No time at the moment to update the "hit-man" list past 2015...but we'll keep i in play and hope to get to it at some point before it rolls toward the end of the Board again...

Hit Man Sub-Genre discussion from 2016 as reposted in 2020
Posted by Don Malcolm on 1/5/2020, 12:06 pm

Rescued just before it fell off the back end of the Board...
A couple of things to do with this: 1) Update with any relevant films since 2015; 2) cross-reference this sub-genre into Top 100, etc. lists.

SICARIO added per Mike Kuhn's suggestion at the time. Films not added yet from my exchange in the original thread: RAW DEAL (1948) and RAILROADED (1947).

Hit man sub-genre
Posted by Solomon on 2/16/2016, 3:50 pm

There are a few hit women films and/or hit women in hit man films, but I do not know any way to name these films other than to call them hit man films. I've previously provided a long list of these films. These could form the basis for a program, one that would make this sub-genre more salient. With few exceptions, I do not count government assassins as hit man and I don't count ninja and martial arts types. I'm staying within domestic bounds mainly.

I like these films a great deal, going all the way back to Ladd as Raven and all the way forward to Collateral and beyond. At some point, some critic or professor may think about the hit man form and see that it has some strong built in merits for dramatic story telling.

A hit man movie is inherently one that generates tension in the audience. It's filled with uncertainties that arouse our curiosity before we make an identification that's sympathetic. We know that an assassin or contract killer is the protagonist, and we are reluctant to identify fully with that role. We do not know whom he or she kills, or why, or what state of mind he or she is in with respect to the killings. We want to know before making an emotional commitment to the film character. We feel better if the victims are criminals or other hit men or cruel. We don't want to see innocent victims. We want to know if the hit man is trapped in some way. We wonder whether the hit man will be punished by the movie's end or make it on through. We want to know quite a lot of psychology and information about circumstances when we see this kind of movie. We are constantly wondering what makes such a character tick.

This sub-genre also lends itself to black humor situations. It lends itself to shaded characters who are neither all bad nor squeaky clean.

I've run across some that I've failed to add to my list and then forgotten, so this list is incomplete.

Hit Man Movies

* indicates significant supporting role of hit man

*The Maltese Falcon (1941) Cook, Jr.
This Gun for Hire (1942) Ladd
*The Glass Key (1942) Bendix
The Whistler (1944) J. Carroll Naish
The Killers (1946) Conrad and McGraw
The Big Sleep (1946) Steele
The Pretender (1947) Carney
*T-Men (1947) McGraw
*The Unsuspected (1947) Lambert
Railroaded (1947) Ireland
Raw Deal (1948) Ireland
Woman on the Run (1950) O’Keefe
*D.O.A. (1950) Brand
*Woman on Pier 13 (1950) Talman
Assassin for Hire (1951)
The Narrow Margin (1952) Clarke
*Kansas City Confidential (1952) Van Cleef and Brand
*The Turning Point (1952) Brand
Second Chance (1953) Palance
*The Big Heat (1953) Marvin
Suddenly (1954) Sinatra
*Finger Man (1955) Carey
New York Confidential (1955) Conte
*The Big Combo (1955) Van Cleef and Holliman
Accused of Murder (1956) Warren Stevens
The Green Man (1956) Sim
*Nightfall (1957) Bond and Keith
The Brothers Rico (1957) Conte
Appointment with a Shadow (1957) DeKova
Murder by Contract (1958) Edwards
The Lineup (1958) Wallach
Cop Hater (1958)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958) Cybulski
Ordre d’Execution (1958) Albert aka Orders to Kill
*North by Northwest (1959) Landau
Murder, Inc. (1960) Falk
Three Came to Kill (1960) Mitchell
Blast of Silence (1961) Baron
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Harvey
Johnny Cool (1963) Silva
The Killers (1964) Marvin
Pale Flower (1964) Ikebe (Kawaita hana)
Hail, Mafia (1965) Silva (Je vous salue, mafia)
Hired Killer (1966) Webber (Tecnica di un omicidio)
Le Samourai (1967) Delon
Like a Shooting Star (1967) Watari
Branded to Kill (1967) Shishido
Frame Up (1968) Silva
Le Rapace (1968) Ventura
The Killer Likes Candy (1968) Cremer un killer per sua maesta
Hard Contract (1969) Coburn
Stiletto (1969) Cord
The Assassination Bureau (1969) Reed
The American Soldier (1970) Scheydt
Vertigo for a Killer (1970) Bozzuffi (Vertige pour un tueur)
Company of Killers (1971) Saxon
Get Carter (1971) Caine
Hit Man (1972) Casey
The Family Rico (1972) Erickson
The Mechanic (1972) Bronson
The Outside Man (1972) Trintignant
*The Godfather (1972) Montana
Charlie Varrick (1973) Joe Don Baker
The Day of the Jackal (1973) Fox
Il Boss (1973) Silva
Seven Hours of Violence (1973) Hilton (Sette ore di violenza per una soluzione imprevista)
Tony Arzenta (1973) Delon
Cry of a Prostitute (1974) Silva
Hit Lady (1974) Mimieux
Callan (1974) Woodward
Shatter (1974) Whitman
*The Godfather: Part II (1974) Amerigo Tot (Michael’s bodyguard)
*Chinatown (1974) Polanski
Funeral for an Assassin (1974) Morrow
Mr. Majestyk (1974) Lettieri
The Eiger Sanction (1975) Eastwood
The Killer Elite (1975) Caan
Three Days of the Condor (1975) von Sydow
Death Rage (1976) Brynner
Bad (1977) Baker
Tattooed Hit Man (1977) Sugawara
The Disappearance (1977) Donald Sutherland
The Perfect Killer (1977) Robert Widmark, Lee Van Cleef (Quel pomeriggio maledetto)
Too Hot to Handle (1977) Caffaro
Malibu High (1979) Lansing
The Hard Way (1979) McGoohan
Portrait of a Hitman (1979)
Buddy Buddy (1981) Lemmon
*Sharky’s Machine (1981) Silva
The Professional: Golgo 13 (1983) animated
Grace Quigley (1984) Nolte
The Evil That Men Do (1984) Bronson
The Hit (1984) Stamp
Prizzi’s Honor (1985) Nicholson
Best Seller (1987)
Malone (1987) Reynolds
Cohen and Tate (1988) Scheider
D.O.A. (1988) Quaid
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) Ohrbach
Hit List (1989) Vincent
The Killer (1989) Yun-Fat Chow
Déjà vu 1990
La Femme Nikita (1990) Parillaud
Narrow Margin (1990) Sikking
I Hired a Contract Killer (1990) Leaud
Diary of a Hitman (1991) Whitaker
The Hitman (1991) Norris
This Gun for Hire (1991) Robert Wagner
Point of No Return (1993) Fonda
Red Rock West (1993) Cage
The Hit List (1993) Fahey
Cible emouvante (1993) Rochefort aka Wild Target
Romeo Is Bleeding (1997) Oldman
Pulp Fiction (1994) Travolta, Jackson
Leon: The Professional (1994) Reno
Little Odessa (1994) Roth
Killer (1994) LaPaglia aka Bulletproof Heart
Assassins (1995) Stallone
Man with a Gun (1995) Madsen
Fallen Angels (1995) Lai (Duo luo tian shi)
Crying Freeman (1995) Dacascos
Coldblooded (1995) Priestley
Night of the Running Man (1995) Glenn, Glover
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) Davis
2 Days in the Valley (1996) Aiello
The Jackal (1997) Willis
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) Cusack
Rainy Dog (1997) Aikawa
Killing Time (1998) Torgan
The Replacement Killers (1998) Yun-Fat Chow (action film)
The Big Hit (1998) Wahlberg
The Contract Killer (1998) Li (Sat sau ji wong)
Jerry and Tom (1998) Mantegna
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) Whitaker
Hitman’s Run (1999) Roberts
The Boondock Saints (1999) Dafoe
The Whole Nine Yards (2000) Willis
Get Carter (2000) Stallone
Panic (2000) Macy
Fulltime Killer (2001) Lau (Chuen jik sat sau)
Road to Perdition (2002) Hanks
The Bourne Identity (2002) Damon
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) Rockwell
Interview with the Assassin (2002) Barry
Assassination Tango (2002) Duvall
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) Thurman
The Hunted (2003) Del Toro (Special ops assassin)
The Bourne Supremacy (2004) Damon
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) Thurman
Collateral (2004) Cruise
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) Washington
The Prodigy (2005) Vorhis
The Matador (2005) Brosnan
Shadowboxer (2005) Gooding, Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) Pitt
Crank (2006) Statham
Lucky Number Slevin (2006) Willis
Solo (2006) Friels
The Contract (2006) Freeman
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) Damon
Hitman (2007) Olyphant
You Kill Me (2007) Kingsley
No Country for Old Men (2007) Bardem
Le Tueur (2007) Melki
Shooter (2007) Wahlberg
In Bruges (2008) Farrell
Journal of a Contract Killer (2008) Powell
Bangkok Dangerous (2008) Cage
Domovoy (2008) Mashkov
Wanted (2008) Jolie
Killshot (2008) Rourke
The Last Lullaby (2008) Sizemore
The Merry Gentleman (2008) Keaton
Chicago Overcoat (2009) Vincent
The Limits of Control (2009) Bankole
Wild Target (2010) Nighy
The Assassin Next Door (2009) Kurylenko
Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009) Kikuchi
Hired Gun (2009) Wood
Road of no Return (2009)
Icarus (2010) aka The Killing Machine Dolph Lundgren
The Yellow Sea (2010) Jung-woo Ha
Red (2010) Willis
The American (2010) Clooney
Colombiana (2011) Saldana
The Mechanic (2011) Statham
Headshot (2011) Chaiyanam
Requiem for a Killer (2011) Laurent
The Confession (2011) K. Sutherland
The Double (2011) Gere
The Hit List (2011) Gooding, Jr.
Assassination Games (2011) Van Damme
Certain Prey (2011) Maslany
Hanna (2011) Saoirse Ronan
Killer Elite (2011) Statham
Killer Joe (2011) McConaughey
Kill List (2011) Maskell
Assassin’s Bullet (2012) Portnoy
Interview with a Hitman (2012) Goss
Bullet to the Head (2012) Stallone
The Iceman (2012) Shannon
The Liability (2012) Roth
A Company Man (2012) So Ji-sub
Killing Them Softly (2012) James Gandolfini, Pitt
Looper (2012) Willis
One in the Chamber (2012) Gooding, Lundgren
Four Assassins (2013) Lee, Ferrer, Renard, Williams
On the Job (2013) Torre, Anderson
3 Days to Kill (2014) Costner
John Wick (2014) Reeves
Run All Night (2015) Neeson
A Hitman in London (2015) aka Skin Traffik
Sicario (2015) delToro