Falk was ready to take the job but got a role in Murder, Inc., instead, for which he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Baron took the Bono role on himself as well as directing the movie, considered a defining piece of noir moviemaking by many.
Bono is a contract killer working out of Cleveland, brought to New York City to murder a low-level mobster. Although he grew up in New York, he hasn't been back for some time and as the movie develops, we see he has built an essentially solitary and anti-social existence for himself. He interacts with so few people, in fact, that he hasn't ever bothered to come up with a cover story for what he does. That causes him problems when he runs into some other people who grew up in the same orphanage he did and begins to throw him off his game. Clumsy attempts to reconnect with Lorrie (Molly McCarthy), a girl from his past, leave him almost unable to deal with a contact who wants more money in order to keep quiet about Bono's role in the upcoming hit.
Baron is adequate as Bono -- he doesn't seem comfortable in front of the camera, but that helps showcase the character's discomfort in his own skin. Larry Tucker as Big Ralph, the contact who tries to blackmail him, is appropriately creepy and the rest of the cast doesn't embarrass themselves, although McCarthy is the only one called on to do much beyond line readings.
A voiceover narration by an uncredited Lionel Stander gives the movie its noirish philosophical spin, but its sometimes ruminating tone clashes with the flat just-the-facts-ma'am story and performances. There are some fascinating long shots of Manhattan as Bono walks along the streets at Christmas, but overall Blast of Silence is more valuable as an artifact that anything else. The affectless performances, the narration and the heavily stylized camera work look tailor-made for a Mystery Science Theater sendup, as the movie approaches being a parody of its own noir genre.
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