Point Blank (1967)

Directed by: John Boorman | 92 minutes | action, drama, thriller, crime | Actors: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O’Connor, Lloyd Bochner, Michael Strong, John Vernon, Sharon Acker, James Sikking, Sid Haig

Reese is in big trouble. He owes the wrong people money within the criminal organization he works for. Desperately, he begs Walker to help him raise some big bucks quickly. Since their reunion, the two friends and Walker’s wife Lynne have spent a lot of time together and a close bond has developed. When the job is done on the former prison island of Alcatraz, Reese shoots Walker right in front of Lynne. She thinks it’s horrible, but runs off with Reese anyway, taking all the money, including Walker’s share, $93,000. Walker, however, survives the brutal attack and manages to get himself to safety.

A year later, Police Officer Yost (Keenan Wynn) offers him the opportunity to avenge the double betrayal. Reese has since bought back into the organization for which he also used Walker’s share. Yost wants to wind up the organization and in return Walker gets his share of $93,000 and the satisfaction of the demise of his opponents. Walker first goes to Lynne, but she doesn’t know where Reese has gone and kills herself shortly afterwards. Then he contacts her sister Chris (Angie Dickinson). Together with her he goes after Reese.

‘Point Blank’ is an entertaining, but dated film. It is a typical product of the sixties with some nice finds. Walker walks determinedly to Lynne’s house with footsteps clearly audible. Then he goes out of sight, but the sound of his footsteps is still loud, as you watch her make up elaborately in front of the mirror. That certainly has a tension-increasing effect, just like the mix of flashbacks, dream images and the unusual camerawork. But it’s too much style and too little substance. It’s a psychedelic, fluid-slide atmosphere that may have been very innovative then, but now mostly disturbs. As the film progresses these tricks are more and more unleashed and you see a great movie with Lee Marvin convincingly playing the simple man who learned from his mistakes and now goes straight for his target and Angie Dickinson helping him sexy and a tad unpredictable in his attempt at revenge.

‘Point Blank’ is a good film, but a bit old-fashioned in terms of execution. Don’t let the latter stop you from watching.