Hit!

Paramount. Dir Sidney J. Furie; Producer Harry Korshak; Screenplay Alan R. Trustman, David M. Wolf; Camera John A. Alonso; Editor Argyle Nelson; Music Lalo Schifrin

Billy Dee Williams
Richard Pryor
Paul Hampton
Gwen Welles
Warren Kemmerling
Janet Brande

Too bad that so much of the script relies on illogical plotting and heavy-handed irony, because the basic idea is excellent and many of the details are richly conceived.

Billy Dee Williams plays a Federal operative whose daughter dies from drug overdose. Unable to get official action that would lead to capture of the key figures in a Marseilles drug syndicate, he launches his own vendetta against the 'murderers.'

The juxtaposition of grubby US pushers and users against the elegant refinement of the French suppliers is a labored echo of The French Connection's opening. Once the exposition is out of the way, however, Hit! really scores with a number of sharp-edged secondary roles, a charismatic dimension to Williams' leading performance, some tautly edited and dramatically photographed action setpieces and some nifty comic business deftly handled by Furie. Production values are topnotch.

(Color) Widescreen. Extract of a review from 1973. Running time: 134 MIN.

Variety is striving to present the most thorough review database. To report inaccuracies in review credits, please click here. We do not currently list below-the-line credits, although we hope to include them in the future. Please note we may not respond to every suggestion. Your assistance is appreciated.