Point Blank 1967

"All's I Want Is My $97,000"   

     Lee Marvin in one of his best roles stomps, punches and shoots his way thru (and up) a corporate like crime organization in this 1967 psychedelic neo-noir directed by John Boorman.  After the robbery of a money drop on Alcatraz Island, Walker (Lee Marvin - we never do learn his first name) is double crossed and shot by his partner Mel Reese (John Vernon), who then leaves with Walkers wife Lynn (Sharon Acker). Walker mysteriously recovers and then wades in San Francisco Bay and begins his vendetta, seeming on the surface to be only interested in the exact sum of his share of the robbery take. Later he meets up with his wife's sister Chris played by Angie Dickinson who seems to be alternately drawn and repelled by him. In one of the more shocking scenes in the movie she viciously beats and slaps him before collapsing at his feet , while the whole time Marvin stands there emotionless.
   Starting with his ex-wife, Marvin stalks thru the movie like an angel of death showing no remorse or emotion as everybody he comes in contact with dies, but only indirectly as a result of him. He never actually kills anyone in the course of the movie, but almost everyone is killed by various circumstances of his quest. In flashbacks we see the idyllic life he led with his wife (with a sweet looking & smiling Marvin) and friend Reese. It is his loyalty to help out his friend (who needs the money to pay off what he owes to the mob) that leads to his betrayal and because of Marvin's great portrayal we root for him.  As he strides down an empty hallway with his shoes loudly echoing, the scene cuts back and forth to his wife goes thru her daily routines - maybe he's only mad that his life was destroyed and the money is just an excuse he tells people.
   Boorman presents the mob organization as a modern faceless corporation with glass high rises, secretaries and board of directors, while Walker seems almost like throwback to the past as he shoots phones and rips apart intercoms. Kind of like Peckinpah's Wild Bunch he's a man out of touch which make him an even more sympathetic character. He's cold, violent guy who stomps around all this contemporary 1960's architecture like an animal hunting his prey, but he's also the little guy bashing his head against the system (not unlike Jack Nicholson's classic restaurant scene in Five Easy Pieces).

    On one hand this reads like a standard revenge movie, but Boorman uses flash forwards (and backwards) cross scene sound effects and scene specific color schemes that give the whole movie a strange dream-like atmosphere. At one point Walker hooks up with a mysterious stranger (Keenan Ween) who helps point him toward the next person in line like a guardian angel (or maybe an apparition ?). The violence in the movie is short and begins with a startling swiftness and the fights are brutal in their simplicity as when Walker punches one man in the crotch or smashes another's face with a pistol as he walks thru a doorway. At the end of the movie we are left to wonder - was this just a quest for money, a payback for a ruined life or just a dying man's dream of revenge ?

   Marvin joined the USMC in 1942 at age 17 and was wounded at the battle of Saipan in 1944. He was awarded the Purple Heart and given a medical discharge. He drifted around in various jobs and only got into acting by mistake, mostly playing villains and won an Oscar for for a comedic role in Cat Ballou (1965).  I think Point Blank is his best role and after watching The Klansman (1974 - see post below), it was really good to be reminded how great he was. Plus, its his birthday on Feb. 19
   I gotta admit I love Angie Dickinson. It's really fascinating to watch her grow as in an actress in her roles. She got her first big role in Howard Hawks 1959 Rio Bravo (a great movie- but she's pretty weak in it) and then moving on Oceans 11 (1960) and Don Siegel's originally made for TV (but too violent so released theatrical) version of The Killers from 1964. She was really starting to come into her own by the time of Point Blank and in my humble opinion is one of the most beautiful women ever in the movies.
   A few words about John Vernon. Best remembered today for Animal House and his exploitation roles in such stuff as Savage Streets (1984) and Chained Heat (1983). He's one of my favorite actors appearing in among others, Dirty Harry (1971) and the great Charley Varrick (1973), both directed by Don Siegel.
  Luckily Warner has released Point Blank on DVD in beautiful anamorphic transfer with an informative commentary by  John Boorman and director Steven Soderbergh (a huge fan of the movie - just watch The Limey sometime to see how much) who admits two minutes into the commentary of stealing from it often. He does an excellent job of prodding and questioning Boorman on various aspects of the film and his career. Boorman mentions how bad the original script was and notes how it was used for 1999's remake Payback starring Mel Gibson which pretty much is a straight ahead action/revenge movie.  Look for Sid Haig in a small role and also an excellent turn by Carroll O'Connor as a mob executive.

