![]() However, over the years, the influence and the reputation of Point Blank has continued to grow. With it’s fractured, disorientating dreamlike narrative structure, the film never really caught on with audiences at the time. Moreover, Point Blank was not a box office success when it was originally released in 1967. ![]() Westlake), Point Blank is a very courageous, ambitious and experimental film, particularly for a young (34 year old) director with no prior experience in Hollywood. An adaptation of a hardboiled crime novel called The Hunter, written in 1962 by Richard Stark (a pseudonym for the author Donald E. ![]() Point Blank was British director John Boorman’s debut feature film in Hollywood. Point Blank utilizes a dizzying of innovative visual, editing and sound techniques, as well as a fractured and disorientating narrative structure, all of which reinforce the notion of a blurring between dream and reality.Īlive? Sleeping? Dying? Dreaming? All of the above? A dying dream experienced by Walker, from the moment he is shot by Reece at the beginning of Point Blank and left to die in a dank prison cell at Alcatraz, until the final frame of the film. On another level, Point Blank can be interpreted as the dream of a dying man. On closer viewing, however, Point Blank possesses a surreal disorientating dreamlike quality. On one level, Point Blank can be viewed as a straightforward story about betrayal, vengeance and greed. He also wants to retrieve the $93,000 he is owed from the robbery. Seemingly recovered, Walker rampages through the remainder of the film seeking revenge for the betrayal of his friend and his wife. Yet Walker somehow manages to survive the gunshot wounds. He also takes Walker’s wife Lynne (Sharon Acker). Reece then takes Walker’s share of the robbery money ($93,000). Reece shoots Walker at point blank range, leaving him for dead, convulsing in the corner of one of the prison cells. Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967) is a crime film that centres on Walker (Lee Marvin), a violent criminal who seeks vengeance when his friend and partner in crime Mal Reece (John Vernon in his first feature film role) double-crosses him after a robbery at the old disused prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. Will he retrieve the money? Has this all been a dream from the beginning when he was left to die? The answers are left up to the viewer.The Art Of Dying: Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967)īy Peter Wilshire Volume 17, Issue 4 / April 2013 21 minutes (5024 words) At the last moment, all you see is Walker dissipate into the darkness like a ghost. He observes the drop-off point from overhead, waits it out, and makes the men believe he didn't show up. Once again, an act of treachery is in the works. It all comes down to Walker going back to the place that haunts his memory: Alcatraz. He won't relent until his gets the money. Walker simply holds the whole Organization accountable. Since Reese wouldn't give him the cash, Walker disposes of him and move to the next guy in line. Walker enlists the help of his wife's sister (Angie Dickinson). Reese is a top man in the syndicate this time around, so getting to him is not easy. Now it's up to Walker to hunt down Reese through his connections. As the sound of footsteps come to a halt, we see Walker uninhibitedly barge in his wife's front door with a gun in hand, knock her down, and head right for the bedroom-blasting away several rounds at the bed. Since his wife is the person closest to him, and because she had an affair with Reese, Walker goes straight for her first. Shots of his wife getting out of bed, going out, and coming back home play while the pounding of his footsteps overshadow it. Walker does a lot of walking throughout the movie, going from one place to another until he finds justice. Walker is fiercely determined, a man on a mission. At the inception of this storyline we see Walker stomping down a corridor, his footsteps loud, repetitive, pounding. Now all Walker wants to do is get his money back. He is portrayed as austere, terse, and slightly aloof. They help convey Walker's thoughts and feelings, even if it seems like he doesn't have them anymore. During this sequence, and throughout the film, there are flashbacks to provide the backstory. ![]() After being shot up, Walker apparently made it out alive. The job took place at the dark and dreary old prison, Alcatraz, where money pick-ups are made. Walker's wife also came along for the ride, but she didn't know what was going to happen. Reese needed all the money to pay back his debts to the Organization. His old pal Mal Reese (John Vernon) filled him with bullet holes and left him to rot, presuming he was dead or would die soon anyway. Lee Marvin plays Walker, a man who loses his share of $93,000 when he's double-crossed on a heist. ![]()
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