''Zeyda and the Hitman'' (U.S. title ''Running with the Hitman'') is a 2004 Canadian television

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Melanie Mayron Melanie Joy Mayron is an American actress and director of film and television. Mayron is best known for her role as photographer Melissa Steadman on the ABC drama ''thirtysomething'' for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Su ...

and starring

Judd Hirsch Judd Seymore Hirsch (born March 15, 1935) is an American actor. He is known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983), John Lacey on the NBC series '' Dear John'' (1988–1992), and Alan Eppes on the CBS seri ...

Gil Bellows Gil Bellows (born June 28, 1967) is a Canadian actor, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for the roles of Tommy Williams in the 1994 movie '' The Shawshank Redemption'', Billy Thomas in the Fox television series '' Ally McBeal'' (1997� ...

, Danny Aiello, Mercedes Ruehl,

Conrad Dunn Conrad Dunn is an American actor. He began his screen career with the role of Francis "Psycho" Soyer in '' Stripes'' (1981). Working for some ten years under the name George Jenesky, he achieved soap-opera stardom in ''Days of Our Lives'' as Nick C ...

, and

Reagan Pasternak Reagan Jae Pasternak (born March 8, 1977) is a Canadian actress known for her role as Julianne in the TV series ''Being Erica''. Biography Pasternak was born in Toronto, Ontario. She is the youngest of four. She has two older sisters and an olde ...

. The story is about a grandfather who hires a

contract killer Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

to assassinate his allergy-prone son-in-law.

Production

''Zeyda and the Hitman'' was filmed in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Canada. The title design was by

Cuppa Coffee Studios Cuppa Coffee Studios (formerly known as Cuppa Coffee Animation) is a Canadian production company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Cuppa Coffee was founded by Adam Shaheen in 1992. It specializes in both stop-motion animation and 2D animation, ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. The film was released on DVD on 5 September 2006, and carries an

MPAA rating The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...

of NR.

Based on a true story

The film's storyline is based on the true-life "peanut plot" case related in Adrian Humphreys' biography of Marvin "the Weasel" Elkind, titled ''The Weasel: A Double Life in the Mob''. A man (named Gideon Schub in the film and played by

) hired Marvin Elkind (named Nathan "The Nat" Winkler in the film and played by Danny Aiello) to kill his son-in-law (named Jeff Klein in the film and played by

), who had a problematic relationship with his daughter. Moreover, she had faxed her father a letter advising him that he could not see his grandchildren, aged 10 and five, without her husband’s permission. As he was severely allergic to peanuts, he suggested that Elkind poison his food with a smear of peanut butter or his drink with drop of peanut oil, to trigger death by anaphylactic shock. He gave the would-be hitman a $1,000 downpayment for the hit, $200 to buy him drinks, and the murder weapons: a jar of Kraft peanut butter and a bottle of peanut oil. Elkind, a police informant who also worked in the criminal underworld as well as volunteered as a security officer at the synagogue where he and the man met, turned him in to the police and testified against him in court. He still had the receipts for the murder weapons in his pocket, when arrested.

References

External links

*
CTV
(official site)

(Nick Sewell) 2004 television films 2004 films Canadian comedy television films English-language Canadian films 2000s English-language films Films directed by Melanie Mayron Films shot in Winnipeg 2004 comedy films 2000s Canadian films {{Canada-tv-film-stub