Point Blank (1967)

Point Blank (1967), directed by John Boorman.

During a heist on deserted Alcatraz (it's a money drop of some sort), laconic Lee Marvin is betrayed by his wife and best friend, shot and left for dead. He survives (we suppose) and is after them and the money.

It's a strange, experimentally off-beat revenge film, tough at the outset but becoming wry and even absurd by the end. Since it begins and ends on the Rock, we have to wonder if it isn't all a dying dream and the characters just specters. The project was a collaboration between Marvin and the director.

A weakness is the crime Organization he goes up against: it's feebly white bread and unthreatening.

Angie Dickinson had "issues" with Marvin; she didn't like him (something to do with being hung out of a window by her ankles in The Killers (1964)). She shows motivation in the scene where she tries to beat him up, putting a lot into it, exhausting herself and falling to the floor. He was bruised but appreciated her effort.

The DVD has a chatty commentary track with Boorman and Steven Soderbergh. Since both are directors we get a lot of technical analysis as well as funny stories about the business.

Johnny Mandel score. Mel Gibson's Payback: Straight Up (1999) was based on the same story. The directors joke that he must have used the preliminary script that Marvin threw out the window.

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