Noirvember: Point Blank (1967)

In case you somehow missed the memo, Lee Marvin is one tough sonofabitch. If you didn’t know that before watching Point Blank then you should sure as hell know it by the time it’s finished. This is a film that starts with Marvin’s character, Walker, being shot multiple times and left for dead, but it doesn’t take him long to get back on his feet and start on a path of bloody revenge.

Based on a novel, “The Hunter”, by Donald E. Westlake (who has had a number of his works adapted into movie form), this is an enjoyably simple tale of one man cutting a large swathe through a criminal organisation as he looks to collect his share of a rewarding plot that he was a vital part of. He isn’t being unfair, yet everyone seems to think that as they try their best to avoid giving him what he is due.

Director John Boorman, working from a script written by Alexander Jacobs, and David and Rafe Newhouse, delivers what could well be a perfect mix of violence, intrigue, and ultra-cool in this classic neo-noir. It is another film I regret not seeing sooner, especially since I already saw Payback (the Gibson-starring remake from the late ‘90s) a couple of decades ago.

The script is brilliant, if often economical with words (Boorman adds so much with visual details, and excellent editing from Henry Berman, throughout), and you have a mostly excellent cast getting themselves in trouble while a fine, dreamy/nightmare-ish, soundtrack from Johnny Mandel accompanies their actions.

I would say this is Marvin’s best role, but that would suggest I have seen him in many other movies (I haven’t, he’s a bit of a blind spot for me). It’s tough to think of anyone doing better work here though, and he’s a perfect mix of smooth and rough. A young John Vernon is enjoyably spooked, knowing that his betrayal could cost him his life, and there are enjoyable performances from Keenan Wynn, Carroll O’Connor, and Lloyd Bochner. Although very male-centric, both Angie Dickinson and Sharon Acker get to be front and centre in a couple of surprisingly impactful scenes.

Having enjoyed this from start to finish, I am now struggling to find any fault with it at all. Maybe I have been too generous with my ratings lately, or maybe I have just finally got around to watching some classics that should have been marked off the list a long time ago. I think the latter is correct. People may not like how brutal and “ugly” Point Blank is, I can understand that, but I loved it. A large part of that is to do with Marvin, playing his character like some ever-moving shark that has sensed blood in the water and knows that it’s time to eat, but there’s nothing here I would change. 

I will now plan to rewatch Payback next week, and I’m interested to see what I think of that nowadays.

10/10

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Mubi Monday: The General (1998)

Directed by the great John Boorman (who has also given us a number of not so great movies, but his wins far exceed his losses), The General tells the story of the life of Martin Cahill, an Irish criminal who spent a long time avoiding and frustrating the Garda throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. The fact that he is played here by Brendan Gleeson ensures that viewers are unlikely to hate him.

Things start off well enough. After being in and out of trouble from a young age, Cahill is shown steadfastly refusing to move from a site that has been scheduled for demolition. His reasoning? He wants a better choice of alternative accommodation, and he gets it. Good for him. But we soon see the other side of Cahill, the man happy to rob, threaten, and beat anyone he views as a target. He will depositing thousands of pounds into a bank account and then visit a local police station to have an alibi while his cronies rob the bank and get his money right back to him. He will wave guns under the noses of people, he will plant bombs to potentially kill professional witnesses, and he will even nail someone to a snooker table if he thinks they have been skimming profit from him. Meanwhile, his home life is a non-traditional, but happy, set-up with Frances (Maria Doyle Kennedy) and her sister, Tina (Angeline Ball), as well as the children he has fathered with each of them.

Although black and white when it was shown in cinemas, I saw it presented a visual palette so muted that it often seemed as if it was in black and white anyway, but the occasional patches of colour managed to catch the eye (particularly the aforementioned snooker table). Not being utilised for any big “wow” moments, the cinematography and colour (or lack of colour) simply keep viewers more easily in the time and place alongside the characters.

Boorman, adapting the book by Paul Williams, as well as including a reference to the time he himself was robbed by Cahill (a gold record stolen from his home), does a decent enough job at showing the criminal operation, as well as showing the continuing efforts of the police trying to get their man. Where he falls down is in the tone of the film, making Cahill a loveable rogue for most of the runtime, instead of the callous and opportunistic criminal that he was. I am all for any kind of “Robin Hood” character, but that’s not what we see here, although maybe those romanticising his life want to see him that way.

Gleeson surely relished this role, a perfect fit for him and one of his best lead roles (which is saying something). Whatever problems I may have with the material, Gleeson is faultless. He’s given great support from Kennedy and Ball, who are both allowed to feel like more than just “daft wee wimmen”, and there are good performances from Adrian Dunbar and Sean McCginley, as crooks, and Jon Voight, as the main cop butting heads with Cahill. Yes, Voight’s accent is far from perfect, but it’s surprisingly not all that bad for most of his scenes. Not bad at all.

It’s really hard to rate this. There were so many moments I really enjoyed, partly BECAUSE Boorman and Gleeson work hard to keep Cahill such a cheeky charmer, but the moments that troubled me, moments of violence and nastiness that were moved past all too quickly, helped to build up a bitter taste that I couldn’t rinse away, even hours after the film had finished. Maybe many people view Cahill the way that Boorman depicts him, and maybe I would be feeling different if this was some Scottish criminal I had grown up knowing, and viewed as a bad person who also did some good things, but the film errs in maintaining an apparent lack of judgement.

As a film, it works brilliantly. As a film about Cahill, it doesn’t do so well.

7/10

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