One of Martin Scorsese’s favorites and, by his own admission, a major influence on Taxi Driver and The Departed, Contract centers on Claude (Vince Edwards), who enters into the assassination racket as the most sure fire path to his dream of home ownership. After several successful commissions on the East Coast, he is summoned to LA to take out ex–gangland moll Billie (Caprice Toriel), who is under heavy police protection in advance of her grand-jury testimony against her former paramour. Saddled with two grumbling bodyguards (Herschel Bernardi and Phillip Pine), Claude meticulously maps out how he’s going to bump Billie off, but his killer cool starts seeping away as chance and bad luck continually foil his best laid plans.

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Choose Your Own Double Bill

During Hollywood’s Golden Era, the double bill was a popular concept, offering two films for the price of one ticket.  The second feature — nicknamed B movie — was usually a smaller budget film, with actors lesser known than the studios’ biggest stars.  Columbia was famous for its gritty, inventive B movies, often crime films. In homage to that tradition, we also offer our take on a double bill:

Present your ticket to any one of these four “A” movies  – The Big Heat / Human Desire / In a Lonely Place / The Lady From Shanghai – for a free ticket to any one of the B movies – Murder by Contract / Scandal Sheet / So Dark the Night / Walk a Crooked Mile. 

The two films do not need to be on the same day, and the free ticket can only be redeemed in person at the Box Office.