Point Blank (1967)

In John Boorman's brutal crime classic neo-noir (his debut Hollywood film), a stylistic thriller with a high body count - and a major cult classic - based on the pulp crime novel The Hunter by Donald E. Westlake (under the name Richard Stark):

• the many virtuoso, artsy, avant-garde editing techniques (i.e., flashbacks, time lapses and jumps, overlapping sound, repetitions, dream motifs, etc) to blur the line between fantasy and reality in the fractured "it was all a dream" narrative - a revenge fantasy
• the opening sequence of anti-hero Walker's (Lee Marvin) double-crossing shooting (hallucinations and dying dream?) by his deceitful partner Mal Reese (John Vernon)) on Alcatraz Island; they had just successfully robbed the courier of a major underground gambling operation; Walker was left to die by Reese in one of the cells (in the deserted prison) - and he gave a confused voice-over: "Cell. Prison cell. How did I get here?...Did it happen? A dream. A dream";
• Walker was left for dead, but seemingly-survived and miraculously made it off Alcatraz Island, and was now on a return to San Francisco some time later on a sight-seeing ferry; Walker's single-minded vengeful quest was to get his stolen $93,000 repaid from the upper echelons of a criminal "Organization"
• on a SF Bay ferry, Walker received mysterious assistance from Yost (Keenan Wynn) - a detective who suddenly appeared; was he an other-worldly apparition - what was his role?
• the scene of Walker's loud stride (echoing and increasing in intensity) as he marched along a corridor at LAX after his arrival - cross-cut with a view of his wife Lynne (Sharon Acker) in bed and then dressing before visiting a beauty salon parlor - and then his violent and vengeful shoot-up of his double-crossing wife's empty bed (just in case her lover was in it) - defiled after she ran off with his double-crossing, sleazy ex-partner Mal Reese; Reese had used the stolen money to pay back his debts to the Mafia and rejoin the "Organization"
• the abstract scene of a motionless Walker as he listened silently without response when his faithless wife Lynne, in a suicidal daze and sitting next to him on her couch, asked questions and provided her own answers: ("Walker, Reese isn't here. He's gone. Three months ago. Gone. Cold. Moved out. Walker, I'm glad you're not dead. It's true. I really am. You ought to kill me. I can't sleep. Haven't slept. Keep taking pills. Dream about you. How good it must be - being dead. Is it? No. No, I can't. Never had the courage. This? Payoff, I guess. I don't know where he is, I really don't. Money? A guy brings it the first of every month. Thousands, thousands. Always a different guy. No contact with Mal. Just couldn't make it with you, Walker. With him, it was kind of fun. Just drifted into it. That night on Alcatraz. I knew it was you I really wanted. I found out too late"); then she explained why she had run off with Reese (accompanied by more flashbacks); and then the next morning, he found the despairing Lynne face down and dead on the bullet-riddled bed - of a suicidal, intentional drug overdose

