Point Blank

"Point Blank" is like a Spoon song: it takes the most enjoyable elements of its medium, reduces them to their bear essence, and chops them up to create something fresh. Like many Spoon songs, "Point Blank" is a fun ride that leaves you with a vague, uneasy feeling.

Professional badass Lee Marvin stars as Walker (it's a testament to the simplicity of the film that most characters have only one name). Walker is betrayed by his wife and his friend Mal in a heist. Left for dead, he goes after Mal and his organization to get the money owed him. Walker proceeds with enough ingenuity, poise and toughness to make James Bond fiddle with his gadgets in envy.

With a traditional ending, "Point Blank" would be a terrific little film. But instead, it takes things to another level in the third act, introducing paranoia and confusion. Why is Walker risking so much for this money? (With his skills, he could easily get more elsewhere.) Just who runs the organization he's attacking? (Each time he kills a "boss," a new superior pops up.) Will he ever be able to get his money? (He can never be sure that a delivery isn't a set-up to kill him.)

Released in 1967, "Point Blank" presages the Nixon era, when nothing made sense and no one could be trusted. In short, "Point Blank" is a noir tinged with Kafka--a brilliant evolution of an old genre.