Fresh off an Academy Award win, legendary tough guy Lee Marvin starred with the equally iconic Angie Dickinson in director John Boorman’s first Hollywood movie, Point Blank (Criterion, not rated, 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 92 minutes, $49.95), in 1967.
The noirish action thriller now gets a 4K revival to showcase an adaptation of Richard Stark’s pulp crime novel about a heist double-cross that had the surviving robber out for revenge.
Specifically, Walker (Marvin) conspires with his wife Lynne (Sharon Acker) and friend Mal Reese (John Vernon) to intercept a cash transfer on the deserted Alcatraz Island prison from couriers who are part of the mysterious “Organization.” The trio pulls off the job, and Mr. Reese summarily shoots his buddy.
Walker survives, swims back to San Francisco, flies to Los Angeles, teams up with his sister-in-law Chris (Ms. Dickinson) and goes after Mr. Reese as well as anyone associated with the criminal, demanding his $93,000 (the cut from the heist).
Throughout Mr. Boorman’s masterpiece, characters are overtly pensive, building suspense while a fractured narrative introduces flashbacks and stress dreams, all delivered with subdued moments contrasted with bursts of violent actions.
Viewers will embrace the complex proceedings, sometimes not knowing if they are watching the past, present or future while caught in Walker’s often silent but always methodical rampage.
A highlight of the casting, which will cause older TV fans to laugh out loud (in what is not a funny scene), finds legend Carroll O’Connor as a member of the Organization being abused by Walker.
He pulls out a cigar and, before our eyes, turns into an early prototype for Archie Bunker, the patriarch of the hit television show “All in the Family.”
4K in action: The 4K restoration was built from the original 35mm camera negative, with 35mm separation masters used for some sections, along with a 35mm archival print (provided by Warner Bros.) for color reference. Most importantly, the process was supervised and approved by Mr. Boorman.
The impressive result embraces cinematographer Philip H. Lathrop’s stylized and delicate work, showcasing clarity and color nuance in the long shadows of Alcatraz as easily as the sun-drenched streets of Los Angeles.
Obsessed with the mirage of colorful noir, the director, working for the first time with color film, exposes viewers to scenes dominated by palettes of forest greens, burnt oranges and burnished golds.
The hue varieties come to life in costuming and interior settings as specific as an amber bedroom and a stark, cold, fluorescent, greenish-lit hallway.
The wildest of vivid color examples can be found in a mixture of broken perfume and bath ointment bottles spewing out a swirling, psychedelic concoction in a bathtub.
The visuals also revel in taking advantage of intact and cracked mirrors, grates and degraded metal and glass, reflecting objects and characters while sometimes fixated on showing Walker through mesh shades, curtains and screen doors.
Additionally, viewers will appreciate sequences such as a fistfight in front of a colorfully lit scrim rotating images of female models; Walker’s demolition of a 1967 Chrysler Imperial; and the details in a desolate Los Angeles riverbed with white concrete set against a flowing and glistening waterway.
Best extras: Criterion delivers an extended supply of digital goodies, starting with an optional commentary track with Mr. Boorman and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, recorded in 2005, that initially covers Marvin’s first meeting with the director as the two talk about the terrible first draft of the script written for a great character.
The directors then tackle the long rehearsals with the actors; comparing the book to the final script; Marvin’s acting technique; and breaking down key scenes.
Details include using the Panavision 40mm lens, jump cuts, the use of blinds and screens in scenes and how different colors take time to decay in the human retina.
Next, and very importantly, viewers get a 41-minute conversation between Mr. Boorman and film critic Geoff Dyer from 2023, shot at the director’s home in Surrey, England.
They cover the intentions of the filmmaker, the cinema experience of “Point Blank,” editing the film (importance of final cut), working with Marvin, challenges with his first color film, tones and an examination of key sequences
Again, how lucky cinema lovers are to get the chance to hear the nonagenarian opine about his noir masterpiece.
Hollywood historian and author Mark Harris then offers a 35-minute retrospective and analysis of the film and Mr. Boorman’s filmmaking styles (calling him a problem solver).
Mr. Harris explores Marvin’s early career, using noir elements in an unconventional way, the film’s release in the context of the movie Production Code, use of dead air, shooting film noir in color and the film’s palette.
A final appreciation has filmmaker Jim Jarmusch offer 17 minutes on “Point Blank,” beginning with his love of Los Angeles crime dramas, and then he explores the books, the fractured editing process, the use of color, his appreciation of key scenes and a succinct overview of the narrative.
My favorite featurette delivers 9 minutes on 11 shooting locations of the film from historian Alison Martino as she offers her “1960s time capsule” into Los Angeles’ architecture.
She explains the history behind the mosaic wall tiles on an underground tunnel in LAX airport and continues her information-packed tour covering the Tiffany Theater; Lou Costello building; Holy Cross Cemetery (opened in 1939, resting place for Bela Lugosi and Sharon Tate); the Hutley House hotel (opened several weeks before filming); 7655 Curson Terrace (a private residence where the Beatles once stayed); and Dunker’s Delight restaurant, as well as reminding us that “Point Blank” was the first movie filmed in San Francisco’s Alcatraz Prison.
Next, and pretty amusing and uncomfortable to watch, is a 22-minute segment from Oct. 9, 1970’s “The Dick Cavett Show” featuring an interview with a stoic and chain-smoking Marvin, touching on his World War II service, his war injury (shot in the buttocks), playing a bad guy, work on “The Dirty Dozen,” and winning the Oscar for “Cat Ballou,” and, of course, “Point Blank.”
Finally, a newly remastered, vintage, two-part documentary (16 minutes long) called “The Rock” talks about the history of Alcatraz Island and its transformation into the legendary prison (home to mobsters Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly) and even includes an interview with a former prisoner.
It ultimately turns into a puff piece for “Point Blank” and the film’s use of the prison, including a short walk-through with Ms. Dickinson.
The package includes a foldout pamphlet with a critical essay by Mr. Dyer, which provides an overview of the film and its visual merits.
• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.
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