MovieChat Forums > Point Blank (1967) Discussion > The Worst Film Ever??

The Worst Film Ever??

posted 21 years ago by jonohargrave
109 replies | jump to latest

I just saw this, and, well, it was the worst film I've seen in a looong time.

Everything about it was awful, to the bad acting from Lee Marvin, to the terrible camera-work, out-of-place music, stupid sound-effects, and worse plot.

Seriously, this was SO terrible. Maybe it's just because it's dated, but I've seen films 30 years before this that aren't dated, so it has no excuse. Lee Marvin is that guy we all know and hate - the one that loves himself so much he probably kisses the mirror in the morning. And to believe he's a sex symbol! Wow.

I've seen a fair few bad films in my time, but none that I have really hated all the way through. The whole theater (it was at a place which shows older films) was laughing at all the unintentionally funny moments, and never at the actual jokes. What a load of *beep*!

[–] Wauzsig 18 years ago

The movie is very bad, but far from the worst film ever.

[–] nealwriter 18 years ago

I can not believe this individual wrote this - I am teaching this film at a respected film school and it is greatly admired.

Maybe this person would be better off seeing Shrek 3 - or would it be over his head?

[–] dsonesheets 18 years ago

I love how people who supposedly hate films can never back up what they say with any kind of critique/criticism at all. When I was getting my undergraduate in Film Studies, our main theory/history prof had no problem discussing/debating a film you didn't like, as long as you could AT LEAST articulate why you disliked it. Most of the haters here contribute nothing more than "screenplay sucked" or other drivel.

I could write a dissertation on this film and how it influenced and was influenced by John Cassavetes, Stan Brakhage (r.i.p.), the French New Wave, Jean-Pierre Melville (the god of French crime - see Le Samourai NOW!), and the list goes on.

The editing here is insane, especially in the sound of footsteps through the terminal, then driving, all the way into the front door. Genius, kept the audio cue that he's coming, and nothing is stopping him. His method of transport transcends a normal approach, and his wife on some level can hear him approaching, so she goes through the motions of getting ready for him.

The fact that he doesn't have a first name, almost implying "Sleep" Walker, is a nice touch. People are referred to as one-line by-products of the twisted environments they live in. Sterile, isolated, guarded and protected. They have no idea of the real world, the world that Walker live in, and glides to and from with ease into any location he wishes.

The screaming songs at the "Movie House" (the film's self-reflexive nod to itself), is a place where you can let it all out, scream, and is even given permission by the singer, Stu Gardner. This contrasts with the hostess' screams as she discovers the men who had been beaten senseless.

The Lynn/Chris dichotomy echos other dynamic points in the film. They are identical substitues for Walker's detached relationships. They play their parts and are also played by Walker. He uses Chris to get to Mal, and falls into bed with her while thinking about Lynn. Mal also uses Lynn/Chris as the same woman. Together, the Walker-Chris/Lynn-Mal relationship is a mirror of Truffaut's Jules et Jim, another classic that Boorman obviously watched many times.

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Ok, this is some basic analysis, of which I could spend hours talking about. This film defines cool. Boorman rocks. See? I can say that because 1.) I know what I'm talking about, 2.) I can carry on a rational debate about the film instead of screaming my low I.Q., and 3.) It is one bad ass fim.

So from the people who dislike or pretend to hate the film: It's like listening to a 9-year old kid saying that he hates Einstein's Theory of Relativity. First, he has no idea what he hates, and second, couldn't articulate it even if he had a gun to his head. This kind of behavior should be corrected with a hit on the nose when they do it, and a stern "NO, BAD CRITIC" so that the animal learns from this stimulus and eventually eliminates the behavior from everyday living.

BTW, Warner Bros. did an freakin' incredible job with the transfer on this. I was expecting a half-ass approach to another simple catalog title, albeit it one with a cult following. To my surprise, they cleaned it up, it looks great, no scratches or dirt, sound was brilliant. Hats Off WB!! No mention of a formal HD transfer / remaster, but it sure looks like it did.

To anyone who really cares about the noir/crime/heist/revenge genres, here is a small list worthy of viewing:

Jean-Pierre Melville:
Le Samourai (there is now an absolutely stunning Criterion transfer out now).
Bob le Flambeur
Le Circle Rouge
Also check out his "interview" in Godard's Breathless!!

Others:
Out of the Past (Kirk Douglas' second film)
The Lady From Shanghai (highly recommended)(Rita Hayworth as a platinum blonde - ouch!)
Gilda
Heat
Grand Slam
Rififi (also a great Criterion release!)
John Woo's Hard Boiled and The Killer, along with A Better Tomorrow II
Stray Dog
And let's not forget Sergio Leone's quartet: Fistful of Dollars, Few Dollars More, Good, Bad and the Ugly, and Once Upon a Time in the West. Add Fistful of Dynamite for good measure.

