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Killer Elite, The

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    Ian Jane
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  • Killer Elite, The



    Released by: Twilight Time Releasing
    Released on: September, 2014.
    Director: Sam Peckinpah
    Cast: James Caan, Robert Duvall, Arthur Hill, Bo Hopkins, Gig Young
    Year: 1975
    Purchase From Screen Archives

    The Movie:

    When Sam Peckinpah made The Killer Elite, he was coming off of Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia and while that film has gone on to be recognized as a masterpiece in certain circles, it did not do particularly well at the box office. Peckinpah's personal problems had become the stuff of legend and his career was certainly not at its peak anymore. He needed some commercial success to keep going and took on this project in an attempt to make what was essentially a mainstream action film. While this is hardly the picture he's remembered for, when approached on that level it's an entertaining picture with a good cast and some well-crafted action set pieces.

    The movie starts off at the tail end of what looks to have been a wild party (look for Euro sex-bomb Uschi Digard in a quick uncredited cameo!) complete with topless women and pot smoking where we meet to men, Mike Locken (James Caan) and George Hansen (Robert Duvall), two men who have just finished up a job. Mike just wants to hang out in bed with his girl but George gets him up, whether he likes it or not. They have to go. Not too much later, while these two agents are doing their thing, Locken is double-crossed by Hansen who tries to assassinate him. It doesn't work, but it does leave him injured and he spends quite a bit of time in rehab trying to get back to his old self, at least physically, with some help from some fancy looking medical braces and such. He understandably carries a whole lot of resentment over this but does what he can to focus his anger and better his abilities through his martial arts training. Eventually those above him figure he's ready and he's called to start his next job: some nefarious terrorist types are planning to assassinate a high ranking Japanese official and the CIA needs Locken to keep the guy safe until they can get him out of the country. If he's going to be murdered, let it happen on Japanese soil. Meanwhile, who has been paid to off the poor guy by the same guys courting Locken? Hansen, of course.

    As Locken goes about putting his team together to smuggle the Japanese politician and his family out of San Francisco to safe keeping, Hansen sets about with his plans, all of which could lead to the inevitable opportunity for Locken to get revenge…

    The Killer Elite is convoluted to a fault and it lacks the personality of many of Peckinpah's better received and better regarded pictures but as far as seventies conspiracy/revenge movies go, it's pretty entertaining stuff. The story, from Stirling Silliphant and Marc Norman based on the novel Monkey In The Middle by Robert Syd Hopkins, fails to really flesh out the characters and their respective motivations as well as we want it to but the movie goes at a decent pace and as this is a Peckinpah film, not surprisingly it dishes out some nicely choreographed action set pieces. Filmed on location in and around San Francisco we get some fantastic location photography showing off everything from the Bay Area to a navy yard full of mothballed war ships to name only a few. If the story occasionally loses its way, and it does, you can at least take solace and enjoy the visuals. There are some decent moments of effective humor in here too, including the fairly infamous scene in which a cop is handed some active explosives featured in the movie's trailer.

    The film is also fairly performance driving, and in that regard it is quite successful. We never get to know Locken or Hansen as well as we should to completely understand them but this doesn't stop Caan and Duvall from delivering fine work here. Each of the two gets a very distinct personality, with Locken a bit of a philandering type and Hansen very much all business all the time. This is solidified in a scene the two actors share in which Hansen explains to an appropriately pissed off Locken that he only did what he did for the money. This scene gives both actors the opportunity do what they do so well and play these tough, hardened men as well as the material will allow them. Peckinpah is also lucky enough to have some solid supporting players here too. Burt Young, immortalized by his work in the Rocky films, does well here as do both Bo Hopkins and Gig Young as various agents. Instantly recognizable Japanese character actor Mako also pops up in the film as the assassination target and he too does well in his role.

    The film starts off strong enough but as the movie moves towards its finish, it throws the already dicey character development out the window in favor of, well, ninjas and fighting. Normally this is all well and good, and the ninjas and fighting do entertain, but the film lacks the type of substance you expect from the best of the director's work. The Killer Elite is not a complete misfire by any stretch and absolutely worth seeing and even re-evaluating for Peckinpah fans, just not a classic.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    The Killer Elite arrives on Blu-ray from Twilight Time in its original 2.35.1 widescreen aspect ratio in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. This is a really nicely shot film and that becomes even more apparent in high definition. Detail is quite strong here and the movie is pretty close to pristine in that there's no real print damage to note. Grain is present but never overpowering or distracting and both skin tones and color reproduction fair very well here. Black levels aren't quite reference quality but they're solid and there are no obvious issues with any obvious noise reduction or edge enhancement to complain about. Visually this is quite a welcome upgrade over the past DVD release from MGM.

    The only audio option provided is a DTS-HD 1.0 mix with removable English closed captioning also provided. The audio quality here is good, with Jerry Fielding's under-appreciated score finding new life with the added clarity afforded it by the lossless track. There are no problems with any hiss or distortion and while the single channel mix is understandably limited in what it can do, there's good depth here and the dialogue is always easy to understand.

