Death Shot

Without knowing the context, Shot comes across as a run-of-the-mill cop thriller from the 1970s. That was exactly the intention of its creators, who were not seasoned genre craftsmen, but a group of students. Shot was made as a semi-professional project by students from the University of Illinois and, what’s more, with a budget of only $15,000, which the filmmakers earned by holding film screenings in their dormitory. Awareness of the project's regional and student roots is essentially what makes it likable. It is not often that a feature-length project is made in student conditions and, furthermore, conceived as a pureblood genre flick without ostentatiously self-reflective betrayals of the given genre. On the contrary, Shot adheres precisely to the style learned from contemporary thrillers like Dirty Harry and The French Connection. Its student/enthusiast pedigree is manifested only in its typically unconcealed enthusiasm for the equipment that the filmmakers had at hand, which here means an overabundance of shots taken from a helicopter. The filmmakers also genuinely adore the film fashion of the day, or rather the form it is given in cop movies. Thanks to the distinctive hairstyles, moustaches, worn-out civilian clothes and, mainly, the sunglasses worn by the characters regardless of the fact that the whole story takes place in winter, Shot now looks like an entirely serious feature-length version of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” video, which I think is a calling card the filmmakers would be very pleased with. (11/14/2021)