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Product Description

Walker (Lee Marvin) strides through Los Angeles with the steel-eyed stare of a stone-cold killer, or perhaps a ghost. Betrayed by his wife and best friend, who gun him down point-blank and leave him for dead after a successful heist, Walker blasts his way up the criminal food chain in a quest for revenge. Did he survive the shooting or return from the grave, or is it all a dying dream? The question is left in the air in John Boorman's modern film noir, a brutal revenge thriller based on Richard Stark's novel The Hunter (remade by Brian Helgeland as Payback), set in the impersonal concrete and steel canyons of Los Angeles and eerily empty cells of Alcatraz. Walker kills without remorse, guided by shadowy "informant" Keenan Wynn, whose own agenda is carefully concealed, and assisted by Angie Dickinson, as he desperately searches for someone, anyone, who can just give him his money. But if Walker is an extreme incarnation of the revenge-driven noir antihero, the modern syndicate has been transformed into a world of paper jungles and corporate businessmen, an alienating concept to the two-fisted, gun-wielding gangster. Boorman creates a hard, austere look for the film and fragments the story with flashes of painful memory, grafting the New Wave onto old genres with confidence and style. Haunting and brutal, Point Blank remains one of the most distinctive crime thrillers ever made. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

• 5 Stars for the Movie, NOT for the "Pan and Scan" Version
  Do not EVEN think you have seen this film if you have only seen it in a "pan and scan" version. This is one of the most meticulously composed ultra-wide Panavision pictures you are likely to see, and it's excruciating to see half the frame lopped off. Other reviewers have said this film seems modern, which is to say current. Fortunately, the wardrobe was kept pretty low-key for the year, 1967, which helps enormously. (Take a look at "Taxi Driver" if you want to cringe at some clothes.) If a person can have a single favorite movie, this is mine. I encountered John Boorman at a sneak of "Excalibur" when it was released, and gushed all over the poor man about "Point Blank". I think this was only his second feature, and given the path his career took afterwards, this film is really an aberration; he never did anything like it again. "Point Blank" was ignored when it was released (everybody was out seeing "Bonnie and Clyde" ;-). People couldn't stop talking about Antonioni's "Blow Up" (which came out at about the same time), asking "What did it mean?" Same here; I have no idea. See this movie....more info
• Top notch revenge movie plus
  Mr Marvin is at his best in this noirish movie. He has the best walk, the biggest gun, and a mind as sharp as a cut-throat razor.He's out for revenge because he's been betrayed by his BEST FRIEND and HIS WIFE. LOOK OUT! But there is much to admire and enjoy in all the bit parts, and especially the recurring images of glass, and cleanliness in this all too alien urban landscape. The one act of human tenderness by our anti-hero is committed in an apartment which has been completely trashed. An interesting document of the sixties as well as an entertaining film....more info
• The Lonely Business of Revenge Is Ripe for Exploitation.
  Released in 1967, "Point Blank" bridges the gap between the neo-noir films of the late 1950s and 1960s that mixed elements of classic noir with social conscience filmmaking and those of the 1970s, with their disillusioned protagonists and increasing explicitness. Walker (Lee Marvin) was a cool, competent crook, convinced by his old friend Mal Reese (John Vernon) to help heist money from some other crooks on Alcatraz Island. But Reese shot Walker, left him for dead, and took off with Walker's unfaithful wife Lynne (Sharon Acker). A year later, Walker wants revenge, he wants Reese dead, and he wants his $93,000. A mysterious mobster (Keenan Wynn) who seeks control of the criminal syndicate of which Reese is a part is happy to facilitate Walker's vendetta.
  
  "Point Blank" was director John Boorman's first color film, and he made good use of the palette, often dominating scenes with a single hue. Although it basically has a continuous timeline, the film takes brief excursions back in time, uses some slow motion photography, and, at one point, confuses us with images that exist only in Lee's mind, if at all. This was pretty risky for a studio film in 1967, and it works well. The fact that Walker is as much a criminal as his enemies is forgotten in a world where everyone is corrupt. Lee Marvin is great at this stoic, fixated kind of masculinity, but he does seem conspicuously old for the women Walker attracts. "Point Blank" is one man's revenge-driven journey, made memorable by so frequently doing the unexpected.
  
