Point Blank (1967)

Director:

John Boorman

Writers:

Donald E. Westlake (novel)
Alexander Jacobs (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

30 August 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

There are two kinds of people in his up-tight world: his victims and his women. And sometimes you can't tell them apart.

Plot:

Based on the theme of the individual pitted against the large, impersonal organization. Here the central...

Plot Keywords:

Organized Crime | Vengeance | High Heels | Warrior | Husband Wife Relationship

Cast

Lee Marvin	...	Walker
Angie Dickinson	...	Chris
Keenan Wynn	...	Yost
Carroll O'Connor	...	Brewster
Lloyd Bochner	...	Frederick Carter
Michael Strong	...	Stegman
John Vernon	...	Mal Reese
Sharon Acker	...	Lynne
James Sikking	...	Hired Gun
Sandra Warner	...	Waitress
Roberta Haynes	...	Mrs. Carter
Kathleen Freeman	...	First Citizen
Victor Creatore	...	Carter's Man
Lawrence Hauben	...	Car Salesman
Susan Holloway	...	Girl Customer
Sid Haig	...	First Penthouse Lobby Guard
Michael Bell	...	Second Penthouse Lobby Guard
Priscilla Boyd	...	Receptionist
John McMurtry	...	Messenger
Ron Walters	...	Young Man in Apartment
George Strattan	...	Young Man in Apartment
Nicole Rogell	...	Carter's secretary
Rico Cattani	...	Reese's guard
Roland La Starza	...	Reese's guard (as Roland LaStarza)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Casey Brandon	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Jerry Catron	...	Man (uncredited)
Bonnie Dewberry	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Carey Foster	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Bill Hickman	...	Guard (uncredited)
Chuck Hicks	...	Guard (uncredited)
Karen Lee	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Joseph Mell	...	Man (uncredited)
Andrew Orapeza	...	Desk clerk (uncredited)
Felix Silla	...	Bellhop (uncredited)
Guy Way	...	Mob chauffer (uncredited)
Louis Whitehill	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Ted White	...	Football player (uncredited)
Roseann Williams	...	Dancer (uncredited)

Directed by
John Boorman

Writing credits
Donald E. Westlake		(novel "The Hunter") (as Richard Stark)
Alexander Jacobs		(writer) and
David Newhouse		(writer) &
Rafe Newhouse		(writer)

Produced by
Judd Bernard	....	producer
Robert Chartoff	....	producer

Original Music by
Johnny Mandel

Cinematography by
Philip H. Lathrop

Film Editing by
Henry Berman

Art Direction by
Albert Brenner
George W. Davis

Set Decoration by
F. Keogh Gleason		(as Keogh Gleason)
Henry Grace

Costume Design by
Margo Weintz		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist
William Tuttle	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Edward Woehler	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Al Jennings	....	assistant director
Christopher Seitz	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Franklin Milton	....	recording supervisor
Van Allen James	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
J. McMillan Johnson	....	special visual effects

Stunts
Boyd Cabeen	....	stunt double (uncredited)
Jerry Catron	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Hickman	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hicks	....	stunts (uncredited)
Carey Loftin	....	stunts (uncredited)
Ted White	....	stunts (uncredited)

Editorial Department
William Stair	....	color consultant

Music Department
Billy Byers	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Patricia Casey	....	production associate
Rafe Newhouse	....	assistant to producer
David Steen	....	special photographs for production
Norman Stuart	....	dialogue coach

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1967) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1968) (France) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1995) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Action Gitanes (????) (France) (theatrical)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print Panavision)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1968) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Neue Visionen Filmverleih (????) (Germany) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Living Colour Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (VHS) (widescreen)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• NGN
• R.C.V.2001 Video (1982) (Belgium) (VHS)
• Süddeutsche Zeitung (2006) (Germany) (DVD)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:16 (re-rating) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Australia:M | Portugal:17 (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (cut) | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (re-rating) (1998) | UK:18 (video rating) (1993) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Lee Marvin faked the recoil from the .44 Magnum when he shoots in Lynne's bed. These were in fact blanks, but afterward when shooting in Alcatraz they tried with real bullets and there was no recoil at all. Marvin said to director John Boorman, "Fiction overtakes reality".

Quotes:

Chris: What's my last name?
Walker: What's my first name?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Paybacks Are a Bitch (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Mighty Good Times

Point Blank contains inspiring visuals, a haunting soundtrack and some stunning acting. Fabulous, groundbreaking cinema.

In the wake of his Cannes Best Director award for The General, Boorman's stunning debut has been released with a new print. Unrelentingly downbeat, this stylish crime thriller made in 1967 seems to have fuelled virtually Elmore Leonard novel.

Steely, panther-like hitman Walker (marvellous Marvin) has been fitted up, shot at and had $93,0000 stolen from him all because of ex-pal Mal Reese (John Vernon). A tad upset he decides to resurrects himself, with the help of the shadowy Yost (Keenan Wynn) for revenge and his payment.

Boorman greets us with a five-minute sequence that is crammed with curious camera angles, fractured time-lines and carefully constructed compositions. We're bombarded by a montage of piercingly violent images blended together with fragments of a failed heist on Alcatraz Island and a pair of slugs ripping into Walker's body. We're only privy to these flash snippets of information, but they're still enough to help us empathise with Marvin's masterly obsessive.

A year or two later Walker is on a tourist boat trip to Alcatraz, being propositioned by Yost. The creepy Yost knows where Mal and his Walker ex-wife Lynne (Sharon Acker) are and is willing to reveal this to him, just as long as he receives some information on a shadowy body called "The Organisation". Walker simply nods. His dialogue is minimal, his obsession is reflected through his curt questions, his sudden movements, his eyes and the flashbacks that haunt him.

When he catches up with his cheating ex-wife he allows her to talk uninterrupted in a desperate, forlorn monotone - "He's gone. Cold. Moved out," she says. Walker barely takes it in, all that motivates him is the thought, "Somebody's gotta to pay."

While others flounder, Marvin appears impenetrable like one of Sergio Leone's cowboys. Only Clint Eastwood never conveyed this much emotion in his movements.

Boorman's seminal film preceded the spate of fabulous paranoia flicks that enriched 70s American cinema – The Conversation, The Parallax View, All The President's Men – where a shadowy "Organisation" pulls the nation's strings. Tarantino has since appropriated this organisation theme on a small-time level, plagarising the black suits and the unwavering professionalism of the violence. De Niro's ex-con in Jackie Brown is based on Marvin's Walker, as are countless other performances.

Even Angie Dickinson, playing Lynne's sister Chris, leaves him cold. In a remarkable scene she resorts to repeatedly slamming Walker's immovable slab of a chest. He remains impregnable, emotionally void. She keeps on punching until she finally collapses on the floor in a heap. They finally make love, only for the isolation, the loss of identity, to continue. Is he an avenging angel? Is he there at all?

"Hey, what's my last name?" asks a post-coital Chris. "What's my first name?" he deadpans, answering a question with another question. Always seeking answers, never providing them. No love left in him, only a need for payment.

Point Blank contains inspiring visuals, a haunting soundtrack and some stunning acting. Fabulous, groundbreaking cinema. --Ben Walsh