LouHomey From my favorite movies..

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

kevin olzak 1974's "Call Him Mr. Shatter" was nearly the last gasp for Britain's renowned Hammer Films, followed as it was by only three more titles and a pair of 13 episode teleseries. Second of a two picture deal with Hong Kong's Shaw brothers, preceded by "The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires," its lone returning cast member being Peter Cushing, in a sad finale to a sterling run at Hammer that began with the 1957 classic "The Curse of Frankenstein" (completing one episode of HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR in 1980, "The Silent Scream"). Stuart Whitman stars in the title role, that of a professional assassin whose latest successful hit, the president of a (fictitious) African nation, results in his payment deferred by recalcitrant international banker Hans Leber (Anton Diffring). Not keen on losing $100,000, Shatter quickly learns that it was neither the US nor Britain that actually hired him, but the drug syndicate that found the president's lookalike brother a better fit for their nefarious needs. Paul Rattwood (Cushing), British security agent in Hong Kong, advises Shatter to leave or sacrifice his health, but with support from martial artist Tai Pah (Li Tung) and sister Mai-Mee (Lily Li), plays off both Rattwood and Leber for greater financial gain, ultimately left no choice but to remain in Hong Kong for the rest of his life. The opening builds nicely through Cushing's introduction 21 minutes in, then goes into a slumber as over a half hour of staged kung fu fights stops the plot dead in its tracks. The choreography is fine, but none of the blows actually hit their targets, the stunts consisting of men simply leaping or falling (no match for Bruce Lee's authenticity). Any film that requires its audience to root for a professional hit man for hire is asking quite a bit, so its really Cushing's three scenes, and Diffring's solid evil presence that truly keep it from sinking completely. Cushing's cynical character initially comes off as quite villainous and never really shakes that image, even when he come through at the end with Shatter's final remuneration. Despite its reputation, it remains quite watchable, perhaps due more to director Monte Hellman's yeoman efforts, filming roughly 80% of the finished film before being unceremoniously dumped toward the end of shooting by Hammer producer Michael Carreras, who took sole directorial credit (he'd been hired because of his familiarity with the location).

inspectors71 I have almost no memory of this film, yet I'm writing a review. Go figure! I seem to remember Stuart Whitman as some sort of hit-man in Hong Kong. It was entertaining and badly dubbed and fairly gory; the sort of movie HBO used to fill up their schedule with when they weren't showing more traditional features and before they went off the air at midnight.My suggestion is to read the ten other reviews and, if this long-lost and forgettable Kung Fu/Spy flick piques your interest, rent it or buy a used copy.Enjoy!

BaronBl00d An African dictator is assasinated by a secret serviceman unbeknownst that he was hired by a mob rather than his government. He goes to Hong Kong to collect his fee and finds that the mob, his own government, and the African nation are all after him. Stuart Whitman plays the very tired looking Mr. Shatter. He looks like Jack Riley playing Mr. Carlin on the Bob Newhart Show! He meets up with a couple kung fu fighters, one a young man who is the best fighter in Asia and the other a young girl who falls in love with Whitman's lack of charm and exhausted looks. The film has some great fight scenes and the young kung fu expert Lung Ti is an exceptional martial arts expert. Despite the film's obvious flaws, it is a pretty good action-thriller. The acting takes a back seat to the martial arts and the great scenery of a bustling Hong Kong. Peter Cushing has a small role as a British secret service agent and his cameo is the best thing in the film. The role gives Cushing a great part as a rather sadistic, sharp-tounged man with a great sense of ironic humour. He chews his lines with obvious relish(must have been happy he got the free trip to Hong Kong when he heard he was going to be billed below Stuart Whitman in a film named Shatter!). Whitman is also bested by Anton Diffring as the banker for the mob and Whitman's chief nemesis. Diffring had a way playing men of low moral character. Hammer worked with the Shaw Brothers(they produced numerous martial arts films) and came out with a pretty entertaining film. Though not nearly as exciting or innovative as The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, Shatter still delivers some punch...and flying feet!

Matt Moses Hammer helped define the gothic vampire genre, for which we should be thankful, but they also found need to dabble in other fields with mixed results. Shatter did not have the most inspired mixture and doesn't stand the test of time very well. Perpetually grouchy killer for hire Stuart Whitman fails goes to Hong Kong where he fails to collect from disreputable banker Anton Diffring. Corrupt government official Peter Cushing has his men beat the pulp out of Whitman, who stumbles off to a massage parlor where kung fu master Lung Ti treats him to a freebie from adorable Li-Li Li (whose name sounds like the refrain to a doo-wop song). Whitman finds his apartment blown up so he takes refuge at his new friends' dojo. He slips underground for a while but gets attacked at a martial arts invitational won by understated Ti. Without questioning the moral validity of his instincts, they help him in his quest to extort a mil from Diffring. International affairs gets somewhat sticky from here, and the bullets fly freely until the predictable climax. Carreras tries his best to present Whitman as a then-prevalent philosopher killer, but the weak introspective sequences that show Whitman roaming around his apartment fail to do the trick. The apparently sensitive regret he feels for his victims comes off as a brooding doom with little real emotion backing it up. Shatter's intolerance for international culture makes a few unexpected peeps from its veneer of acceptance. Snooty references to eating snakes evidence a discomfort with the behavior of a foreign country. The background story sets this attitude in stone: Whitman's being tracked down for getting involved with political affairs in Badawi, a corrupt puppet country in Africa in which brothers contentedly murder brothers for money and power. Such situations may perhaps at time truly occur, but the same can be found in Shakespeare with less disapproval asked of the audience. The degree of acceptance present can be seen as a sense of tragedy, completely disconnected with the random slaying of evil black or Asian characters. I don't mean to push the point, but I found it odd that both major black characters were played no-name Yemi Ajibade in an otherwise internationally well-known cast. Cult director Monte Hellman apparently assisted Carreras, far more experienced as a producer, but did not receive credit. Writer Don Houghton produced the other Shaw/Hammer co-production, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires and also takes credit for the awful but amusing Dracula AD 1972. Scenes allegedly shot in Badawi, a country that does not exist, were probably done in Hong Kong.