Rating of
3/4
"Point Blank" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 02/03/12
Lee Marvin gives his most uncompromising performance as Walker, a hired gun who goes on the warpath after he is double-crossed and left for dead by his wife and friend. John Boorman resurrects film noir, overlaying elements of contemporary trippy psychadelia and western themes to create an ice cold revenge thriller to rival the likes of Get Carter and Coogan's Bluff. Alongside an iconic Marvin stars John Vernon who sets out his stall and makes this the starting point to his career of playing every douchebag in the 1970s and Angie Dickinson who is the epitome of swinging 60s glamour. The one criticism I would have to make is the fact that its roots in contemporary culture has dated it a little, particularly the occasionally dreadful soundtrack and the unnecessary romantic scenes. Otherwise it is a wonderfully hard-nosed character study of a man obsessed with revenge, doomed to repeat the previous mistakes of his life and completely misunderstood by the long since corporate-minded "organisation" that becomes his prey. It is flawed, but with moments of genius and hugely influential.
