Only once in a blue moom does a film affect me in a gut-churning, high adrenaline sorta way, and since the previous picture I saw that did such to me was FLOPPY BUNNY IN THE FUNNY FOREST let's just say there ain't that many flickers out there I can relate to in a hard-edged, get involved way. But man does this particular pelicula make up for years of "recent" (and for me recent can be anything from American Mutoscope and Biograph's PRESIDENT McKINLEY TAKES A STROLL WITH HIS SECRETARY on) footage that just doesn't soothe my inner maniac or reinforce my life energy forces in any way suitable. Now I must admit that although the sixties and seventies were filled with these bruised knuckle bared-wire intensity flicks I haven't had the opportunity to see many of these so-called "neo-noir" films but if POINT BLANK is any indication of what else is in store then get me a wheelchair, remove half my jaw and call me Roger Ebert!
One time he-man ideel Lee Marvin goes on a heist at Alcatraz with longtime character nasty John Vernon, who proceeds to not only shoot and leave his "best friend" for dead because there just wasn't enough moolah in the package to pay off a huge debt to "The Organization", but skedaddles with his unfaithful wife as well! Miraculously (and unbelievably!), Marvin manages to survive the two bullet holes, swims from Alcatraz to safety and boy does he want his 98 thou portion of the deal and like now!
A year later who does Marvin (who goes by the name "Walker" only) meet up with but a guy (Keenan Wynn) who wants to take over The Organization and occasionally appears on the scene to give him some handy names and other tips in a mutual effort for Marvin to get the dough and Wynn to get to the top.
Of course getting the money leads to person after person to the point of utter frustration (at least on my part).At times POINT BLANK kinda reminds me of a certain story in an Archie comic book where Betty, as "Superteen" (this being done during Archie Publication's cash in on the whole Batman camp craze) has to find the "Big Boss" of the crime ring, only to discover that there's an even Bigger Boss to contend with on and on and on. It can get to you, but there are some pretty hotcha scenes of revenge and pure unadulterated violence to keep you going from the one where Marvin wrecks that car while trying to extract info from a stooge to the wild nightclub fight and the one where Angie Dickinson as the cyster of Marvin's now dead wife just keeps hitting and slapping him as he merely stands there unflinchingly until she collapses in exhaustion. These scenes really are good enough for you to forget the artzy shots and angles that occasionally pepper up the screen, not to mention an ending that I believe the standard viewer would deem
"ambiguous".
This moom does pop up inna middle of the night on cable but maybe you can score parts if not all on youtube. However you snatch it, POINT BLANK's a fantastico way to get your own ya ya's out especially after being constipated by decades of flaccid fudge being presented to you as top notch just what the average sorta Joe out there wants entertainment and I kid ye not!
The waitress in the nightclub scene was Sandy Warner who posed for all those Martin Denny album covers.
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=301Qqvfy5fg