  The DVD (Warner Brothers 2005): There are 2 featurettes, a theatrical trailer, and a feature commentary. "The Rock, Pt 1" (8 min) and "The Rock, Pt 2" (9 min) are promotional films made in 1967 about the Alcatraz location. "Point Blank" was the first film to use the abandoned prison, just 4 years after it closed. The documentaries talk about using the prison as a backdrop, interview the director, and interview a former inmate who recalls the 1946 Battle of Alcatraz. The audio commentary by John Boorman and Steven Soderbergh is very good. Soderbergh questions Boorman on various aspects of the film, including the script, structure, collaboration with Lee Marvin, technical details, and interpretations of the film. Subtitles are available for the film in English, French, and Spanish. Dubbing available in French. ...more info
• Relentlessly deadpan...and I'd buy a ticket to see the Mel Brooks version. Still, not bad
  When his buddy, Mal Reese, with his wife, Lynne, looking on, puts two bullets into Walker right after they've high-jacked a big haul on Alcatraz island, Walker gets mad...and then gets even. Walker somehow survives those gunshots and a year later he returns. For the next hour and a half, Walker (Lee Marvin) is going to say once if he says it ten times, "I want my money back." The Organization is not about to accommodate Walker, even if Walker's money is only a measly $93,000. That includes Reese, who now has Walker's wife and who has become one of the Organization's top men, all of whom look like business CEOs. While Walker relentlessly goes after his money and works his way up the corporate criminal ladder, he leaves a trail of corpses behind. Walker is shrewd, violent and deadpan, and he won't take "No" for an answer. That sums up Point Blank.
  
  It must have been tiring having to prove in life and in the movies that he really was the tough-as-nails, seen-it-all, uber-macho main man, part bully, part cynic. For me, Lee Marvin was at his best playing secondary character roles. As a lead, more often than not he simply brought more of the same to the screen, but in a larger frame. He was queasily watchable in, for instance, The Big Heat, Bad Day at Black Rock, Seven Men From Now (Special Collector's Edition) and, much later with star billing but in a character part, Gorky Park. But it was just pow, smash, bang in most of his star vehicles. If he'd been more willing to break out of his star persona, he might have been a memorable actor, not just a star. He did a superior job in the one role where he deliberately took a big risk, playing Hickey in the American Film Theater's television presentation of O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. He not only placed himself deep in a complex role, he was working with very good actors, notably Robert Ryan and Fredric March. Marvin did a fine job, but then immediately returned to the same old same old.
  
  As for Point Blank, there's no doubt that John Boorman keeps it moving, throws in some perhaps unintended as well as intended irony and a lot of intended violence. He keeps the focus on the relentless Walker and Marvin doesn't disappoint. Point Blank also hasn't aged very well, in my view, even with Marvin's dynamically impassive (or impassively dynamic) performance, with the artsy clomp clomp clomp of Walker's shoes and Lynne's monologue with flashbacks as examples. A strong plus is the performances of the secondary characters, especially Carroll O'Connor and Keenan Wynn. With all that deadpan relentlessness, I just can't get out of my mind what Mel Brooks could have done with Point Blank.
  
  The DVD transfer looks just fine. There is a commentary track which features John Boorman and Steven Soderberg chatting together, as well as a couple of shorts on Alcatraz. If you visit San Francisco, don't forget to save a morning or afternoon for the boat ride to the island and the tour of the federal prison. It closed in 1963 and is a grim and interesting place. For those who may not know John Boorman very well, he's a fine director who, for the most part, managed to make his films his way. I especially like Deliverance (Deluxe Edition), Hope and Glory, The Emerald Forest and The General....more info
• The Original Revenge Thriller
  Lee Marvin In a performance that catapulted him into the legion Of The Hollywood Action genre. Walker,(Marvin) is gunned down by his partner and walker's adultrous wife after a sucsesful heist. Two years later Walker returns stalking the steets of Los Angles looking to get his revenge. Lee Marvin is unforgeatable in a amazing performance with a steel hard cold look in his eyes Walker kills without remorse all that he cares for is his money. In one of the best crime thrillers ever made

  the director takes the viewer on a journey through a tourtured human soul who is so bent on revenge & violence that he fails to realize that socitey no longer condems "eye for an eye" tactics. Haunting and very brutal in it's own style "POINT BLANK" Remains one the best underated classics of all time....more info

• This movie should be available on DVD!
  It's sad that every current movie, no matter how vapid/terrible (e.g., "America's Sweethearts", the last two Star Wars installments), gets a proper DVD release while cool as-all-get-out movies like "Point Blank" languish in studio vaults.

