Point Blank Movie Review

Classic cinema badass Lee Marvin gets a whole movie to strut his stuff in Point Blank, the first cinematic version of the book originally called The Hunter, which was later made into the improbably hit Payback. (The Hunter, of course, can now be found under the title Payback as well.)

The story is almost obliviously simple: Lee Marvin is a mafioso who's been turned on and left for dead. But not quite dead: He comes back (from the grave? who knows...) to get his vengeance. Or more precisely, to get the $93,000 he is owed by his former bosses.

Marvin works his way up the food chain of The Organazation, and flunkie after flunkie meets a tragic end (though, oddly, never quite at Marvin's hand). But no one really believes he just wants his money. A hidden agenda is always assumed (and that agenda presumes murder), but it never comes to be.

With the ample aid of Angie Dickinson, Marvin creates a memorable character in a wholly unmemorable story. "I want my money!" starts off as a cute rallying cry but quickly becomes tired. Though John Boorman would love for us to find this simple story to be clever, but it soon gets awfully repetitious. Marvin carries much of the film on his gravelly, innate charm, but even he can't sustain one note that long.

Included (strangely) as part of the Film Noir Collection #2 DVD box set.