Centering on an existentialist hit man assigned to kill a woman, the film is often praised for its spare style[1] and peculiar sense of cool.

At first calm about the assignment, spending the first several days sightseeing to check if his handlers, George and Marc, are being followed, Claude becomes agitated when he discovers the witness in question is a woman, Billie Williams; in his opinion, women are harder to kill than men, because they are "unpredictable".

Scorsese praises its "economy of style" and compares its ability to communicate ideas through cinematic "shorthand" to the work of Jean-Luc Godard and Robert Bresson.

In addition to the aforementioned ideas, he specifically pointed out the scene showing Claude getting in shape and how it influenced a similar sequence with Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver.

Reviewing it for the Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum praises the film as "singular and nearly perfect", noting its "lean, purposeful style" and "witty feeling for character, dialogue, and narrative ellipsis.

"[6] Variety's original 1958 review singles out Perry Botkin's music for the film for praise, noting that the all-guitar score gives "fine atmospheric backing.

"[7] Writing in the Radio Times, film-maker Anthony Sloman called Murder by Contract "a real gem and total justification for the existence of the B-movie", praising the "darkly sinister plot [which] masks a deeply original screenplay proffering philosophical insights into what makes hitman Vince Edwards tick."