The Osterman Weekend (1983)

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

Robert Ludlum (novel)
Ian Masters (adaptation)

Release Date:

14 October 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The one weekend of the year you won't want to miss.

Plot:

The host of an investigative news show is convinced by the CIA that the friends he has invited to a...

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Conspiracy | CIA | Weekend | Danger

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Rutger Hauer	...	John Tanner
John Hurt	...	Lawrence Fassett
Craig T. Nelson	...	Bernard Osterman
Dennis Hopper	...	Richard Tremayne
Chris Sarandon	...	Joseph Cardone
Meg Foster	...	Ali Tanner
Helen Shaver	...	Virginia Tremayne
Cassie Yates	...	Betty Cardone
Sandy McPeak	...	Stennings
Christopher Starr	...	Steve Tanner
Burt Lancaster	...	Maxwell Danforth
Cheryl Carter	...	Marcia Heller
John Bryson	...	Honeymoon Groom
Anne Haney	...	Honeymoon Bride
Kristen Peckinpah	...	Tremayne's Secretary

Also Known As:

Mission CIA (Philippines: English title)

Runtime:

103 min | USA:116 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (2000) | Finland:K-18 (1983) | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2004) | UK:18 (original rating) | UK:18 (video rating) (1986) | USA:R (certificate #27156) | West Germany:16 | Australia:M

Company:

Osterman Weekend Associates

Trivia:

Craig T. Nelson was nicknamed 'Fish', by Sam Peckinpah, because he had to stay under water in the swimming scene

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Tanner goes to the airport, we hear jets taking off and see a sign revealing the place to be the Oxnard Airport in Ventura County. In real life this is a small airport with no facilities for passenger jet takeoff.

Quotes:

Lawrence Fassett: I know Maxwell Danforth very well; he killed my wife. Not with his bare hands, of course. The Danforths of the world don't murder that way. They use words like terminate, exterminate.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003)

Muddled Misogyny

Peckinpah saddled himself with a no-win situation in attempting to make a comeback with The Osterman Weekend. Whilst the Ludlum novel may differ, certainly the screenplay makes the fatal error of asking us to care about a group of thoroughly dislikable characters. Furthermore, once the studio suits began chopping up the finished version, what was merely a tale of unpleasant folks getting what they deserved turned into an incongruous mess. The viewer is introduced to conversations halfway through, characters suddenly completely change their behaviour, and all because scenes were either shortened or cut.

Peckinpah's women are either mothers or whores. Hurt's wife is murdered whilst masturbating, Yates' is a doomed and dim, gum-chewing bubble-head, and Shaver's coke-addled nympho' is so unsympathetic, we can hardly care what happens to her. Only Foster is allowed to keep her breasts off camera, but then again she IS a mother...

Gets two out of ten for Hopper's timidity and Hurt's oiliness. Watch only if you are a Peckinpah completist, otherwise avoid!