Get Carter, in its atmosphere, soundtrack, genereal storyline and acting. Terrific movie, and i like peoples interpretation that Marvin was dead (implausable but still an interesting interpretation) like Eastwood in High Plains Drifter. Very good film!
shareWhy implausible? Walker is shot point blank in that cell at the very beginning. On the phrase "a dream?" he rises from below into frame. Isn't the film a mindscape of the dying Walker, a character lost in world of corporations and commercials? And isn't Walker the perfect name for a character searching for his money in LA? "You really did die at Alcatraz, Walker."
shareMarvin is dead both physically and emotionally. No man with two bullet holes could survive a swim across the Frisco Bay. When he is shot in the prison cell at the beginning he exhibits the dead man's twitch.
During the film his clothes take on the color of his surroundings and he moves around largely unseen. When his sister-in-law Chris wears herself out hitting him, he feels nothing.
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If he isn't seen then why create the diversion before sneaking into the penthouse? I'm not buying this "he's really dead" theory.
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He can't be dead. He shows up looking like Robert Duvall and sporting the new name "Earl Macklin" in "The Outfit". Could a dead man do that?
shareand i like peoples interpretation that Marvin was dead (implausable but still an interesting interpretation) like Eastwood in High Plains Drifter. Very good film!
Actually, on the DVD commentary track, John Boorman, the director, said that it was purposely left equivocal whether or not Marvin was dead and the movie was comprised of his dreams of what could happen.
"Boy that was really exciting. I bet you're a big Lee Marvin fan aren't ya."
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Saw the flick on TCM. Before the movies the host explained that in the book One bullet hit Walker (Lee Marvin) in the belt buckle and one hit the ceiling so he was never really shot. Of course the movie does not explain. Love the scene where Lee destroys the Imperial convertible.
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Point Blank plays like the surreal fragments of a nihilistic nightmare. We don't really know what's real, what's a dream, what's physical, what's psychological, and what's potentially metaphysical.
shareRemember, if it is all a dream of a dying man, then he can beat people up, get scars, etc, and do things that make no sense because it is a dream. That's not the same as him being a ghost, where the events would be actually happening, but he wouldn't get scars or feel pain, etc.
I once met John Boorman and I asked him point blank (sorry) whether Lee Marvin dreamed the whole thing and he said: "You might see it that way; or not." So he leaves it up to you to decide.
When the hell is this gonna be released on Region 2 DVD?!?
sharewell, i met boorman myself, and asked him the same question, the only difference is that he was completely wasted at the time, and he told me to sod off.
When Demons are at the Door, you have to let em' in... Let em' in and kill em!
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There's a good quote in one of the posts above, citing the director, John Boorman, from his DVD commentary...
"...(maybe) the movie was comprised of his dreams of what could happen."
So the director leaves it up to the viewer as to whether the events happen, or Lee Marvin's character, Walker, is a ghost or the whole film after the opening double-cross scene at Alcatraz is just a dream/vision Walker has while he's dying.
For what it's worth, the film is based on Richard Stark (Don Westlakes)'s novel, The Hunter, and featured "Parker" as the central character: he didn't die at the end (and wasn't a ghost, or anything), and featured in five more books in the series (including "The Outfit").
However, the director of any given movie doesn't have to stick with the original author's ongoing-protagonist-of-a-book-series concept.
It would seem that he shot the whole thing so that any of the three interpretations discussed here (1. The story was 'real' in that Walker was left for dead but recovered and went after the double-crossers; 2. The whole thing was a 'death-wish'/hallucination/dream/vision of Walker's as he lay dying; 3. Walker died but his ghost came back from the 'other side' to wreak revenge on his killers) is a valid interpretation.
I've not seen the movie for several years, and I'm going to get the DVD and watch it again.
I enjoyed it immensely, the couple of times I saw it previously, and it never occurred to me that 'Walker' was actually killed in the opening scene. I'm going to enjoy watching the DVD again not only on its own merits but also because of this interesting "how-well-is-the-'ghost-option'-handled-by-Boorman?" facet.
Cheers, guys!
:)
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How did then he get a scar if he wasn't shot?
There´re too many references to death, dying, graves and morgues in the film to ignore. Also, the eccentric way how it´s structured and edited, strongly suggests the story being related to us through someone´s reeling mind - it jumps around a lot, sounds overlap at times, some of the action seems nonsensical. And there are the constant repetitions, the fixation on some phrases and especially the 93 000 bucks that never cease... And the ending makes more sense this way as Walker simply (and literally) fades into shadows, unable to obtain the money seemingly within reach.
And - to top it all off, the scene running under the credits, when Walker is getting on his feet the first time after the shooting, what does it say on the voiceover?
"A dree-aam....". The movie´s full such subtle hints and details. Paying attention pays off.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
I think the biggest evidence to suggest that it was a dream (aside from the fact that it's almost impossible for a fit man to swim across Frisco Bay, let alone a gravely injured one) is Boorman's use of color changes during the course of the movie. If you listen to Boorman's commentary he talks about this extensively. The films starts out gray when Marvin returns to his wife Lynne's house. Marvin wears a gray suit. All the surroundings are gray. As the film progresses, the surroundings turn green (Carter's office, furniture, phone, his henchmen's suits, Marvin's suit). Then the color turns yellow (Angie's outfit, even the long-distance "telescope" that Marvin's looks through on the beach towards Reese's penthouse). Then the colors turn orange (Marvin's outfit, Angie's outfit, all the surroundings) and finally red by the end of the film. The question is where did all these clothes come from? Where did Marvin get them? Why do these outfits change from one location to another? Why are the surrounding always matching? The only explanation is that it's all a dream... a fairy tale. In a dream, anything can happen.
Connery, Moore, and Brosnan! Accept NO substitutes!
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