These two hard-boiled thrillers make for an interesting movie pairing.

Point Blank was released in 1967, starring Lee Marvin, directed by John Boorman, and is held up as something of a ‘noir’ classic. It is basically a revenge story.  In it, a double-crossed career criminal, shot and left for dead, works his way up through a mob organisation in search of his money. One of the things that is striking about it, however, is how it is shot in such a stylised, ambiguous way that the entire story might be the man’s dying fever dream.

Above is the striking French grande poster from the original release. I rather like the graininess of the photography and the very limited use of colour. And below is the Belgian version of the poster. Both of these are for sale here.

Payback, from 1999 is basically a retelling of the same story, with Mel Gibson in the lead, minus the ambiguity. I really liked Payback when it came out, as Mel (in his pre-arrest, non-damaged goods days) had no qualms playing an utter bastard. (The tag line originally was “No more Mr Nice Guy”).

One of the curious things about this movie, however, was that it was substantially re-shot before release. The director’s cut’ version titled Payback: Straight Up was released on DVD a few years later, and I bought it out of curiosity. The last third of the movie is substantially different. (For starters Kris Kristofferson’s mobster character does not appear at all, and is replaced by an unseen female boss). The ending is also noticeably bleaker.  The director’s version has more of a nihilistic 70s style thriller about it, but in all honesty this is one case where I prefer the neater, simpler theatrical version. It is probably sacrilege to say this, but I also prefer Payback over Point Blank!