Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 13, Week 10

In his review of the film for the New Yorker, Brendan Gill concluded that the "infinitesimal moral" of Point Blank is that "the wages of sin is more sin." I still need to chew on that for a while, but at first glance it doesn't seem too far off the mark. What's remarkable about John Boorman's postmodern noir is that, even forty years later, its innovations are no less impressive than they were back in the 60s. Many have tried to capture/mimic its tone, style, and narrative tricks, but quite honestly, few have succeeded. This is the real deal -- forget that that Mel Gibson remake even exists. If you've never seen man's man Lee Marvin as Walker the unstoppable machine, you really need to. Right now. (The alt-text clue (Features pepper and a bunker) of course refers to the infamous TV roles that co-stars Angie Dickinson and Carroll O'Connor were best known for in the 70s.) Full disclosure: I'm positively soused at the moment -- with every tissue in my body soaked in a combination of Villa Barthenau Sant' Urbano Pinot Nero and Opal Nera Sambuca. Forgive any moments of slovenliness. Still....the quiz must go on! This week: one of the greatest films ever made (according to Filmbrain.) Staring at the shot in my current state, there's something about the composition and the use of tight space that is so very Fassbinderian. (Fassbinderesque?) Name the film. Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!

Comments

[bill]

Among other amusing anecdotes about Lee Marvin and Point Blank, including how Marvin exerted his clout as star to give Boorman complete control over the film, Boorman, when speaking after the film at Walter Reade last year, told a story how he met with Marvin in a hotel in London to discuss the script and film. Both had read the script and Marvin asked him what he thought, whether he would want to make the movie, etc. After a pause Boorman said it was shit but he wanted to work with Marvin and make the film his way, with changes to the script they both had read. Marvin threw the script out the window, basically telling Boorman it was his film, he would be in it and to do whatever he deemed best. When asked years later about the Mel Gibson remake Boorman's response was that a young Gibson must have been walking by the hotel that London evening and picked up the original script deemed by both men to be utter crap.

[Tray]

Never really liked Point Blank, it struck me as sort of a Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia meets The Parallax View, and not nearly as good as either.