#Angie dickinson point blank series

There may be bad Siegel films out there, but I haven’t seen them. Matthau is terrific as the hangdog loner, Varrick.Īnyway, it got me thinking. Tough in all the right places, just enough action and suspense to keep you interested, without the kind of over the top action gimmicks similar films exhibit these days.

In response, the mob sends a hit man (played by Joe Don Baker) after him. Unbeknownst to Varrick, the bank in question is actually a front for the mob. I was watching Charley Varrick recently, the 1973 heist film directed by Siegel, starring Walter Matthau as an ex-crop duster and stunt pilot turned bank who, along with his long suffering girlfriend, Nadine, and unreliable partner, robs a small bank in New Mexico. I had to give it a name, so I called it the Don Siegel Rule. He is assisted by a mysterious man, Yorst (Keenan Wynn), who at first comes across as a cop, but is eventually revealed as a senior member of the Organisation, who sees in Walker a means to eliminate his internal competitors.… Read more

He reappears and proceeds to tear Organisation apart to find Mal and get his share from the heist, the amount of $94,000. Walker, somehow, survives his wounds and manages to get off the island. It opens with Walker, as the Parker character is called, played by Lee Marvin, double-crossed and left for dead by his friend, Mal (John Vernon), and wife, Lynne (Sharon Acker), with whom Mal was having an affair, after the three of them have heisted a regular money drop on the prison island of Alcatraz by a powerful criminal network, the Organisation.

#Angie dickinson point blank series

Point Blank was loosely based the 1962 novel, The Hunter, the first in the series of books by the late Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark, about the master thief, Parker. The 50 th anniversary is an opportune time for a few thoughts about its importance. It is a film I have watched on numerous occasions and each time it yields new insights. Critically overlooked at the time, its launched John Boorman’s Hollywood directorial career, became a cult hit and has had an enduring influence on crime cinema. Point Blank premiered in San Francisco on August 30 1967.