Reflections on "Point Blank"
Directed by John Boorman
Screenplay by Alexander Jacobs, David Newhouse and
Rafe Newhouse
Starring Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson and Keenan Wynn
The story is a remarkably simple one. A thief, Walker, helps his friend
Reese steal a large sum of mob money. Needing more than his percentage, Reese
shoots Walker and makes off with both Walker’s share and his wife Lynne,
leaving Walker for dead. However, Walker survives the attack and seeks revenge
on Reese, as well as pursuing his $93,000 share of the heist.
Prior to his shooting, when seen in flashback, he appears to be a fairly
happy-go-lucky rogue who is sociable, genuinely fond of his wife and displays a
fundamental humanity when he tries to prevent Reese killing the messengers in
the original heist. However, post-shooting, he is quite amoral, is willing to
use violence and death to achieve his goals, and acts coldly and efficiently, apparently
without conscience.
Walker is a strangely attractive amoral anti-hero. Perhaps because he
moves in an equally amoral world in which his opponents and victims are seen as
totally unprincipled mobsters hiding behind a façade of corporate
respectability, Walker is seen as more appealing and somehow more honest,
perhaps because he has been presented as a victim himself and because he is
acting with a purity of purpose, seeking only what is due to him. Reese and his
mobster associates make a costly mistake in refusing to recognise the justice
of Walker’s demand of payment of his $93,000, which has gone into the
"corporate" coffers.
The world in which Walker and these "businessmen" operate is
one in which law and order play no part, and where men do what they feel they
have to do in order to survive and make profit. Respect for law, order and
morality does not exist and our protagonists are on an equal amoral footing,
apart from belief in the principle of trust, loyalty and respect between
friends, and the principle of paying debts.
He is no angel, but Walker appears to have had respect for these basic
principles – he got involved in the heist as a favour to his friend, and he
appears (in the flashback sequences) to have been devoted to his wife. Used and
betrayed by both, and then by the organisation which profited by his
involvement and shooting (and which, in Walker’s mind, inherits Reese’s debt on
Reese’s demise), Walker is the outraged victim who fights back.
He has learned there is no right and wrong, and there is no loyalty. He will
use the organisation’s own methods against them to reclaim his money, though
there are hints that below the surface of anger and determination there is an
underlying humanity which he may be willing to share with deserving cases.
Walker’s overwhelming characteristics are anger, purity of purpose and strength
of resolve, but without the suggestion of underlying humanity he is no better
than his opponents, and there would be little interest in seeing him succeed.
Each of the main characters has his or her own agenda in the film. They
all have their own reasons for involvement in Walker’s situation and revenge,
but there is no question of right, wrong, or of morality – it is always down to
personal choice. When Walker asks for his sister-in-law Chris’s help, she asks
"Why should I?". Walker’s reply is a simple “It’s up to you”,
indicating we are firmly in “film noir” and existential territory. Chris’s
involvement is based on revenge, highlighting the idea that we all pay the
price of our actions and indiscretions through the reactions of others whose
lives we touch. We are all free to act according to our cut and conscience, but
there may be a price to pay, as Reese and his organisation discover to their
cost.
However, there is another element which adds interest to both Walker
himself and the film as a whole, and one which may help explain the enigmatic
ending. Did Walker really survive the attack on Alcatraz, or is Walker an indignant
and distressed spirit out to gain vengeance on those who did him wrong?
While this may at first seem an unnecessary and romantic complication, there
is evidence to support the theory that Walker did in fact die on Alcatraz, and
we are watching his spirit seek retribution on those who have profited from his
demise.
When Walker is shot, he is lost and confused though he was seemingly mortally
wounded.
Walker discovers the whereabouts of his wife and he sets out to see her
for the first time since his shooting. His approach, purposefully marching
along a corridor, driven by his contained fury and aggrieved determination,
brilliantly conveys his feelings and we see the impact of his return on his
wife Lynne who appears to have been waiting for this moment when she must face
her past and her sense of guilt.
These confrontation scenes have a certain ethereal, almost atemporal
quality, causing some confusion as they are disjointed and we are unsure of the
chain of events and timescale. Events are not presented in a linear fashion,
but seem to depend on perception or perspective.
After Lynne’s suicide we have no clear notion of the passing of time. As
Walker moves from one room to another, he remains the same, but the rooms are
substantially changed, and Walker seems almost surprised, as to him (and us)
these scenes are continuous. This may simply suggest upset on Walker’s part (he
is certainly distressed by his wife’s death), or it may suggest a different
continuum or perspective.
These scenes, together with others in which time seems to jump (meetings
with Yost, scenes at Brewster’s home) suggest an ethereal, almost mystical or
other-worldly quality to Walker’s very existence.
Evidence that Walker may have an ulterior motive while pursuing his debt
comes when he gives his wife’s money to her sister after Reese’s death. As she
takes the money, she comments on how unlike him this action is, saying "You
did die at Alcatraz". Despite the fact he is ostensibly pursuing his money
from the organisation, it seems money is not as important as revenge for the betrayal
he has suffered. This charitable act toward his sister-in-law also suggests his
underlying, if selective, humanity. Even when he is apparently unpleasant to
Chris at Brewster’s home, is he not trying to drive her away in order to
protect her? Once again, these actions allow the audience to sympathise with
him and root for him in his quest, but they may also suggest a broader understanding
and purpose on Walker’s part.
After various attempts to recover his money have failed, leading to the
deaths of various members of the organisation, Walker eventually makes contact
with Fairfax who, it seems, is willing to pay him. The payment is to take place
on Alcatraz, therefore bringing the film full circle. Once again Walker is on
Alcatraz to steal his money and perhaps be killed in the process.
Fundamentally, his apparent death and all the subsequent events have had no
effect – nothing has changed. The organisation continues to operate, the drop
still takes place, and someone is still willing to steal the money.
At the end of the film Walker appears to retire to the shadows, leaving
his debt unpaid. However, he has avenged himself on those who betrayed him, and
in the end that was what it was all about – not the money. He has apparently
been used as an instrument of furthering Fairfax’s position in the “company”,
but Walker has also used Fairfax as a source of information. In fact, they have
used each other to their mutual benefit. Walker has taken vengeance on those
immediately responsible for his demise and may now be at peace. He may also recognise
that, in the end, human nature will win out and the cycle of corruption will be
repeated. Although a number of people have died and personal scores have been
settled, the organisation remains intact, and nothing has really changed. In
the end no real purpose was served – Point Blank.
This is an excellent thriller from John Boorman who made it all the more
intriguing and thought-provoking by using a mixture of styles. At times
straight hard-nosed thriller, but laced with almost surreal moments suggesting
mystery over the very nature of Walker’s existence and mixed with film noir
elements and some black humour, this is an immensely watchable thriller with
excellent performances from Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson in particular.
The masterstroke, however, is in the possibility that Walker is a ghost
who must act to avenge himself before he can rest in peace. This adds a certain
moral mystique to Walker’s quest, suggesting the possibility of ultimate
payback for our actions while the end also implies that ultimately no lessons
are learned and no change is effected in the face of human nature and weakness.
My thanks for taking the time to read this article. I hope you found it
of some value.
Stuart Fernie
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