Three other off-topic films that you MUST SEE: Fellini's 8 1/2, Last Year at Marienbad, and Cassavetes' Faces. Off the charts people!

Peace!

Steve

[–] senzor 16 years ago

Excellent post. Too bad the threads at IMDB are spammed by people who don't have a clue about quality cinema. Posts like these make it worth while plowing through the drivel.

[–] elitist 18 years ago

I first found out about this film in the documentary A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, where Scorsese talks about it as one of his key influences - how's THAT for a recommendation?

I finally saw it about 6-7 years ago at the Australian Film Institute's cinema in Sydney, in a double bill with another great crime drama, Get Carter (the original with Michael Caine). It was also influenced by Point Blank.

And what does the fact that this thread has 36 replies and is more than 3 years old tell you??

[–] lostinaction 17 years ago

"I just saw this, and, well, it was the worst film I've seen in a looong time."

Then you haven't watched movies for a loooong time !

"I've seen a fair few bad films in my time, but none that I have really hated all the way through. The whole theater (it was at a place which shows older films) was laughing at all the unintentionally funny moments, and never at the actual jokes. What a load of *beep*!"

Maybe you have been in the wrong movie, cause there are no jokes in Point Blank !

The movie is great, when you don't like Lee Marvin and Movies like Dirty Harry, Death Wish, The Killers etc ... You shouldn't watch this movie.

[–] marbleann 17 years ago

I have been reading this thread and I am trying to figure what type of person considers this the worst film ever. Imagine someone actually saying this is one of the worst films ever. Imagine. I've tried and the only explanaton is that it has to be personal. Either they are Mel Gibson and his many children trying to discredit a far superior film then his pathetic remake or it is that chick who took Lee Marvin to court or Palimony and lost.

BTW this is to the person who said that he is just a action actor and not a actor, have you seen any of his movies? Even in the 50's when he first came on the scene he was a force to be reckon with. He had one of the most famous scenes in Hollywood history when he threw that hot coffee at Gloria Grahams face in the Big Heat, he stole the movie from right under the stars of the movie. And this was a Fritz Lang movie. He played one of the best sadistic characters I have seen. And then around the same time he was playing dimwitted cops in movies like Gorilla at Large. He did movies like the Killers and the Man who Shot Liberty Valance. But then you have a movie like Cat Ballou and he had to play two roles and one of them he was hilarious. The guy plays a hard azz hit man in one movie and two seconds later he is hilariously playing a drunken washed up gunslinger and his evil brother. And you say he can't act and he is just a action star. Well clearly you just remember him in the Dirty Dozen and those Delta Force movies. The thing about Marvin is that he is so cool that even though he is killing people little action is involved. So to me it really the opposite of a action actor other then a few roles like the Dirty Dozen.

[–] terrycremin 17 years ago

No quibbles with any of you defending this film. It's a great movie on many levels. I fault it in one regard. The screenplay goes soft on Angie Dickinson's character, Chris. A women who would sleep with a man just to set him up for murder is clearly socio- or psychopathic. Chris didn't like Reese but she didn't appear to have a particular ax to grind with him either. Remember, she didn't care for her sister much either, stating that Walker was the best thing about her. Nor did she seem to be in love with Walker.She easily walks away from him in the end. However, she declares that he is already dead, implying that he has no concscience. But only a woman without a conscience could do what she had done. I just think it was too early to present a sociopathic woman killer in the movies--although Faye Dunaway was breaking that ground in the same year. Would have liked the movie more if Dickinson had been allowed to give her character a little more grit.

[–] rollo131 17 years ago

What's with the message boards for every movie having a thread titled "Worst Film Ever???"? Go to any message board and you'll see what I'm talking about. Obviously "Point Blank" is not the worst film ever. I think the same knucklehead/troll goes to every title and posts that this is the WORST FILM EVER???, for reasons that can only be guessed at.

If you don't like a movie, USE A DIFFERENT SUBJECT HEADER to express your contempt, i.e. "I HATED IT" or "THOUGHT IT STUNK."

[–] elitist 17 years ago

Yes, they sound like the Comic Book Guy in The Simpsons. Probably look like him too.

[–] pocomarc 16 years ago

I found POINT BLANK to be disappointing, to put it mildly.

I watched it because it was highly touted by someone I know.

Obviously different people have different taste.

There was not a single sympathetic character in the film.

The start was totally confusing.

I took a while, a long while, to catch on the fact that the director
was using constant flashback of what Marvin saw when a current
situation stimulated the momory of an earlier similar situation.

The fight backstage in the nightclub was poorly done.

Marvin's slipping into Vernon's penthouse building past his guards was
not very believable.

I may have missed the point but the movie was a total disappointment to
me.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] 16 years ago

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