Lynne's Answering of Her Own Questions	Lynne's Suicidal Overdose

• Walker's wild test-driving and crashing of a new car under LA freeway ramps in order to intimidate and terrorize car salesman 'Big John' Stegman (Michael Strong) into talking ("Where do I find Reese?"); he learned that Reese was with Lynne's sister Chris (Angie Dickinson)
• Walker's brutal backstage fight in the noisy Movie House nightclub against two thugs with a swirling, kaleidoscopic and psychedelic backdrop of images behind them
• the scene of Walker's sister-in-law Chris agreeing to help Walker get to Reese - they cased the Huntley House hotel in Santa Monica by driving by and viewing it through a beachside telescope; she pointed out how difficult it would be to enter Reese's heavily-guarded penthouse on the top floor: ("Men everywhere. You're gonna have a lot of trouble getting in, but you'll never get out")
• the scene of Walker's diversionary tactics and stealthy entry into Huntley House, as Chris - who was used as a "Trojan Horse" - entered the penthouse for a sexual tryst; she allowed Reese to unbutton the entire front of her dress, and then seduced him in the bedroom; Walker barged in on them and had a lethal confrontation with Reese (found naked in bed with Chris), while Chris dashed to the bathroom in the background and was hastily dressing; Walker held a gun on Reese in the foreground, demanding his half share of the heist money: "I want my 93 grand now"
• after Walker learned the names of the corrupt, organized crime corporation leaders - Frederick Carter (Lloyd Bochner), Brewster (Carroll O'Connor), and Fairfax; and then, the naked, blanket-wrapped Reese was accidentally flung over the penthouse balcony railing and plunged to his death onto the street below
• the scene of Carter promising to pay off Walker at a rendezvous point - the LA storm-drain river basin; Walker sensed that there would be a set-up and watched as both money-deliverer Stegman and Carter were mistakenly shot to death by a sniper (James Sikking) with a high-powered telescopic gun; Walker discovered that the pay-off package-bundle was only blank bills
• the scene of Chris' energetic and angry, but futile throttling and pounding of both of her fists into Walker's chest, when she became fed up with his destructiveness in the high-tech home of Brewster, one of the crime syndicate members; she also slapped Walker's face, to make him feel something - until she collapsed to the floor from exhaustion; he stood granite-like and motionless without flinching or reacting; as part of her rampage (off-screen), while he flipped through TV channels with a remote control, she proceeded to the kitchen and turned on all of the electrical appliances, forcing Walker to follow after her and shut everything down; Walker also had to switch off the reel-to-reel tape on the hi-fi playing loud jazzy music, as Chris took to the PA system and blasted out a message to him: "You're a pathetic sight, Walker, from where I'm standing. Chasing shadows. You're played out. It's over. You're finished. What would you do with the money if you got it? It wasn't yours in the first place. Why don't you just lie down - and die?"
• the entire incident was followed by forceful love-making between them (although Walker's flashbacks during sex were of many different partners)
• the scene of Walker's ambush of the "Corporation" higher-up, second-in-command Brewster when he arrived home; Walker forced him to phone Fairfax: ("the man who signs checks") - who promptly scoffed and refused to pay Walker: ("Threatening phone calls don't impress me"); incensed by the delay, Walker blasted the phone with his gun; Walker was told by Brewster that his cash would be available during a once-a-week drop in San Francisco: "The drop has changed, but the run is still the same" - although Walker distrusted him
• the final sequence of the $93,000 money drop-off with Brewster at Ft. Point (an old Spanish mission) in San Francisco; again, Walker sensed an ambush and stayed mostly hidden; after Brewster promised that Fairfax would soon be dead: ("Fairfax is dead. Or he will be tomorrow") and the package was brought via helicopter, a hit-man sniper in the shadows shot Brewster; and as Brewster died, he identified Yost who emerged as Fairfax: ("This is Fairfax, Walker! Kill him!") - Yost was the top man and puppet-master known as Fairfax

Brewster at the Drop Site in SF - Shot Dead by a Sniper		Yost Was Identified as Fairfax
Walker in the Darkness	Sniper with Fairfax and Brewster's Body	Alcatraz Island

• Fairfax offered to hire Walker as an enforcer, after he had manipulatively used Walker to eliminate all of his underlings in the "Organization": ("Our deal's done, Walker. Brewster was the last one. He thought he could take over from me. Hey, Walker! Come on in with me. I've been lookin' years for someone like you (pause after no response from Walker) Well, come and get your money, then. Come on and get it. I pay my debts! Walker! Walker!"); Walker listened from the shadows and remained silent as Yost's/Fairfax's sniper appeared; the two decided to leave the money and disappeared into the darkness after no response from Walker: ("Well, Walker, this is the last time. How do ya like that?...Leave it"); the ending was ambiguous - did Walker take the money on the ground that was left for him?
• the film ended with a zoom-out from Brewster's body, a slight tilt upward, and then a slow tracking shot to the left from San Francisco over to a zoomed-in view of Alcatraz Island - Walker's final resting place? - was the entire film his revenge fantasy?