Saturday, October 08, 2005

If I get really lucky, one day Mel Gibson will remake me as his pet project ... well, before he finds Jesus: "Point Blank"

It's totally not fair, but how can you watch a Lee Marvin movie and not think of Mr. Blonde from "Reservoir Dogs?" You know, when he and Mr. White are getting into it, and Blonde says, "Boy that was really exciting. I bet you're a big Lee Marvin fan, aren't ya? Yeah, me too." That line doesn't get as much attention as "Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite?", but it's still good.

(And can we agree that Michael Madsen should have just hung it up right then? Hey, it was nice to see him in "Kill Bill," and I thought "Tilt" was OK. But there's been a lot of crap around those roles.)

For my generation, "Point Blank" is the movie Mel Gibson remade -- or shamed, depending on your point of view -- as "Payback," with Marvin playing the original role. I'm probably in the minority, but I actually like "Payback." It was kind of fun to see Gibson try his hand as a rogue well after his "Mad Max" days, and the simple revenge story was entertaining enough. But folks who had seen "Point Blank" couldn't shut up about Lee Marvin, so I figured it was my duty to see the original version when it came on TCM.

Our story: Marvin is double-crossed, shot point blank and left for dead by his partner and his wife after the three rob another couple of crooks during a drop-off on Alcatraz Island. He somehow pulls himself together and goes after his partner, then his partner's bosses -- an "organization" to which his partner repaid debts using the stolen money. As you might imagine, Ol' Lee really isn't interested in making up with these guys up as much as getting some green.

A few names are different, but it's essentially the same story retold in "Payback," but with more flashbacks and mood setting. Maybe that's supposed to be more complex, but I think the story could have been leaner. Still, Marvin makes a decent protagonist as he disposes of various bad guys. The best was his old partner, whom you may recognize from "Animal House." I bet you never expected to see Dean Wormer flying through the air naked, huh?

In the end, this movie probably was ruined for me by its remake. Like I said, I liked that leaner story, and it was funny to see Gibson set up as a not-very-nice guy before he starts exacting revenge (stealing from the homeless, not leaving a tip). We don't get too much of that with Marvin. Sure, he's a hard ass, but his grumpiness is mostly limited to the bad guys. Also, he's somewhat manipulated by a mysterious guy who may or may not be part of the very gang he's chasing. I liked it better when the wronged man was all alone.

That's too bad, because Marvin is intriguing, and I need to see more of his stuff. Still haven't caught "The Dirty Dozen" or any of his Westerns, i.e. "The Professionals," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" and "Cat Ballou." (He won an Oscar for that.) But I also haven't seen "The Delta Force," so I got that going for me ... which is nice.

2 Comments:

At 11:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

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At 12:43 AM, Blogger Paul McElligott said...

You're not alone. I liked Payback, too.

 

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