  Point Blank is simultaneously one of the artiest (in the best sense of the word) and most brutal crime dramas ever. It satisfies both the cinematography geek and the action freak within.

  Lee Marvin is one scary dude in this movie; in essence, an only slightly more human version of Ahnuld's terminator, dressed to kill in sharp 60's clothes.

  The flashback sequences and cinematographic effects make it one of the quintessential 60's movies. It has its own weird atmosphere.

  Please, somebody release this on DVD (complete with interviews or commentary by Boorman)!...more info

• Not All It's Hyped To Be
  Sometimes film reviewers get caught up in their excitement over something new or something old. At the time of its 1967 release, Point Blank was very different. It had a driven, bad man anti-hero. There was toss away violence (extreme for the time). There were really no nice people in the film at all: just a moody, existential environment for a country that had lost a popular president to an assassin's bullet as well as civil unrest because of the Vietnam War. But, looking coldly at the film now, it is very slow, rather overdone with stylish shots, and fairly crude with regard to characters that seem to occupy Hawaii/50 suits and Jackie Kennedy makeup. It's not that I don't like this film. It simply does not hold up next to several others around its time, including Bullit, Targets, The Laughing Policeman, and even some of the Dirty Harry movies. Look at the newest breed (The Usual Suspects, Report to the Commissioner [vastly under-rated film], The General [a great Boorman film], Reservoir Dogs, and Pulp Fiction) and the difference is clear. This may be a serious landmark of sorts, but not a great film....more info
• Point Blank Blank
  The movie arrived quickly, but there was no chapter list and the copy was a tad dark....more info
• Donald Westlake
  Like all Donald Westlake stories -- it's fantastic.
  
  A great representation of the genre' and of San Francisco in the late sixty's / early seventy's.
  
  Lee Marvin would have made a great Dourtmunder!!
  
