Shatter (film)

For other uses, see Shatter (disambiguation).
Shatter

Original film poster
Directed by Michael Carreras
Monte Hellman
Produced by Michael Carreras
Written by Don Houghton
Starring Stuart Whitman
Lung Ti
Lily Li
Peter Cushing
Anton Diffring
Music by David Lindup
Distributed by Hammer Films
Avco-Embassy
Starz, Anchor Bay
Release dates
 1974 (UK),
1 July 1980 (Hong Kong)
Running time
 89 min.
Language English

Shatter also known as Call Him Mr Shatter and They Call Him Mr Shatter is a 1974 British-Hong Kong action film starring Stuart Whitman, Lung Ti, Lily Li, Anton Diffring and Peter Cushing in his last film for Hammer Studios. It was the second and final international co-production between Hammer Studios of England and Shaw Brothers Studio of Hong Kong. The film was shot entirely on location in Hong Kong and was first released in 1974 in UK.

Plot outline

Shatter (Stuart Whitman) is a hitman contracted to kill a dictator in a certain African country. He completes his assignment and returns to Hong Kong to collect his fee, only to learn that he himself is the next target of the assassination because he was intended to be used as a scapegoat by his client for a larger political agenda. Being pursued by various government agencies and gangsters, Shatter seeks help from a master martial artist Tai Pah (Lung Ti) and promise to share half of his fee in exchange for Tai Pah’s protection and assistance to recovering his fee.

Production

The film was begun by Monte Hellman who was replaced either for shooting "incomprehensible rushes" or being behind schedule. Michael Carreras took over direction and brought in a new cinematographer. Carreras complained "In my opinion, the action scenes lack excitement, the dialogue scenes are dull and Hong Kong looks like a slum. I just don't know how to salvage it"[1] The experience made Carreras vow to never direct or produce a film again. A new score was added when the original Shaw Brothers score horrified music director Philip Martell who thought it "absoutely appalling"[2]

Plans to turn Shatter into a television series starring Stuart Whitman were shelved when Avco-Embassy didn't pick up the US release of the film until 1976.[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ p. 98 Stevens, Brad Monte Hellman: His Life and Films McFarland, 2003
  2. ↑ p. 238 Huckvale, David James Bernard, Composer To Count Dracula: A Critical Biography McFarland, 2006
  3. ↑ p.148 Miller, David & Carlson, Veronica The Complete Peter Cushing Reynolds & Hearn, 01/02/2005
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