Point Blank

For anyone with even an inkling of interest in the history of cinema this is a "must see". Not only is it a good story (with as many layers as you like to make of it), but it has cinematic techniques which even today's directors probably dare not use. Of course the CGI generation may find some of the special effects crude but these occur so rarely that they are easily ignored. And what would today's directors have done with the resources available to Boorman? A great deal less, I suspect. A "Life of Pi" enigma produced over 50 years ago! Suspense and mystery to match the best of Hitchcock! Gritty, realistic, but not excessive violence. If you miss it, you'll regret it.

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.