fantasizing about other directions he could have gone in if only things had been different.
writer/director/actor - Allen Baron
Blast Of Silence hits all the right notes, with it’s gritty philosophy and just the right amount of unique black and white lighting to make it feel like it came straight out of a comic book (it would be later adapted into one by Sean Phillips). It’s a bloody good yarn that’s excitingly told by this first time film maker.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
From my own review:
"Fatalistic and bleak in its excursion into a soul consumed by hatred and societal detachment, the film bleeds dark atmosphere and unfiltered realism."
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure