'The Hard Way' (1979) - Michael Dryhurst.

It's not all that often, with little to no ballyhoo, that a fully fledged cult classic turns up seemingly out of the blue, and then, you are then blissfully made aware of the fabulous fact that a splendidly made, flawlessly acted Hitman thriller exists starring the legendary duo of, Patrick McGoohan and Lee Van Cleef! A seemingly miraculous, rapidly giddy-making cinematic union one dare not even dream about, and, yet, it really happened, and, frustratingly, all too few cult movie fans are aware that such an iconic clash of Promethean acting titans ever took place!

For a modestly budgeted thriller made over 40 years ago 'The Hard Way' has a stark, curiously contemporaneous feel. Extremely aesthetic, the uniquely expressive Irish vistas contrasted by the glacial, brittle-sounding krautrock-inspired themes by, Brian Eno, our steely protagonists resplendent in macho Sweeney-esque chic! Dryhurst's lean, unfussy filmmaking is pleasingly terse, The Hard Way's muted colour palate ideally suited to the increasingly grim, nihilistic milieu of middle-aged mercenary, John Connor (Patrick McGoohan). 

Weary of the life, Connor plans to retire, but his far from altruistic handler, McNeil (Lee Van Cleef) forcefully demands one last fateful kill from the laconic sharpshooter. Unbowed, the hefty sum of £40.000 cannot sway the intractable, stone-faced Connor, and this schism in their previously amicable working relationship provides for a most explosive dénouement. The no less indomitable, McNeal now setting his sights on Connor, thereby the doomy stage is set for an inevitably fatal showdown between these two embattled gunfighters! Eagle-eyed Connor favours a sweet-looking Princes 1800 HL, packing a shotgun, doggedly stalking his wily, shadowy prey, McNeal within the picturesque, rain-lashed emerald splendour of rural Ireland, rather than the sun-bleached haze of Almeria, Spain.

Ripe for rediscovery, Michael Dryhurst's starkly powerful, coolly stylised, flint-edged thriller remains a more than compelling proposition. Like 'Get Carter', 'The Squeeze' and 'Villain', this noirish, Teflon tough thriller is a gritty, conspicuously hard-boiled crime classic that erupts with staccato outbursts of ballistic violence. Seething with dark-alleyed duplicity, bloody-knuckled enmity and cold steeled, gunmetal grey morality, 'The Hard Way' concludes excitingly with a trip-wire tense, exhilaratingly brutal duel of memorable intensity!!