Get Hendry… Assassin (1973), Indicator Pemini Organisation Box-set

Pissholes in the snow?

Sometimes the story behind the making of a film is as fascinating as the final product itself. I’d never heard of this film but that’s not unusual as I was in junior school at the time however there’s good reason why it’s not come to my attention since then as one of a piece with other tough-edged fare of this period including obviously Get Carter but also Sitting Target, Villain, Unforgiven, Man of Violence and many more.

The film was the second one made by the Pemini Organisation made up of  Peter Crane, Michael Sloan and Nigel Hodgson who leaving film school combined forces, and the first two letters of their names, to create this bold new imprint with which to make films that would capture the new wave of British style… a “young, independent British production company…” with “enthusiasm and vitality who don’t just talk about films, they make them”.

Sadly, despite making three well-cast and inventive films in three years, Pemini ran out of steam and funding leaving their output long unseen until the release of this superb Blu-ray set including Hunted, a high-suspense thriller starring Edward Woodward and June Ritchie, and two feature films: Moments, an enigmatic romantic mystery starring Keith Michell and Angharad Rees, and this one, Assassin, starring Ian Hendry, Edward Judd, Frank Windsor, Ray Brooks and Mike Pratt. The company’s ultimate failure was not down to lack of class or imagination but the complexities of distribution and the arid marketplace in seventies Britain for films that did not quite fit.

Ina Hendry

Directed by Peter Crane from a script by Michael Sloane, Assassin is full of fresh energy from the get-go as a darkened room shows illicit hands photographing classified materials. The scenes shift and we’re at British intelligence with MI5 Controller (Edward Judd) calling in his men to authorise a hit on the suspect who we quickly see is Ministry of Defence official John Stacy (Frank Windsor). Control tells two of his finest, Matthew (Mike Pratt on excellent form, edgy and unpredictable) and Luke (Frank Duncan) – biblical reference duly noted – to keep an eye, as he’s calling in one of the deadliest guns for hire and, at this short notice, and so un-planned, anything could go wrong.

Meanwhile we find Stacy working late in his office with, incidentally, a very attractive and familiar young secretary (Celia Imrie in her first film role). We discover that Stacy’s about to be the best man of the man who has just got the promotion he was, once again, passed over for, public school educated and connected, Edward Craig (Ray Brooks). Stacy’s preoccupied about many things yet he joins Craig’s stage night and is happy to be his best man for the wedding. Stacy’s wife Ann (the excellent Caroline John, RSC member and an early companion for Jon Pertwee’s Doctor) understands both men full well and just wishes her’s would accept his achievements in rising from state school and the working class.

Caroline John and Frank Windsor

If Stacy thinks he has problems, things are about to get worse as his Assassin arrives in the UK and begins to prepare for his work. Ian Hendry is magnetic in this film, carrying a wearily professional air but also clearly traumatised by his lifestyle and a recent near miss involving an Eastern Block agent who very nearly outcompeted him. There’s only so long you can stay on top of this game and this mission has come at the wrong time as he is not only haunted by the near-death experience but actively seeking to get out of the game.

Killing time before his appointment with Stacy – he’s the perfect spot overlooking the car park of the wedding venue and where he can make the kill in a public space to send the appropriate message to the other side – he ends up in a pub talking to a very pretty young woman (Verna Harvey). Harvey is a former ballerina who danced with the Bolshoi at Covent Garden aged 14 and had a very busy seventies as an actor before, presumably, starting a family as well as moving into production. She’s very good here, a pure hearted woman who provides an opportunity for some humanity and tenderness to the Assassin who ultimately knows she cannot be for him.

Verna Hervey

The film is very good at presenting the dichotomy between “real life” as we happily assume it to be and the urgencies and sickness of professional, state-sponsored killings. Hendry’s character lives in another world, one where his peace of mind has forever been shattered by his murderous routines and the ever-present thought that he himself is being watched all of the time: a deadly weapon and, ultimately, a threat to every side.

There’s also a superbly executed rhythm as the story moves inexorably towards what will have to be a deadly conclusion. As Stacy and Ann play their parts at the wedding and our gunman enjoys his romantic interlude, we know things are about to explode… what we can’t be sure about is exactly for whom that bell is going to toll.

Caroline John, Franks Windsor and Ray Brooks

Dusty verdict: Assassin is an impactful, pacey film full of interesting moments and skilled performances, it certainly stands up both as a time-capsule but also as entertainment and I would highly recommend this set.

It includes:

·         New restorations of Hunted and Assassin from 4K scans of the only surviving film elements by Powerhouse Films

·         Audio commentaries on Hunted and Assassin with Pemini co-founder and director Peter Crane and film historian Sam Dunn (2022)

·         Organising Principles (2022, 32 mins): Crane remembers the origins of Pemini and his subsequent work in Hollywood.

·         An Amazing Time (2022, 7 mins): Pemini co-founder and writer Michael Sloan looks back at his three early films.

·         Good Chemistry (2022, 29 mins): Pemini co-founder Nigel Hodgson revisits an exciting chapter in his life.

·         A Group of Friends (2022, 14 mins): June Ritchie, star of Hunted, recalls her time with Pemini.

·         Scoring with Gerry (2022, 13 mins): the veteran Soho musician Graham Dee remembers his work with Gerry Shury on the compositions for In Search of Lebanon and Hunted

 

The three films are accompanied by a wealth of newly produced extras, including feature-length director commentaries, cast and crew interviews, and an 80-page book. It is a numbered limited edition – mine’s 1487/6000 – so I wouldn’t hang around if I were you, get your order in and take a trip back to a most excellent adventure: “an amazing time” indeed!

