Point Blank (DVD)

Gotta disagree: Point Blank is very easy to get close to. This one is a stone cold masterpiece. An absolute masterpiece of both visual and sound design, this is Lee Marvin's finest hour. It melds a vicious sense of humor with its delirious revenge plot. New Wave style meets old-school film noir. This one's in my all-time Top 100. A 10/10 without doubt.

Yes, well, that may depend upon the person getting close. I like the film a lot, but your words "stone cold" come closest to describing its tone.

John

Well, it's a revenge flick, silly, it's not going to pay for your dinner and then call you in the morning.

I think the editing in in this movie is just amazing and it has about the most audacious color scheme of anything this side of Seijun Suzuki.

Plus I just get a kick out of Carroll O'Connor's role here. He was such a fine actor, and so much more than just Archie Bunker.

If you remember, however, it's not actually a revenge flick. Although Walker is not too keen on Reese's having shot him, taken his money, and run off with his wife, he primarily wants to get his fair share of the loot back. He's after the money, which is really kinda humorous when you think about it.

Anyway, so much better than Gibson's pale remake.

John

True. And I love towards the end when Walker suddenly just seems to mellow out altogether; the film has a really bizarre sense of humor that provides a counterpoint to the most self-absorbed aspects of Walker's mission.

Gibson, on the other hand, simply doesn't possess a sense of humor at all and his remake can only be described as pathological. He actually took over directorial duties so he could shoot more scenes of himself being tortured. I guess that was a preview of things to come from the mind of Mad Max.

All-time top 10 for me. Point Blank can be seen as a simple revenge movie, but the much more intriguing interpretation is the one in which everything that happens after Marvin's character is shot point blank is a dying man's last thoughts (a la An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Jacob's Ladder, etc.). There are many hints throughout Point Blank that the storyline is nothing more than Marvin's fantasy, beginning with the impossibility of a man, shot at point blank range, swimming his way to freedom from Alcatraz, and ending with the final shot. It's all just a dream. And a wonderful film. I'm thrilled that it's finally on dvd.

Yes, I love the way Walker just disappears into the shadows at the end. You can read it as a "dream" movie, a "ghost" movie or just one f'ed up semi-delusional masterpiece.