The Klansman 1974

    

"Hell, I'm The Damned Grand Exalted Cyclops !"

     The Klansman (the on screen title is simply Klansman) is a movie you kinda have to grudgingly admire for all the wrong reasons. It seems amazing that a major studio like Paramount would actually put their name to something like this, but then again this is the same Paramount that were behind Mandingo (1975 - which played in a double feature with The Klansman) and Mandingo's even more jaw dropping sequel Drum (1976). Most likely Klansman is right up there at the top for a seedy major motion picture with the most exploitation elements in it.  Though its intentions were most likely good, its fails miserably with its message and is such a train wreck of a movie that's it stands as one of the greatest bad movies of the decade (and for the 70's that's saying something).
    Featuring a once in a lifetime cast including Lee Marvin, Richard Burton, Cameron Mitchell, Lola Falana, Linda Evans, Luciana Paluzzi, David Huddleston and O.J. Simpson, the movie went thru a bunch of re-writes before shooting. This is one of the reasons original director Sam Fuller dropped out, although his name still appears in the credit as a co-screenwriter. James Bond director Terence Young was brought in as a replacement and that might help explain the out of left field casting of the dubbed here Italian actress Luciana Paluzzi who had appeared in Thunderball (1966). Fuller supposedly wanted the KKK more up front in story (with Marvin as a member who redeems himself at the end).
    Lee Marvin plays the town sheriff Track Bascomb while Burton plays Breck Stancill, a local landowner/ Civil Rights activist who incurs the wrath of the Klan. O.J. is a black militant who's starts picking off the local white supremacists with a sniper rifle and Huddleston is the local head of the KKK (and has a Confederate flag tablecloth).

    The main plot point is a woman (Linda Evans) who is raped whereupon all the townsfolk (although a specific location is never given Alabama seems to be the state) jump to the conclusion that a black man was the culprit and the ensuing events that escalate all the way to downbeat ending complete with a huge gunfight that has Marvin mowing down the KKK with a Thompson sub machine gun. The local folk are all portrayed broadly in full "redneck" mode (among them Dragnet regular Vic Perrin) with the worst being a scenery chewing deputy played by Cameron Mitchell who's name is (I kid you not) Butt Cutt Cates.  The soundtrack features two songs by The Staple Singers and is based upon a novel written by William Bradford Huie, a journalist who was heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement.
    Marvin and Burton were both reportedly drunk during most of the filming and and while Marvin does a decent job of holding it together, its really sad to see Burton stumble thru this. He's accent seems to consist of a Southern/Welsh mumble that fades in and out. The fight he has with Cameron Mitchell (complete with Burton's hilarious attempt at Kung Fu) is something that has to be seen to be believed. If you haven't yet,  PLEASE watch him in his two short scenes (just a few minutes time) in 1962's The Longest Day as an RAF Pilot to see what a brilliant actor he was in his prime (and while your at it watch Lee Marvin in John Boorman's Point Blank from 1967).              
 Just for its seer whacked out lunacy its really worth a watch. By the looks of things on Amazon Paramount has allowed this to fall into the public domain as there are bunches of no brand DVD's out there (and beware most of which are the cut TV version). I viewed this on a DVDr by way an old VHS I had taped off Cinemax years ago which is the full theatrical version.