You can order from Powerhouse Films where it's on special offer!

 

Edward Judd

Mike Pratt and Frank Duncan

Verna Harvey and Ian Hendry

Is Ian reading Isaac Asimov's Foundation or The Assassin?

Interesting to see the ads for other films of the time, Pulp and Shaft

Crime and punishment... House of Whipcord (1974)

Ah, now… this is one of those films that sounds worse than it is; it’s a clumsy title and even the opening dedication "… to those who are disturbed by today's lax moral codes and who eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment"… doesn’t necessarily give the game away, at least for some over-earnest reviewers. Director and story writer Peter Walker was deeply opposed to the misuse of authority and what he saw as an ever-widening gap between the establishment and most of (permissive) society. Like many of his films, House of Whipcord was very successful and its more sensational elements – frequent nudity, sometimes excruciating cruelty and pretty women in prison – all but obscured its message.

The version I saw was probably an edited version and it seems odd for a film featuring such actorly talent as Ray Brooks, Patrick Barr and Barbara Markham in such sensationalist fare. Both Brooks and Barr were to feature in Walker’s The Flesh and Blood Show (which has far more of the former than the latter) and his films are well made overall in spite of clear budget constraints. He creates real atmosphere and tension with stories that are indeed more “terror” (his preferred descriptor) than horror and more sin-full than sinning (just about). They’re engaging and characterful even if not all of the performers are of the quality of the aforementioned.

Sheila Keith

 The film’s structure is also quite unusual beginning not quite with the end but with a pivotal moment in the narrative that we assume could be the end – for good or bad. An exhausted young woman is running through woods in a desperate search for someone to help her. She’s covered in bruises and is wearing a thin blue dress… she’s picked up by a lorry driver (Ivor Salter) who takes her in his cab and finding her almost unable to communicate, heads off to get her help.

Then the story really starts as we find a group of young adults who are enjoying a “permissive” existence. Julia (Ann Michelle – Vicky’s sister) is having an affair with a man, Tony (Brooks) who is either married or in a long-term relationship; he is weighing up leaving his partner for Julia. Her flatmate, Ann-Marie (Penny Irving, famous for several Top of the Pops/Hot Hits LP covers as well as Are You Being Served) is French and a model who is not averse to nude work (Irving herself made numerous appearances on page three of the Sun and Mirror…).

Permissive society in action

At a party to celebrate something, there’s a large black and white shot of Ann-Marie topless being arrested by a policeman at a protest. The others agree it’s a great bit of agitation but the model herself is less impressed by their celebrations. She slinks off for some introspective browsing and meets an intense young fellow called Mark (the unblinking Robert Tayman) who appears attentive and agrees with her unease about the protest shots.

She agrees to see Mark again and whilst they have an agreeable meal he plays a trick on her by getting her to close her eyes whilst he pretends that an ice cube is the cold cutting edge of a knife. He laughs at her horrified reaction but charms her over at the end… we’re not convinced.

Ann Michelle and Penny Irving

 The story focuses a lot more on Ann-Marie and Mark at this point with Julia and Tony very much in the background – also atypical working from Walker. Mark whisks Ann-Marie off in his smart sporty Aston Martin to stay with his parents somewhere out West; he drives too fast and is pretty mean and even when Ann-Marie spots a ring with the name Mark E. Desade on it, she dismisses it… but we know. Well, we’ve read the film’s title for a start.

Eventually they arrive at Mark’s family pile and an imposing pile of granite grey it is too. He leads his girl into the building and leaves her with two officious women: Walker (Sheila Keith) and Bates (Dorothy Gordon) quickly change the atmosphere for Ann-Marie and a few slaps and being forced to strip soon make her realise that this is not quite the weekend she’d been expecting… She’s locked up in a cell with another girl, Claire (Judy Robinson) who is too terrified to speak and very weak.

An ice "slice" from Robert Tayman

Next Ann-Marie is hauled up in front of the establishment’s head Mrs. Wakehurst (Barbara Markham) and an old blind judge Justice Bailey (Patrick Barr): this is a private prison and they have decided to punish her for her crimes of lax morality. She’s quickly sentenced and told that she will have three chances with punishment getting more severe each time.

It’s pretty horrible stuff and not at all titillating: Walker’s lustful glances at her new young prey are unsettling and the punishment beatings are grotesque all the more so for being heard more than seen… it’s the atmosphere that Walker builds that creates the tension and this film is more disturbing than many a more graphic modern horror.

Naturally Ann-Marie tries to escape and she, naturally, gets punished for it. Mark re-appears and her last hope disappears as this is no misunderstanding; he is part of it, sent out to lure “amoral” young things into mummy’s deranged world. Still… she makes plans with the other girls (including a young Celia Imrie) to escape the place for good.

Barbara Markham and Patrick Barr

Meanwhile, Julia has finally realised something’s wrong – despite Tony’s re-assurances and sets out to track down her friend… and that’s when things start to ramp up and the pace changes more into action and some quite shocking scenes.

Dusty verdict: House of Whipcord is certainly no generic “women in prison” film and has a lot to say about intolerance, man’s inhumanity to woman and the hypocrisy of those who enjoy their vengeance on young wrong-doers. The punishment just does not fit the crime and that’s the point; today we see this more and more with social media junkies baying for blood and relishing every twist and turn…

It's atmospheric and the unusual narrative keeps you anxious especially given strong perfromances from the jailors and captives - Penny Irving in particular.

The film is now available on Bluray after long years in the VHS dungeon. Available from Amazon of course.