  ...more info
• "I want my money"
  Saw this movie a month and a half ago. What an amazing movie. The whole cast was good especially Marvin and Angie Dickinson. Can you believe this movie bombed when it was released in the summer of 1967? Hard to believe that this is a fast movie (92 minutes) and by the time the movie neared its end it reminded me of a movie that I recently saw and that is the David Cromberg film "A History of Violence". Speaking of movies I think "Point Blank" is the most important movie of the 1960's because it was the inspiration for other shoot-them-up movies that would come out in the years to come including "Bullitt", "Dirty Harry", "Get Carter", and "Death Wish"....more info
• This icy cold revenge thriller creates a world all its own
  "Point Blank" is an icy cold revenge thriller from 1967, heavily influenced in style by the French "New Wave". The continual jump cutting and flashbacks are confusing and the cacophonous musical score date it somewhat, but this is an entertaining film right until the very end. "Point Blank" is one of the few films to successfully create a strange world all of its own....more info
• "You're A Very Bad Man Walker....."
  Why isn't this film available yet on DVD??? As a previous reviewer stated, many lesser "films" are widely available all over the world, yet many cinematic milestones such as "Point Blank" still remain invisible. This is a wonderful 60s gangster film noir (which seems to set the tone and style for many thrillers in the seventies) with Lee Marvin at his most understated, and as a result, most effective as Walker, the lone gunman out for his cut of the dough that John Vernon (introduced in this film) did him out of in a double crossed heist on a deserted Alcatraz. Boorman's direction is exemplary and gives the whole movie a fragmented but driven feel that seems to represent Walkers state of mind. Marvin is practally in every scene and his determination comes over 100 percent. Do us all a favour and get this movie out on DVD soon as my VHS copy is beginning to die!!...more info
• Most accidents happen within three miles of home
  I dunno, I sense an approach at "style", but it's still early in this director's career...and it just hasn't jelled yet. Compared to "Bullett", released a year later, this film is kinda thin. A viewer can allow himself to be drawn in, but for me the whole thing is not fully realised. You want it to work, but it doesn't reach cruising altitude. Mr Marvin was born for this role, but his stoic silence doesn't create any kind of character beyond the revenge angle. Perhaps that's the point. That's his "Point", and he is "Blank" (!) I will admit there is a consistant feeling of unreality, that fits in with the theory that it is all a dying man's fever dream. Actually, this might be a "ghost" film, predating "The Sixth Sense". It's worth watching, and repeat viewings may reward. ...more info
• The artsy vehicle
  POINT BLANK is a worthy, simple gangster picture that tried to turn revenge into movie art. The artsy vehicle employed in this attempt was the flashback. Unfortunately it did not do the trick. The flashbacks were distracting. They added nothing to the story dimension of the film. Despite the flashbacks I enjoyed this film. The star lead, Walker [Lee Marvin]is not a hero, but a righteously revengeful mobster: revenge because his pal leaves him for dead and steals his share of the "take." Marvin was the ideal star for this film; taciturn, quietly heroic, and good with the fists. Lloyd Bochner and Michael Strong are well cast as the socially acceptable members of the modern Mob. You'll never forget two splendidly directed scenes. First, when Walker manages to bypass the goons guarding his ex-pal, then kills him in a penthouse--the first revenge. A second splendid scene that didn't mean much to the revenge angle, but spiced the film with a sprig of romance--was Angie Dickinson pounding Lee Marvin unrelentingly with both fists in a fit of scorn until she falls to her knees. Although Walker manages to gain some revenge the story-plot is unresolved at the end and the so-called "Twist" does not make sense. What does make sense is this modern underworld film without gutter profanity. That is a treat worth not hearing in POINT BLANK....more info
• ONE OF THE TOP THREE COLOR NOIRS
  Forget the cookie-cutter reviews; 'A taut revenge thriller'; this is a hypnotic, stylish, beautifully acted, masterfully directed, sorely misunderstood neo-noir that deserves a transfer to d.v.d. This is not just a revenge picture, like so many think, this story is taking place in the mind of a betrayed and dying crook. And what makes the film 'noirer' than most is the fact that our anti-hero is unsuccessful and duped even in his dreams! Now that's noir! If possible, wait to see this in widescreen. The director John Boorman uses it as well as it can be used. Enjoy....more info
• "Point Blank" research
  If you liked "Point Blank" then check out the books written by Richard Stark (actually Donald Westlake) who also wrote the Dortmunder books ("The Hot Rock"). The character is named Parker, and the books are wonderful. "Point Blank" captures the characters' shark-like personality, he doesn't register your existence unless it affects the heist, or his appetites at the time. "Payback" is not even worth typing a sentence about. The Parker paperbacks are somewhat hard to find, but are worth the effort, find as many as you can. There is also a series of re-prints, titles have been changed....more info
• Lee Marvin's best
  Finally it's in dvd. Been looking for it for years. Point Blank is Lee Marvin's best movie, the best character for him, and has his best tag line. I'll leave that for you to find. (It has to with seat belts.) The movie is aptly named. The plot is steam-roller direct, but the director uses some arty time-lapse devices that either distract by conflicting with the directness of the character and the plot, or enhance by providing depth and interest, I can't decide. But they do jarr a little and seem dated. I suppose I do like the uniqueness they add. It's a really good Lee Marvin movie, and Angie Dickinson to boot. Who remembers her answer when Johnny Carson asked her whether she dressed to please herself or others? Memorable....more info
• A forerunner to Dirty Harry and Lee Marvin shining...
  If you liked "The Getaway" or "Dirty Harry", then meet their forerunner.
  
  "Point Blank" is explosive, fast-paced, and still the acting is there.
  Good acting that is.
  
  Lee Marvin is at his best. Angie Dickinson. in her strong performance, is as beautiful as ever. Keenan Wynn and Carroll O'Connor play their parts to the hilt and it truly shows. John Vernon (who was The Mayor in "Dirty Harry") plays a slimy type with diligence and very believable.
  
  Add the killing pace of the entire picture, and you have a hot item, as sharp and cutting as "Film Noir" can be.
  Yes, because this is still a "Film Noir", despite the fact that it was filmed in Color and in the mid-sixties.
  
  John Boorman ("Hell in the Pacific", "Deliverance" and "The Emerald Forest"), skillfully "color coded" the entire movie, bringing it from absolute colors at the beginning, to more red-tinted ones towards the end.
  
  The only difference from a true "Film Noir" is its fast-paced storyline, that would lead us to movies as I have mentioned above.
  
