By Richard Harland Smith
Assignment To Kill
Brief Synopsis
A private eye gets too involved in his investigation of a crooked shipping magnate.
Cast & Crew
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Sheldon Reynolds
Director
Patrick O'neal
Richard Cutting
Joan Hackett
Dominique Laurant
John Gielgud
Curt Valayan
Herbert Lom
Matt Wilson
Eric Portman
Notary
Film Details
Also Known As
The Assignment
MPAA Rating
Genre
Crime
Drama
Release Date
Jan
1969
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros.--Seven Arts, Inc.
Country
United States
Location
Switzerland
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 42m
Synopsis
When two ships belonging to financier Curt Valayan are lost at sea, private investigator Richard Cutting is hired by an insurance underwriting firm to look into possible fraud. Traveling to Switzerland to investigate the wreckage of a small plane supposedly containing the body of Walter Green, an employee of Valayan's, Cutting meets Matt Wilson, Valayan's top aide. After learning that a man walked away from the crash and took a taxi to Zurich, Cutting tracks down Green's secretary, Dominique Laurant, and asks her to arrange a meeting for him with Green. Although Green confesses that he personally sabotaged the two ships and is willing to sign sworn documents to that effect, he is murdered before he can do so by a powerful gunman known only as the Big Man. Disappointed by Cutting's apparent failure, Dominique sets herself up as a "patsy" for the killers by boldly telling Wilson that she has Green's signed confession. This gives Cutting the idea to bribe a notary to sign some documents and date them prior to Green's death. Once this act is accomplished, he returns to Dominique's hotel and discovers that she has been strangled by the Big Man. Determined to avenge her death, Cutting arranges a meeting with Valayan and warns him that unless he returns the insurance money the underwriting firm will plant a phony news story about his oil holdings. After thwarting an attempt on his own life by pushing the Big Man to his death from a balcony, Cutting returns to Valayan's chalet and persuades him that the planted news story is actually true: Green's documents prove that the doublecrossing Wilson has made a deal with a Middle Eastern country to take over Valayan's oil interests. Once the enraged Valayan has turned on Wilson and killed him, Cutting retracts his offer to hand over the Green documents. As Cutting leaves, Police Inspector Ruff arrives in time to find Wilson's murdered body lying in the center of Valayan's living room.
Director
Sheldon Reynolds
Director
Cast
Patrick O'neal
Richard Cutting
Joan Hackett
Dominique Laurant
John Gielgud
Curt Valayan
Herbert Lom
Matt Wilson
Eric Portman
Notary
Peter Van Eyck
Walter Green
Oscar Homolka
Inspector Ruff
Leon Greene
The Big Man
Kent Smith
Mr. Eversley
Philip Ober
Bohlen
Fifi D'orsay
Mrs. Hennie
Eva Soreny
Landlady
Cynthia Baxter
Felice Valayan
Crew
Enzo Barboni
Director of Photography
Gordon Bau
Makeup Supervisor
John Beckman
Art Director
Charles Bonniwell Jr.
Unit Manager
William Conrad
Executive Producer
George James Hopkins
Set Decoration
Stanley Jones
Sound
Gil Kissel
Assistant Director
William Lava
Music
Harold Lipstein
Director of Photography
Jean Burt Reilly
Supervisor hairstylist
Sheldon Reynolds
Screenwriter
George Rohrs
Film Editor
Film Details
Also Known As
The Assignment
MPAA Rating
Genre
Crime
Drama
Release Date
Jan
1969
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros.--Seven Arts, Inc.
Country
United States
Location
Switzerland
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 42m
Articles
Assignment to Kill -
Former radio and TV writer Sheldon Reynolds impressed Hollywood in 1951 when, at the age of only 26, he began producing Foreign Intrigue, a half-hour espionage drama shot entirely on location in Europe. Running for four seasons on NBC, the series' international success allowed Reynolds to step up to features and tap Robert Mitchum for a leading man (reuse of the title Foreign Intrigue for the unrelated 1956 release was at the prerogative of distributor United Artists). Too independent to be anchored at one studio, Reynolds preferred to work abroad and in London created the situation comedy Dick and the Duchess, starring Patrick O'Neal and Hazel Court as mismatched newlyweds: he an American insurance agent, she the heir to an aristocratic British family. For his 1969 feature Assignment to Kill (shot in 1966 under the working title The Assignment), Reynolds reteamed with O'Neal, whom he cast as yet another insurance investigator named Richard, tasked this time with running down fraud and felony in Switzerland. A celebrated stage actor who found it difficult to achieve a similar success in Hollywood, O'Neal was at this time enjoying a brief tenure as a headliner, before problems with alcohol knocked him back to the ranks of supporting players, in such films as The Way We Were (1973) and The Stepford Wives (1975). Assignment to Kill was the last feature-length outing for Reynolds, who remained active afterwards bringing the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to West German television.
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
Assignment to Kill -
Former radio and TV writer Sheldon Reynolds impressed Hollywood in 1951 when, at the age of only 26, he began producing Foreign Intrigue, a half-hour espionage drama shot entirely on location in Europe. Running for four seasons on NBC, the series' international success allowed Reynolds to step up to features and tap Robert Mitchum for a leading man (reuse of the title Foreign Intrigue for the unrelated 1956 release was at the prerogative of distributor United Artists). Too independent to be anchored at one studio, Reynolds preferred to work abroad and in London created the situation comedy Dick and the Duchess, starring Patrick O'Neal and Hazel Court as mismatched newlyweds: he an American insurance agent, she the heir to an aristocratic British family. For his 1969 feature Assignment to Kill (shot in 1966 under the working title The Assignment), Reynolds reteamed with O'Neal, whom he cast as yet another insurance investigator named Richard, tasked this time with running down fraud and felony in Switzerland. A celebrated stage actor who found it difficult to achieve a similar success in Hollywood, O'Neal was at this time enjoying a brief tenure as a headliner, before problems with alcohol knocked him back to the ranks of supporting players, in such films as The Way We Were (1973) and The Stepford Wives (1975). Assignment to Kill was the last feature-length outing for Reynolds, who remained active afterwards bringing the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to West German television.
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Copyright length: 98 min. Filmed in 1966; locations in Switzerland. The working title of this film is The Assignment.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States January 1969
Released in United States Winter December 1968
Shot in 1966.
Released in United States January 1969
Released in United States Winter December 1968
