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SHATTER
(1974)
A.K.A.
- Call Him Mr. Shatter
Reviewed
by Pat King
'Shatter'
was the second and last Hammer/Shaw Brothers co-production.
Unlike 'Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires', the first of the two
studio's collaborations, 'Shatter' was a modern day affair.
The production was plagued with problems as director Monte
Hellman left the production after three weeks, as he had only
completed half the picture. The producer Michael Carreras took
over as director but took a further six months to complete the
film. Hellman was asked to edit the final version but
declined, as he had his name removed from the production
completely and wanted no more involvement in the picture.
An
assassin who goes by the name Shatter (Stuart Whitman) carries
out a hit on an African dictator. However when he lands in
Hong Kong to collect his payment, it becomes apparent that he
is a marked man. International banker Hans Leber (Anton
Diffring) whom Shatter believes himself to have been
contracted by, turns him away telling him that he did not
issue the contract. As well as having other hitmen after him,
British government agent Paul Rattwood (Peter Cushing) is also
on his case. After getting beaten up by Rattwood's heavy's,
bystander Tai Pah (Ti Lung) takes him under his wing. Shatter
eventually discovers that the hit he carried out had nothing
to do with politics like he had been led to believe
and was all about the dictator terminating his opium
business with the crime syndicate, whom employed Hans Leber as
their international banker. Under the realisation that he is
black listed and can never work as a hitman again, Shatter
decides to sell a list of secret European opium
laboratories he had acquired back to the syndicate. He offers
half of his potential spoils to Tai Pah in return for keeping
him alive. The syndicate isn't happy about giving up $1
million though.
'Shatter'
ran into many problems during production and this is evident
in the finished product. Even though Hellman apparently shot
less than half the film by the time he departed, by his own
admission the footage he shot made up as much as two thirds of
the final edit, including footage he originally intended to
leave on the cutting room floor. The result is a film that
doesn't go anywhere very fast which is not helped by a script
already lacking in sufficient content to successfully create a
90 minute feature.
Stuart
Whitman is woefully miscast as the contract killer. His
performance poor to say the least which is only amplified when
juxtaposed with that of Peter Cushing, whose presence is one
of the few saving graces of the film. Asides from Peter
Cushing perhaps the only other saving grace of the film is Ti
Lung. Although his English is not as good as David Chiang, his
performance is easily the second best of the film. Though this
may not be saying much as all other performances remain pretty
poor.
Being
a Shaw Brothers co-production you might expect the action to
be the real star of the film. The problem is that it is also a
Hammer film, made by a director and producer who have no
interest in martial arts. The Kung Fu on show is added purely
to cash in on the popularity created in the West by Bruce Lee
before his untimely demise. The action, while adequate, is
constantly punctuated by close ups of Whitman amongst others,
which ruins the fluidity hence spoiling them.
'Shatter'
seems to be nothing more than mere exploitation of the Kung Fu
genre. A tactic which fell flat on it's face as it flopped on
release. If you like seventies cheese then you might want to
pick this one up. Otherwise it's probably best to avoid unless
you happen to be a hardcore Shaw Brothers or Ti Lung fan. If
the idea of a Hammer/Shaw Brothers co-production intrigues you
then you would be far better served picking up a copy of
'Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires'.
Rating:
  
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