  Marvin's minimalistic acting, but forceful presence, is enough to fill every frame of the movie with tension, action and complete mayhem.
  Compare him in "The Dirty Dozen" and "The Big Red One" and you will see what I mean.
  
  A big plus was the release on DVD. An excellent transfer with a sharp picture resolution, a clearcut sound, make it a very enticing experience to watch it at home.
  
  This is not just a Highly Recommended title. It is simply a Must!...more info
• A great Lee Marvin Movie....but....
  ....Lee Marvin at his finest....but there are so many holes in this plot it looks like swiss cheese! But in 1967 who cared! Get it for Lee's performance!...more info
• Somewhere between beat and hippie
  What a wild portrayal of this period. FUN! I get where is shows the transition from beatnik to hippie. Something you might see at a Beatnik Coffee House. Cool man, cool!...more info
• One of the 10 Best Films of the Sixties
  This film would be PERFECT for DVD! (.....). The wonderful widescreen photography,the modernistic locations, such as LAX and the gleeming, sun-bakedsteel & glass office buildings, and the impressionistic use of sound, not to mention the slick, modern style of this film would look and sound utterly FANTASTIC in the crisp digital format. What a tragedy, this film would be like one of those records you use to check the fidelity of your stereo speakers. But if VHS is the only way to see it then see it you must, because it is a masterpiece for its time. (...............)...more info
• Point Blank
  This 'action' thriller has to be one of the best thrillers ever made. Lee Marvin won an Oscar for his brilliant role in Cat Ballou and Point Blank allows him to demonstrate his considerable acting prowess. He's cold blooded and it's an edge-of-seat experience and so very very rivetting.
  Ably and agreebably supported by sexy Angie Dickenson... Watch it ...more info
• The Great Boorman and Marvin at Their Best
  Point Blank is a hard-edged existential classic reflecting the talents of two very intelligent creative artists: John Boorman and Lee Marvin. It is amazing that a major studio like MGM allowed such a hard-boiled and somewhat challenging story presentation without the usual meddling for commercialism and political correctness (though the term PC hadn't been invented in 1967). A perfect meshing of style, plot, acting. Ex-USMC leatherneck Marvin is the real deal. Angie Dickinson is still at her prime and you can see why Jack and Bobby Kennedy, among notable others, had the hots for her. Influential and worth repeated viewings. ...more info
• Point Blank - Lee Marvin
  After reading the reviews online I purchased the video believing it would be another great performance by Lee Marvin and others.
  He IS a great actor and yet, from just moments after it starts the director has him stoic, cold, acting strangely as tho in a coma, his actions in the fight scene are more like a faggot fighting for his purse instead of the man we all enjoyed in Marine/combat/fight scenes like Emporer of the North and Prime Cut ...
  And the movie dragged on with bizarre directing of his actions to be partially there and barely acting like the man he was ... I guess the director was trying to exhibit odd emotional replies to the circumstances, but all it comes off is - a Poorly made movie for a Great actor. He was stymied of his natural acting abilities by this fool.
  The music was offbeat also and added to the distorted style of mental frame of mind attempted by this offbeat director.
  
  It was a waste of time and money to have ever made this film much less buy and sit through it until the end hoping it would finally get better.
  
  In most cases Marvin looks away from anyone asking him or answering him as tho he has a care about what's going on . His facial expression is of being crazed almost !
  
  Go ahead, make someones day by buying this junk to see if I'm wrong !!
  
  I'll sell you mine right now for cheap !!
  Hurry b/c I'll be taking it to the target range soon if it's not sold !
  ...more info
• OVERBLOWN OVERRATED IDIOCY
  INCREDIBLY OVERRATED UNBELIEVABLE NONSENSE--BLOATED SELF IMPORTANT DRIVEL--- BAD DIALOGUE-- NOTHING REMOTELY BELIEVABLE OR INTERESTING HAPPENS BOORMAN THINKS HES BEING HIP OR CUTTING EDGE W THIS NOIR MISFIRE--- ITS VERY ANNOYING GRATING AND JUST PLAIN MISGUIDED--LOTS OF FIGHTS ,SHOOTING THINGS UP-- CHASES--ALL BADLY DONE--- HOLLYWOOD AT ITS WORST AND MOST OUT OF TOUCH---- DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE---- A WASTE OF TIME MONEY ETC----I FOUND IT EMBARASSINGLY INSIPID AND UNWATCHABLE !!!!...more info