Hit!

1973 film by Sidney J. Furie

Hit! is a 1973 action film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor. It is about a federal agent trying to destroy a drug zone after his daughter dies from a heroin overdose. An alternate title for the film was Goodbye Marseilles.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "It's a movie out for kicks, but the kicks are so implausible, so humorless, so without redeeming style and wit, that to sit through it is to give oneself a false low." Variety faulted the film for "illogical plotting" and a too long running time that "allows for some tedium," but praised "a charismatic dimension to Williams' leading performance, some tautly edited and dramatically photographed action setpieces and some nifty comic business deftly handled by Furie," as well a "consistently excellent supporting cast." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars out of four, writing that it "isn't going to win any prizes for originality," but nevertheless provides "solid entertainment and should be a box office smash." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "at the level of calculated make believe it was seeking, the movie succeeds extremely well. It is a big, long (two hours and a quarter), richly glossy international crime adventure, a generally suspenseful piece of storytelling centering on the strong and sympathetic performance of Billy Dee Williams in the lead role."

Hit! was released to DVD by Olive Films (under license from Paramount Pictures) on April 24, 2012.