MovieChat Forums > Point Blank (1967) Discussion > Stupid observations I made...

Stupid observations I made...

posted 14 years ago by The Major
10 replies | jump to latest

I just watched this on TCM and now I want to watch it again with a stopwatch. At the beginning of the movie there is a stretch of time in which Walker utters not a word.

I believe it starts while Walker is on the Alcatraz tour boat and runs through the end of the waking up in Lynne's deserted house. I know that Walker is supposed to be a loner, but c'mon! Marvin comes off less introspective than hungover.

I wonder what movie has the longest stretch of no spoken dialogue by the leading actor (let's ignore silent movies and movies portraying a deaf mute, please). I can expect it in a Hitchcock movie... that's something he'd do.

SUBJECT 2: Having won an oscar for his role in "Cat Ballou", it seems as if Marvin carries over his lax gun grip style. He just cradles the gun with his fingers outside the trigger guard and not gripping the pistol. It's even on the poster art.

SUBJECT 3: The scene in which Walker is "walking" through the hallway and the sound of his footsteps is the soundtrack for a montage seems unnecessarily long. I started singing "Have I the Right" by the Honeycombs http://lyrics.webfitz.com/index.php?option=com_webfitzlyrics&Itemid=27&func=fullview&lyricsid=4265. Ihe meter is perfect.

[–] backwardstg 14 years ago

It's funny you mention the lack of dialogue by Marvin... for a while there, I wondered if he was going to spend the whole movie mute. There might be something cool about that -- very robotic and single minded. The strong silent type, I suppose :)

I liked the hallway scene. It showed his plodding determination!

Overall though, the movie was too quiet for my taste... even the action scenes felt muted. And if you want something that went on too long, how about the horrific screeching of the singer in the club.

[–] RichN36 14 years ago

I was wondering about that too... The lack of Talking... Would of been cool to see Marvin go the whole movie without talking exacting Revenge on those that Betrade him.

Was a Intresting movie after having it sit in my DVR for the past month.

At one point though toward the end I had a sence of someone laughing at Marvin for going all that way to seek revenge only to fail when he reached his goal as in "The Princess Bride"

Q: How does Soylent Soda taste?
A: It varies from person to person.
"Futurama"

[–] franzkabuki 14 years ago

Yeah most of Marvin´s dialogue seems to consist of robotic repetition of how he wants his money back and what he´ll do to people who refuse to give it to him. Which is very much in keeping with him apparently being mortally wounded - it´s like a dying, reeling mind processing compulsive thoughts.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] jbaddock 11 years ago

There are also stretches of the film where there is no sound at all, from any source. I took that to mean Walker is fading in and out of consciousness and so is only able to focus on the visual elements of his dream/fantasy.

[–] LTUM 14 years ago

i saw a cool movie that was EXACTLY like what you just described, a man goes the full length without talking. check it out since you may like it. it is called

THE LIMITS OF CONTROL

------------------
behold, sublime genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLPe0fHuZsc

[–] ishotnixon 13 years ago

Two espressos in two cups! Not a double espresso!

www.monkeysmightpuke.com

[–] LTUM 13 years ago

drugs...changed...everything..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8MGBn3KawM&feature=related

[–] el_janko 12 years ago

Yeah, Jim Jarmusch once said that "The Limits of Control" was made as a homage to one of his favourite movies - "Point Blank"!

[–] LTUM 12 years ago

oh snap, i didn't know that. i was going on instinct.

good deal then. thanks!

"rage to exist..." http://tinyurl.com/c9ush3z

[–] PterryFan 11 years ago

L.M. was a real life marine during WW2, he holds the weapon professionally as he's been trained .

Only Dickheads keep their finger inside the trigger guard if they're not immediately going to fire.
That said their are many semi trained gun owning D.H.s in the U.S. who hold weapons that way because that's how they held their toy guns when they were kids.

As to the lack of emotional chat, that's the character he's portraying .

It would definitely take away from the near psychopath, single mindedly on a mission of vengeance if he stopped to chat about the weather, how have you been lately, did you see such and such on tv last night.

This is a movie made for grown ups, not early teens who watch so called "Grown up "movies that are enjoyed by 12 year olds.

Not that I'm including you in that category, just explaining why its a bit more complex then some 18 plus films.