Cinema Speculation watchalong #5
Well, wasn't this lovely? I have to be consistent, though, 2 women punched - that's a whole star witheld. Generally, it seems like the film didn't really have any idea what to do with Bett, other than have her die to propel the story into the third act. Macklin makes a point of keeping her around, she's useful once, but then they don't involve her at all, then, after she disappears for like 30 minutes, we learn that she's really unhappy sitting around motel rooms all day, she gets the shit beaten out of her for complaining, but then they have a lovely evening right after, somehow, and get all cuddly, I wish I didn't love you she says, like he didn't just slap her 5 times on the face, and then she's all smiles and pours them coffee, and then gets killed. He arranges for her funeral and that's that, that's the charcter.
The premise of the whole thing is kind of weird, too. For a good while I doubted myself if I hadn't missed anything and understood everything correctly. He steals from them, so they kill his brother and try to kill him as payback - ok, makes sense, standard logic so far. So now, as payback for their payback, he's going to keep stealing from them, because they are so big and scary, that they have no real protection at their sites, and two guys can just waltz into any of them and take some cash, and he's going to keep doing this until they pay him some more? Uhh, I guess, that can be a set up. I think, what the film is trying to communicate here, is that Macklin is so slick and cocksure, that he thinks he can take them on and demand they pay him to stop, but the logic here is kind of a stretch for me.
That said, man, is he slick or what. Robert Duval and Joe Don Baker make for a great duo. They're such cool cats. Two pros just doing what they do best. There could be another hour in the middle of this, where they just do these little heists, working in tandem, no need for words, each one knows what his job is, cool disguises. This is the core of this film and that's all I really need.
Cinema Speculation speculation:
Same thing twice in a row now. Once you have the context of the source material, the film makes more sense. I didn't know about the Parker books and that this is an attempt at adapting the third one. I had Point Blank on my watchlist already, now that I know it's the same character, but played by Lee Marvin, I'll give it a higher priority. Tarantino offers little critique for the film and says he considered a remake in the 90s. Would love to see that.
Cinema Speculation watchalong #5
Well, wasn't this lovely? I have to be consistent, though, 2 women punched - that's a whole star witheld. Generally, it seems like the film didn't really have any idea what to do with Bett, other than have her die to propel the story into the third act. Macklin makes a point of keeping her around, she's useful once, but then they don't involve her at all, then, after she disappears for like 30 minutes, we learn that she's really unhappy sitting around motel rooms all day, she gets the shit beaten out of her for complaining, but then they have a lovely evening right after, somehow, and get all cuddly, I wish I didn't love you she says, like he didn't just slap her 5 times on the face, and then she's all smiles and pours them coffee, and then gets killed. He arranges for her funeral and that's that, that's the charcter.
The premise of the whole thing is kind of weird, too. For a good while I doubted myself if I hadn't missed anything and understood everything correctly. He steals from them, so they kill his brother and try to kill him as payback - ok, makes sense, standard logic so far. So now, as payback for their payback, he's going to keep stealing from them, because they are so big and scary, that they have no real protection at their sites, and two guys can just waltz into any of them and take some cash, and he's going to keep doing this until they pay him some more? Uhh, I guess, that can be a set up. I think, what the film is trying to communicate here, is that Macklin is so slick and cocksure, that he thinks he can take them on and demand they pay him to stop, but the logic here is kind of a stretch for me.
That said, man, is he slick or what. Robert Duval and Joe Don Baker make for a great duo. They're such cool cats. Two pros just doing what they do best. There could be another hour in the middle of this, where they just do these little heists, working in tandem, no need for words, each one knows what his job is, cool disguises. This is the core of this film and that's all I really need.
Cinema Speculation speculation:
Same thing twice in a row now. Once you have the context of the source material, the film makes more sense. I didn't know about the Parker books and that this is an attempt at adapting the third one. I had Point Blank on my watchlist already, now that I know it's the same character, but played by Lee Marvin, I'll give it a higher priority. Tarantino offers little critique for the film and says he considered a remake in the 90s. Would love to see that.
