Slayground (1983)

Thieves run over a child while escaping after a robbery. A deadly hitman who likes to taunt his targets is hired to track them down. Stone moves to England, but the assassin follows. Loosely based on Donald Westlake's cult crime novel.

Director:

Terry Bedford

Writers:

Trevor Preston, Donald E. Westlake (novel) (as Richard Stark)

Stars:

Peter Coyote, Mel Smith, Billie Whitelaw

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Coyote	...	Stone
Mel Smith	...	Terry Abbatt
Billie Whitelaw	...	Madge
Philip Sayer	...	Costello
Bill Luhrs	...	Joe Sheer
Marie Masters	...	Joni
Clarence Felder	...	Orxel
Ned Eisenberg	...	Lonzini
David Hayward	...	Laufman
Michael Ryan	...	Danard
Barrett Mulligan	...	Lucy
Kelli Maroney	...	Jolene
Margareta Arvidssen	...	Grete
Rosemary Martin	...	Dr. King
Malcolm Terris	...	Venner

Storyline

Thieves run over a child while escaping after a robbery. A deadly hitman who likes to taunt his targets is hired to track them down. Stone moves to England, but the assassin follows. Loosely based on Donald Westlake's cult crime novel.

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Plot Keywords:

robbery | england | taunt | hitman | thief | 

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Taglines:

Welcome To Your Funeral!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

February 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alugado para Matar

Filming Locations:

Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$108,128, 29 January 1984, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$154,469

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jennie and Company,Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kelli Maroney's film debut.

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Quotes

Terry Abbatt: You're fucking crazy, do you know that? Do you? You've lived half your life and where are you? 5,000 miles from home, in a bankrupt seaside town, on a snide passport, talking shit to a dead man. And what have you got? What have you got? You haven't got a pot to piss in. No money, your wife in hiding in some shithole in Mexico, half crippled by some fucking maniac. All that bollocks you were giving me about you and Joanie.
Parker: I meant it.
Terry Abbatt: Aw! Fuck you did!

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Connections

References Point Blank (1967)

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Soundtracks

Freedom
(uncredited)
Music by John Saunders
De Wolfe Music Ltd

User Reviews

This movie stinks

The movie is based on Donald Westlake's (Writing under the Pseudonym Richard Stark) classic crime suspense novel SLAYGROUND, featuring the sociopath profession criminal, Parker, from a series of books with that same character. The director of the movie apparently decided he didn't like the books or their main character. In this stupid and clichéd thriller, he uses neither. More or less, the director or producer, whoever made this inept decision, simply took the title of the novel and cooked up a script bearing no relation to the book or any in the series, in order to suite what they believed would be something better. If you're looking for the Parker from the Richard Stark PARKER novels, forget about it. He's been replaced by a small time hood who spews out lines like, "I'm a thief, not a killer." "I'm afraid." "I've never killed anybody." I'm sure if you're a fan of those novels you don't need to hear anymore. I've saved you from wasting your money on this abysmal take on SLAYGROUND. It's a shame, too, because the book would have made a classic movie, but they chose to film something else.