Death Is a Good Living

Leonard Rossiter is probably best thought of as one of the finest comedy performers of all time, but he was much more than just a sitcom legend and proves it here in this intriguing TV thriller from the 1960's. Rossiter plays Norman Lynch, a hitman for 30 years who tells his company boss Edward Malline (Brian Hawksley) that he wants to retire. Part of the reason is that he wants to treat his aged mother to holidays and things that he has only rarely been able to give her. She herself has no idea of his profession, with the company he works for posing as an airline business. Malline, however, persuades him to take on one last job to assassinate Ramon Aguirre (Michael Godfrey), a Cuban who is planning on travelling to Ireland and then Britain to gather arms to help overthrow the Cuban government and gain support from allies. They have no idea who wants him dead, but they have been paid to kill him and for Lynch it is just another job before he retires.

However, this last job has a twist, as Lynch will be accompanied by a young assassin called Peter Virtanen (Don Borisenko), who Malline wants him to train to make sure he is up for the job before Virtanen takes over from Lynch's job as hitman. Lynch is naturally not keen, but nevertheless takes on the job and the new trainee and soon they are travelling over to Ireland to spot their target at the airport. There are problems in the fact that the British government have sent two bodyguards to protect Aguirre, but a bigger problem for Lynch is Virtanen himself. He is young, impatient and often impetuous, eager to get the job done at the airport, despite Lynch's warnings about being patient and biding their time until the moment presents itself. However, there is a bigger reason for Virtanen's impatience, which is revealed at the end of episode 2 - he has been contracted to kill Lynch after the job is done by Malline, who is determined that nobody retires from the company.

This is an intriguing and little heard of thriller, surprisingly brief at only 4 episodes of 25 mins long, and as such there is not as much incident packed into it's story as one would of liked. It does however move at a brisk pace, and what makes this so fascinating is the conflict of emotions the viewer experiences watching this. Much of the screen time is with the hitman Lynch and his young protege Virtanen as they travel to Ireland and stake out the airport awaiting their target Aguirre, and you are conflicted between wondering if you are meant to root for them to succeed or hope that they do not. That is because Aguirre himself is not a typically reactionary revolutionary. Michael Godfrey does a good job at expressing the weariness and jadedness of Aguirre, who is more a reluctant revolutionary who is acting because he hates what is happening with his country with it's corruption and dictatorship and knows he has to help in order to do the right thing - not only for his comrades, but in his own mind. Because of Aguirre's character, you end up equally torn worrying whether he will indeed be assassinated or hoping he will survive, as his is not a clear cut bad guy, but someone who is decent and whose causes are honorable.

Yet what makes this thriller above the norm is the performance of Leonard Rossiter as Lynch. This is a man who is a hired killer, yet you cannot help but like him. Rossiter was known for his high energy and rapid fire talk, yet he is remarkably restrained here as the experienced and intelligent hitman - a marked contrast from his hot heated and somewhat irritating sidekick Virtanen. Don Borisenko is no match for Rossiter here, who gives a wonderfully nuanced performance as a man who yearns to retire and ponders whether in each killing he makes a little part of his soul dies too. It's not so much he is filled with remorse - far from it, he regards each contract as a job and that is that. But because he knows his career will soon be over, he begins to reflect on things he never thought of before. Rossiter is riverting in this, and part of the reason you are so eager for him to get out of the situation he finds himself in is that he learns that he cannot trust anyone in this business, not even his own bosses. There is an air of impending doom that hangs about this thriller, yet Lynch continues to surprise with his quick intellect as he shows he is not so easily fooled as they think. What does eventually bring his downfall comes from the most unlikely source, and the circumstances effectively moving.

The other cast members are decent enough, especially the bodyguards Prescott and Barton (Geoffrey Toone and Jeremy Burnham), who bring a human side to the characters with mention about their home lives and their wives and children - putting into stark contrast the risk they put their lives through protecting people from harm on a day to day basic. Don Borisenko and Dalia Penn are okay, but not as effective as the young assassin and Maria Salvador, the Cuban diplomat who may or may not be trustworthy and who could be either an old flame of Aguirre or sent by the Cuban government to remove him. Meanwhile Jack May (the voice of Igor in Count Duckula) plays Major Gates, the bodyguards' boss, and although it is always lovely to see him in things, his character is a little too tough at times, especially towards the end. Although he rightfully points out that Lynch is a hitman who killed with no consideration to his previous victims, it still feels rather savage considering the circumstances that connive towards Lynch's eventual fate. On it's own it's a brisk, slightly underfed thriller that still makes for decent viewing, despite the fact that it never really resolves who ordered the hit on Aguirre. With Rossiter as Lynch, however, he adds a depth to his character that makes this a rather more intelligent drama than you would imagine. If any doubt existed about Rossiter's talents and scope as an actor, they end here with his performance in this. He gives a lovely performance that is absolutely magnificent.