The late 60's were very kind to Lee Marvin. After 15 years of playing supporting characters; usually some sort of a bad guy, a soldier, or even a bad guy soldier, Marvin was slowly starting to develop himself into a leading man. After a nice fat Oscar win for Cat Ballou (1965) in early 1966 that transformation was complete. Those small bit part days were long gone now. And, even large supporting roles seemed to be a thing of the past. Lee was a legitimate star now. So, Lee being the god among men that he was decided to go on an impressive hot streak of movies that were either hits, critical favorites, or even both at the same time. He directly followed Cat Ballou with The Professionals (1966) and The Dirty Dozen (1967), two highly successful movies both critically and financially. Not bad for a character actor. Now, where things get really interesting is his teaming with an unknown director and friend, John Boorman. Lee and John met while Lee was filming The Dirty Dozen in England. They struck an immediate friendship and started developing a movie together. After Lee is finished shooting The Dirty Dozen he immediately goes with this project. As you could imagine, Lee Marvin had some juice back then. So, when Lee Marvin tells MGM he defers all of his approvals to this unknown director, John Boorman, MGM listens. And, what you get is John Boorman being able to experiment more than he probably deserved to. Hey, Lee Marvin approves. Why shouldn't he be able to experiment? Well, it's a good thing, because Boorman got to make what ended up being a highly experimental, amazing, $3 million dollar art film with one of the biggest movie stars in the world as his star.
Point Blank (1967). If you want a rough idea of what a hot streak Lee Marvin was on, here it is. The Dirty Dozen came out June of '67. Point Blank came out August of '67. In one summer, Marvin was in two movies that are cool enough to be the one highlight of anybody elses entire career. Marvin spent the Summer of '67 alone with both of them. Now, Point Blank is a movie that's been discussed in depth by people much smarter than me. Martin Scorsese devoted a whole piece of his Personal Journey through American Movies to it for crying out loud. All you need to know is the movie could mean many different things, it could mean it all at once, or it could mean nothing at all if you just want to enjoy what's on the surface level. Because, on the surface level, Lee Marvin is pissed off. And, he really, really wants his fucking money. Now, if that doesn't sell you, I want you to move your mouse all the way to top right hand corner of the page, hit the "x" and leave this place forever. Because, you and I will never have much to say to each other. Lee Marvin blissfully punches people in the balls as hard as a human can possibly do all while leading anybody that gets in his way to their untimely deaths. Is he taking on corporate America? Or, is he just a stickler for a deal? Doesn't really matter. Has Walker been dead the whole movie? Don't worry about it. Because Angie Dickinson is beautiful and Lee Marvin rules. Sit back and enjoy this gem.
Hell in the Pacific (1968). One year later, Boorman and Marvin team up again. This time, they join forces with Toshirô Mifune, a legend in Japan for his work with Kurosawa. Now, I can't explain why, but I've been obsessed with being deserted since I was a little boy. It doesn't matter if it's a beach, or a forest, the thought of being stranded anywhere was always exciting to me. Could be the only child in me. As a result, I was also always fixated on any kind of deserted island movie. Bad or good. Didn't matter. But, if you want to go out of your way and make a good deserted island movie, I'll be extra happy. Hell in the Pacific is one of the good ones. Now, to call it a "deserted island" movie isn't totally fair. It's more than that. But, they are deserted on an island. They do have to learn how to live off the land. So, technically, it's not that far off from every other deserted island movie and you know exactly what I'm saying. In this particular one, two men are stuck on an island. One is an American soldier. The other is a Japanese soldier. World War II is happening as they both sit on this island. They don't particularly like each other. Do to language barriers they can't really communicate these feelings verbally. So, they instead choose to chase each other with sticks, fight, and attempt to kill each other on a daily basis. A beautiful thing happens, though. The two learn to coexist. It's lonely on a deserted island. It's tough to survive. Here you have another guy that is lonely and can help you survive and you'll put stupid things like war aside help each other out. You might even make a friend in the process. Hell in the Pacific is only a cast of two; Marvin and Mifune. And, it's the coolest thing in the world to watch these two act together.
I will say the only thing I'm not in love with in this movie is the very ending. I've read what was Boorman's intended ending, and that would have fit the movie much better. I've learned to accept the actual ending, though. Even though it comes out of left field. But, even if I still hated it, it wouldn't matter. It's really only the last minute of the movie. The rest of the movie is amazing. And, the build up to that last moment is complete gold. Hell in the Pacific is a great movie. It doesn't get the respect Point Blank gets, but I would put them on the same exact pedestal together. Two years. Two classics.
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