I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The first time I watched this I could have sworn it caused me pain, but the second time I watched it (years later) I didn't find it to be too bad...not great mind you...but not awful.Jack Palance (It can Be Done Amigo) is JimBuck, painter and hit-man and supreme mumbler who can't do a hit because it's on the head of his mate Bo Svenson (Snowbeast), a brilliant neurosurgeon who's about to operate on a guy who's going to rat on the mob. JimBuck can't go through with it, which enrages Rod Steiger (Duck you sucka), who is also Palance's friend. Can Jack put everything right and get out of the mob? Or will Richard Roundtree get 'his arse' as he says in his African accent.There's much navel gazing in this film and not much action. You'd be surprised to know that Rod Steiger does some shouting. I did kind of dig it up to a point but was supremely confused by the ending (what happened to Richard Roundtree?). Palance does get into a few gunfights but you'll have to be pretty tolerant of low budget films to enjoy this. Like me- I'll watch any crap these days. Palance does kill an awful lot of black guys, which is a bit alarming.To sum up - I had this film in my collection for years before I watched it. That should give you an indication of what to expect.

According to IMDb, this film wasn't released until 1984, seven years after its completion. When you watch Portrait of a Hit Man (as the title appears on screen), you'll understand why it sat in the can so long. Jack Palance delivers one of his anguished non-performance performances as Jim Buck, a professional gunman (and amateur painter) hired by Max Andreotti (a svelte Rod Steiger) to rub out Dr. Bob Michaels (Bo Svenson). Problem: Jim and Bob are best buds from way back, and Jim is most reluctant to carry out the hit. There's a ton of navel-gazing, some very boring sex scenes, an embarrassing turn from Richard Roundtree as a Jamaican drug dealer, some Asian wisdom offered by Philip Ahn, and even a brief appearance by legendary singing cowboy Herb Jeffries, who wisely chose to hang up his acting spurs after appearing in this film.

i want to write about the paintings used in the movie. They are an integral part of the plot and I guess that being a painter and a hit-man is what constitutes the main character traits. The paintings you see in the house and during the opening of the exhibition at the end of the movie are all the work of the painter Tony Mafia. I think I remember him telling that they were originally in the house of the Nassi family. The portrait of the lady, wasn't done by Tony Mafia. You can easily tell by the style and the brush strokes. Tony didn't want to do that one. In the movie they give credits to him and the other painter. He was kind of proud of that. So I have a question: Why are the credits not here also? The plot works well, since the painting brings the movie to a logical conclusion. Tony like the part were the art critics rant and rave about his work at the opening of the show. He showed me that part a few times.

I rented this movie with my girlfriend years ago. I liked the cover at the video store. Unfortuanately that and the name were the only good aspects of this film. The first 2 minutes were good, and the rest of this film is one horrible ride. If he UN arm inspectors found this movie it would be labeled a weapon of mass destruction. I remember watching this films years earlier with my dad; I for got about it because the film was that bad and I only watched half of it. The second time I watched this insomnia cure the second half made me remember this film forever. At least this time I got to cuddle with my girlfriend. This film is incredibly awful, and will haunt your memory. Not too many films merit a 1 out of 10