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Point Blank (1967)

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From Time Out Film Guide

One of the definitive films to emerge from Hollywood in the late '60s, this hard-nosed adaptation of Richard Stark's The Hunter owed much to the European influences that Boorman brought with him from England. People have noted the influence of Resnais behind the film's time lapses and possible dream setting, but Godard's Alphaville offers a more rewarding comparison. Both films use the gangster/thriller framework to explore the increasing depersonalisation of living in a mechanised urban world. Just as Constantine's Lemmy Caution was a figure from the past stranded in a futuristic setting, so Marvin's bullet-headed gangster is an anachronism from the '50s transported to San Francisco and LA of the '60s, a world of concrete slabs and menacing vertical lines. Double-crossed and left to die, Marvin comes back from the dead to claim his share of the money from the Organization, only to become increasingly puzzled and frustrated when he finds there is no money, because the Organization is the world of big business run by respectable men with wallets full of credit cards.

Author: CPe

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

Chris Bickley said...

Posted on Sep 18 2007 22:09 This is without doubt Lee Marvin finest apearance on film for me, the flim itself is captivating for a whole number of reasons.
There's something about the way Boorman has directed the shots that draws you right into a style and a time in a way that is hard to describe, the sinister and sparse score is perfect too, the shimmer of harpsichord for example.
All small ingredients that culminate in the ultimate crime thriller, that doesnt rely on a foul mouthed dialogue or over violent scenes.
The pure class comes through and leaves you in a different frame of mind when you have watched it, almost as wierd and as psychedlic as the era this was filmed.
Angie Dickison is also the reason this film works so well, for a start she looks smouldering and dangerous, yet she seems unable to get Walker to give her a second glance, even after she does her best to beat him up in full on strop, which emulsifies the fact that Walker has no humanity left in him.
I watched this film by accident and it quickly became clear that i had experienced something very special indeed.

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