Point Blank
Short description
Point Blank follows Walker, a man who is betrayed during a robbery and left for dead. He survives, and once he has recovered he sets out to recover the money that was taken from him. The sum is small, but Walker pursues it with a determination that carries him through a criminal organization and everyone connected to the man who shot him. John Boorman directed the film from a screenplay by Alexander Jacobs, Rafe Newhouse and David Newhouse, with Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff and Judd Bernard producing. It was Boorman's first feature as director, ahead of Hell in the Pacific, Deliverance and the films that followed. Lee Marvin plays Walker, with Angie Dickinson as Chris, John Vernon as Mal Reese, Keenan Wynn as Yost, Carroll O'Connor as Brewster and Lloyd Bochner as Frederick Carter among a credited cast of 66.
Point Blank was released in the United States on August 30, 1967, and runs 92 minutes. It is a crime drama and thriller made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with Winkler Films and Judd Bernard Productions, on a budget of 3 million dollars that was matched by its worldwide box office. The film holds a critics' rating of 8.3 out of 10 from 41 reviews, higher than its audience scores of 7.2 on IMDb from around 26,000 votes and 7.1 on TMDB from 451 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- This is the first film to be shot at Alcatraz since the infamous prison on the island closed in 1963.
- The film's plot structure was fragmented, which was quite unusual for the time. The lead actor, Lee Marvin (1924-1987), even requested a meeting with the studio bosses to confirm that they had no objections to the script, the chosen actors, etc., and he received that confirmation. However, once the film was shot, the studio executives watched the director's cut and immediately began hinting at the need for reshoots and some changes. Regardless, the film was released exactly as John Burman had envisioned it.
- Once, director John Burman was invited to a meeting with MGM president Robert O’Brien (1907-1997), during which the latter began to express his wishes for the film. During the meeting, O’Brien’s phone rang. It was David Lean (1908-1991) with questions about his upcoming film, "Ryan's Daughter" (1970). After talking to him, O’Brien forgot everything he intended to say to Burman and quickly ushered him out of the office. Burman later told Lean how he had saved him in this way.
- When James Sikking came to audition for the role of the killer, John Burman turned him down, saying he looked too kind for the part. Over the following week, whenever Burman looked out the window, he invariably caught sight of Sikking, who was simply standing nearby and glaring at him menacingly. Burman lasted a week before going outside and telling Sikking that the role was his.
- After filming the death scene of the character played by Carroll O’Connor, the filmmakers, while reviewing the day’s footage, noticed that he was making sounds in the scene that were completely inappropriate for the seriousness of the moment and could make the audience laugh. The actor had already left and was halfway from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The filmmakers called the police to have his car stopped and to relay to O’Connor that he needed to return to the set. His car was stopped, and the message was delivered. He was furious, but he returned to the set.
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