April in Paris is a time for lovers , but for a ruthless drug baron called Jacques Brizard (James Mason) is the smuggling season and for the destructors it's the killing time . When a US intelligence agent , Steve Ventura (Anthony Quinn) , is unable to bring a heinous kingpin to justice , he resorts to hiring and is put in contact with a likable contract killer , John Deray (Michael Caine) , who results to be a former friend . These Three Great Protagonists Anthony Quinn , Michael Caine , James Mason Live the Sweet Life But They Play a Game of Sudden Death.
Nice Paris-located crime drama with intrigue , suspense , thrills , car pursuits , twists and turns . The picture succeeds because of the thriller , tension , as well as an intelligent written script written by Judd Bernard delving into a twisted intrigue dealing how to chase an extreme villain . It packs an exceptionally fine camera work , attractive sequences and car crashes on the metropolitan streets , in Paris and Marseille . This thrilling picture mingles action-packed , drama , exciting pursuits , suspense , cross and double-crosses as well as spectacular sequences though won't mean much on little screen TV . Pulse-quickening thriller movie but plenty of clichés and lots of violence , shootouts and killings . Anthony Quinn is top-notch as US drug agent to stop a nasty kingpin , being helped by a hired killer who turns out to be an old friend . An animated Michael Caine stands out as the sympathetic assassin . And James Mason is perfect , as usual , as a drug lord who belongs to aristocracy of underworld . This excellent main cast is supported by an adequate support cast , such as : Maurice Ronet , Alexandra Stewart , Maureen Kerwin , Marcel Bozzuffi , Catherine Rouvel and the eternal secondary Vernon Dobtcheff . Colorful cinematography by Douglas Slocombe , shot on location in Gare d'Orsay, Grotte, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont , Paris , Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, and Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France . Stirring and lively musical score by Roy Budd .
This film also released as "The Destructors" was professionally directed by Robert Parrish , though it has some flaws and gaps . Robert was an Academy Award-winning film editor who also realized and acted in movies . As an editor he won an Academy Award for Body and soul (1947), the 1947 Robert Rossen film that starred John Garfield as a money-grubbing, two-timing boxer on the make. Parrish also worked on All the King's Men (1949), an account of the rise and fall of a Louisiana politician that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Parrish then moved on to direct films during the 1950s and 1960s . Among his best received works was the brooding western ¨Saddle the Wind¨ (1958) , a Noir film titled ¨Cry danger¨, a Sci-Fi picture titled ¨Journey to the far side of the sun¨, the wartime movie ¨Purple plain¨ that resulted to be one of the best films and other strange Western called ¨A town called Bastard¨ . And of course , this his final film , the exciting thriller titled ¨The Marseille Contract¨ .