    What will likely be the most tantalizing extra on this release is the inclusion of Peckinpah's never before released on home video film Noon Wine. Made for ABC's Stage 67 series in 1966 and shown once and only once on November 23rd, this made for TV film was believed lost until very recently when a second generation color master appeared in the form of a one inch tape (ABC destroyed all other vault elements in the seventies) that a private collector had been holding onto. It was shown at a UCLA screening in 2013 and with this Blu-ray release this fifty-one minute movie finally makes its much anticipated home video debut. The movie is presented fullframe, which makes sense given its origins and in standard definition with a DTS-HD Mono sound mix, sans subtitles. The transfer looks as good as it probably can taking into account the source material and it's less than perfect, but more than watchable under the circumstances. The screen caps below tell the story but expect this to look like the tape sourced transfer that it is.

    As to the movie itself? Based on the novella by Katharine Anne Porter the movie begins in the Texas of the late 1800s when a fairly lazy cattle farmer named Royale Earl Thompson (Jason Robards) hires a Swedish immigrant named Helton (Per Oscarsson) to help him out around the farm. He can't pay him much but he'll feed him, he'll put a roof over his head and he'll pay him seven dollars a month. Helton agrees and quickly proves himself a hard worker. Soon, both Royale and his wife, Ellie (Olivia de Havilland), come to appreciate his efforts and his company even if he doesn't talk much and seems very reluctant to discuss his past. Of course, that past comes back to haunt him and this western drama soon turns out to be a tragedy when a stranger arrives.

    Peckinpah's work is filled with bleak endings and this one fits right in nicely alongside many of his other films in that regard. With the script having been by Peckinpah and Porter herself it has an authenticity to it and feels much smarter and more thought out than you'd probably expect from a made for TV movie. The ending does feel rushed, likely due to the time constraints inherent in the format, but what leads up to it is very good stuff and ripe for examination. The director's issues with women creeps in here as Ellie, very well played by de Havilland in a rare TV role, is very much kept in line by her very masculine husband. There's a distance between them that is only occasionally breached by some moments of fleeting humor. As the truth about Helton comes to light both Robards and de Havilland are able to really craft some emotionally wrenching performances with Oscarsson only slightly beneath them in that regard. It's also interesting to see Peckinpah regulars Ben Johnson and L.Q. Jones show up in supporting roles.

    This isn't as visually flashy as his theatrical stuff, it can't be, and thematically it has more in common with 'quieter' Peckinpah films like Ride The High Country and Junior Bonner but it is very well made and quite involving. Given that it was made after Major Dundee flopped and he was fired off of The Cincinnati Kid, it's maybe not much of a surprise that this is a more pensive project. It's fantastic to finally be able to see this one after it having been completely unavailable for so long and given that it was a return to form for the director and a picture that would lead to the films many would consider his masterpieces, it's an undeniably important and poignantly poetic one as well.

    Both The Killer Elite and Noon wine get optional commentary tracks from Peckinpah experts Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and Nick Redman. There's a lot of great information here and these guys not only know their stuff but have an obvious passion for the material. The Killer Elite track delves deep into the history of the film as they discuss Peckinpah's involvement with producer Mike Medavoy who got him the job on this film for United Artists. They also talk about what Caan, Duvall and the rest of the cast were put through on the film, the commercial viability of the picture, what went into some of the action set pieces and quite a bit more. The track for Noon Wine is equally interesting and it has a fair bit of emphasis on the history of the picture, how it wound up essentially lost, as well as how it fits in with Peckinpah's other projects both made for TV and his theatrical endeavors. There's also discussion of the talented cast that the director was lucky enough to work with on the project and some of the underlying themes that emerge in the movie.

    The disc also includes Passion And Poetry: Sam's Killer Elite, a twenty-eight minute featurette taken from Mike Siegel feature length documentary Passion and Poetry: The Ballad of Sam Peckinpah. This is made up of plenty of archival photos and behind the scenes clips as well as interview segments recorded with actress Isela Vega and actors Bo Hopkins (who is keen to talk about working with 'Jimmy Cann' and 'Bobby Duvall'), Ernest Borgnine, James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson. Also on hand are Whitey Hughes, who handled stunts for a few of Peckinpah's films, as well as his friend Katy Haber and his sister, Fern Lea Peter. It covers much of the same ground as the commentary but the added input of the people who knew and worked with the director as well as the archival materials definitely gives the piece its own merits and it's quite an interesting watch.

    Also included on the disc is the film's isolated score in DTS-HD format, the Promoting The Killer Elite section of archival materials, an original theatrical trailer alongside some TV and radio spots for The Killer Elite, the MGM 90th Anniversary trailer and a set of interesting liner notes from Julie Kirgo that do a fine job of summing up where Peckinpah's career was around the time he made this film. She also provides some insightful observations about what makes the film an interesting one in his filmography. Kirgo also provides some welcome background information on Noon Wine as well. Some archival poster art and behind the scenes photos compliments the essay nicely.

    The Final Word:

    Twilight Time's Blu-ray release of The Killer Elite would be worthwhile all on its own what with the great quality of the presentation and the inclusions of the excellent commentary and featurette. When you add the inclusion of Noon Wine to the package and the commentary that goes along with that, however, the disc goes from worthwhile to essential.

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps from The Killer Elite!





















    And while we're at it, some caps from Noon Wine!























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