When you begin a day's shooting under his direction you know that by the evening you're going to be worn out by the demands he makes on you." Working with him isn't easy but for me that's a compliment, because he forces you to think. Boorman's very good at speaking with actors for some of them he can even be too intellectual. Later I suggested we make a movie together.We swapped ideas on Zen Buddhism, on war, on the movie's visuals. We'd talk about emotions, about mythologies.It was one of those chance meetings that evolve into a friendship. Boorman came to my home several times and we immediately got on the same wavelength. A young producer, Judd Bernard, wanted me for one of his projects, the adaptation of a thriller that was to become Point Blank. In Lee: A Memoir by Pamela Marvin, the actor recalled the genesis of Point Blank: "I was filming The Dirty Dozen in London when I met John Boorman for the first time. After this feature, they would work together on Hell in the Pacific (1968), an intriguing tale of survival set on a deserted island during World War II and co-starring Toshiro Mifune. It's also significant as the first collaboration between the director and actor Lee Marvin. Point Blank is a brutal, stylish and innovative film, certainly unlike any other American movie released in 1967. Walker's attempts to locate his money and avenge his honor are repeatedly frustrated by this new breed of criminal - corporate lawyers and businessmen who traffic in stocks, bonds and credit cards, not hard cash. Mal turns out to be just one player in a complex scheme masterminded by the "Organization," an inaccessible group of high-profile executives. After being double-crossed by his partner, Mal Reese (John Vernon), in a robbery and left to die from bullet wounds, Walker manages to survive and eventually track down his betrayer, who not only absconded with a shipment of mob money but also took his wife as a mistress. As Walker, the central character in the film, Lee Marvin moves with the precision of a machine, cold, calculating, relentless he could be the predecessor to Arnold Schwarzenegger's annihilating cyborg in The Terminator (1984). Generally acknowledged by most film critics as director John Boorman's most influential film, Point Blank (1967) is a modern day film noir thriller that employs the techniques and thematic concerns of French New Wave filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Resnais to tell a story about basic human greed and retribution. Standing in the darkness, Walker considers the proposition for a moment and then disappears into the shadows. After offering Walker a job, Fairfax points to the packet of money and tells him to come and take it. Then Yost-who is actually Fairfax-appears to acknowledge Walker's unwitting assistance in eliminating those organization men who were a threat to his power. As Brewster picks up the packet of money, a shot rings out and he falls dead. Walker accompanies Brewster to Fort Point, San Francisco, where the cash transfer is to take place. Greedy to take over the number one spot in the organization, Brewster proposes that Walker outwit the top man, Fairfax, by pulling a hijack job similar to the previous one at Alcatraz. After two of them, Carter and car dealer Stegman, die in a trap intended for him, Walker makes his way to the combine's second-in-command, Brewster. Still determined to get his money, Walker continues to hunt down other members of the organization in Los Angeles. As Walker threatens him, Reese plunges from a terrace to his death. After Lynne has killed herself in despair, Walker takes up with her sister, Chris, who helps get him into Reese's heavily-guarded penthouse. Two years later, while on a guided tour around the island, Walker is stopped by a stranger, Yost, who offers to help him recover his share of the money by leading him to both Lynne and the criminal organization to which Reese now belongs. After taking part in the robbery of a large shipment of cash being transferred by helicopter on deserted Alcatraz, a man known as Walker is shot and left for dead by his partner Mal Reese, who then runs off with Walker's faithless wife, Lynne.
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