Shatter (film)

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 date	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.

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.

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" 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"

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