Gangster boss Vic Luca (Rip Torn) is scheduled to appear in court and so hires a hit man/shoe salesman Chris Caleek (Lance Henriksen) to kill the witnesses.

When owner Jack Collins comes home, he finds his pregnant wife unconscious in the kitchen, his friend dead in the living room and his son kidnapped.

Wanting Luca to believe he has the real witness' son, the authorities take Collins into custody.

In a 2019 interview, director William Lustig said Jan-Michael Vincent was drinking during the shoot, even though the actor was hired because he told them he had just finished rehab:"When we met him to do Hit List he had been in a recovery program and he was telling us that his drinking days were finished.

At the time he was young enough that when he stopped drinking he immediately looked good again.