The Killer Elite

Summary

Introductions by scholar Garner Simmons, author of Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage – The Definitive Edition: 50 Years After “The Wild Bunch” from the Writer Who Knew Him Best: 

The Killer Elite

With the completion of Alfredo Garcia, Peckinpah returned to the States where producer Joe Wizan offered him the opportunity to direct an action thriller with CIA overtones called The Insurance Company, which Wizan hoped to produce at 20^th Century-Fox. However, when they were unable to agree on a script, the project was finally abandoned. Always concerned about allowing too much time to expire between films, Peckinpah became anxious to find another film to replace it.  At the same time, Martin Baum brought him a script based on a British novel called The Killer Elite.  Set in England the story dealt with a CIA-like operative named Mike Locken who is hired to shepherd an exiled African leader back to his home country. Given its similarities to the abandoned Fox project, Peckinpah agreed to direct and the film landed at United Artists.  When American actor James Caan was cast in the lead, however, problems quickly developed.  Having spent a year in Munich shooting Rollerball, Caan refused to do another film outside the U.S. This meant a complete rewrite. First Mark Norman, then Stirling Silliphant was brought in to rework the story exchanging London for San Francisco with its thriving Chinatown. Silliphant’s Vietnamese wife Tianna, who held a black belt in martial arts, was cast as the diplomat’s daughter as well as Caan’s love interest. Robert Duvall and Burt Young, both personal friends of Caan, were cast as the agent who betrays him and Locken’s getaway driver respectively.  Peckinpah cast Bo Hopkins as the character described as “the patron poet of the manic-depressives” with Arthur Hill and Gig Young playing senior CIA operatives.  Filming began in the Bay Area in early 1975 but encountered troubles almost from the start.  Lacking a finished script, Peckinpah was forced to improvise. At the same time, he found himself at war with United Artists. The result would be an uneven film, brilliant at times, but ultimately satisfying no one.   

Katherine Anne Porter’s “Noon Wine”

Unemployed and on the beach for nearly than two years following the debacle of Major Dundee, and his firing off Cincinnati Kid, Sam Peckinpah was looking for a way to restart his career when television producer Daniel Melnick offered him a chance to adapt and direct Katherine Anne Porter’s novella “Noon Wine” as a movie for ABC Stage 67.  Set in West Texas, it is a bittersweet story of a small time rancher named Royal Earle Thompson played by Jason Robards Jr, who takes on a hired hand named Helton (Per Oscarsson).  Olivia de Havilland plays Robards’ wife with Ben Johnson and LQ Jones in supporting roles.  After Helton manages to turn Thompson’s poor ranch into a prosperous one, a bounty hunter played by Theodore Bikel appears with a warrant for Helton’s arrest. A tale filled with irony, tragedy and anguish, it allowed Peckinpah to prove once more that he was a major talent to be reckoned with.

Reviews

The Killer Elite

“You all look alike you mercenaries. No matter the country.”

In 1975, Sam Peckinpah had just finished one of his most divisive and rewarding films Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia. The film had been a critical and commercial failure (which is a shame – it’s easily one of his best films.) His next project was filmed in San Francisco with the title The Killer Elite. It is one of the last films in Peckinpah’s filmography to really feel like a Peckinpah film, but it is also a bit of a mess.

In San Francisco, a group of mercenaries works for a private intelligence group called COMTEG that is farmed out by the C.I.A. As the film begins Mike Locken and his partner George Hansen (James Caan and Robert Duvall) pick up a scientist and leave a timed explosive device behind them. They party hard that night. The next morning the close friends run late to their assignment to watch the scientist in a remote safe house. Arriving there, they relieve the men on duty. While Mike takes a shower, George puts a silencer on his gun and kills the scientist. He shoots Mike in the elbow and knee and let’s Mike know that he has been retired. While in recovery Mike’s bosses Cap Collis and Lawrence Weyburn (Arthur Hill and Gig Young) meet with Mike and try to convince him to take his pension due to his crippling injuries. Mike also meets a nurse named Amy (Kate Heflin) and they soon find themselves in a relationship. Mike gets around with a cane and he trains on martial arts while he recuperates. Meanwhile, at San Francisco Airport an assassination attempt goes wrong on a Taiwanese politician named Yuen Chung (Mako.) A CIA agent named Danny O’Leary comes to COMTEG because he wants them to protect Chung. Collis accepts the job when they learn that George Hansen has been hired to eliminate Chung. They go to Mike and enlist him to form a team to protect Chung. Mike sees an opportunity for revenge. He enlists his friend Mac (Burt Young,) who is talented with vehicles, alongside a gun enthusiast and marksman with psychopathic traits named Jerome (Bo Hopkins) to help with the task. They will be up against a squad of Ninja and Hansen.

The Killer Elite is an uneven film. It starts out fairly strong, but the film runs into numerous hurdles. The first hurdle the film encounters revolves around a pacing issue caused by the recovery sequence when Mike is in the hospital. This sequence takes forever and drags down the pacing. The entire recovery sequence could have been a one minute montage ala Rocky. Instead the sequence drags for an inordinately long time and kills the momentum of the picture. The next hurdle is that the film doesn’t know exactly what it wants to be. In Garner Simmons’s excellent book, he mentions that Peckinpah wanted the film to feel like a satire of these types of films. I can’t tell what Peckinpah was really trying to do with this film. There are certainly some sequences that work, including a really enjoyable sequence with an officer and a car bomb, but there are several issues with the script. People will be surprised to learn that the original novel that the film’s script was based upon took place in London and made no mention of ninjas. That should come as a big surprise for anyone who has seen the finalized film. If you watch the film, it will quickly become apparent that the film’s screenplay is simply undercooked.

Despite the deficiencies in pacing and the screenplay itself, there are some admirable qualities to the film. James Caan is really well cast in the lead role. Robert Duvall is a great counterpart as Hansen. I enjoyed the casting of both Arthur Hill and Gig Young as the suits at the head of COMTEG. Bo Hopkins Is always fun to watch onscreen and Peckinpah gave him arguably the most memorable role in the film. I also enjoyed watching martial artist Mako. The cinematography by Philip H. Lathrop is the best aspect of the film – capably bringing San Francisco to life with wide screen lenses. The film also benefits from an exciting score by Jerry Fielding. It’s interesting to watch a film where nobody is phoning it in and the results are still not as compelling as one would hope. 

At the end of the day, The Killer Elite was the beginning of Peckinpah’s declining output. It is still enjoyable as a sort of novelty that includes some good actors and fine scenery, but the screenplay never came together with the intentions of the director. Unlike other Peckinpah films, it does not get much better on repeat viewings. Peckinpah seemed like he was chasing an idea that he never quite wrapped his arms around on this film. As a fan of Peckinpah and completist, I still couldn’t help purchasing the film.

Noon Wine

The inclusion of Noon Wine on the Twilight Time Blu-ray is an important addition and worth discussing separately for a moment. Based on the short novel by Katherine Anne Porter, Sam Peckinpah’s adaptation for ABC Stage 67 is included as a special feature. This is not an insignificant work in Peckinpah’s career. After Major Dundee and his disastrous firing from The Cincinnatti Kid, Peckinpah was out of work and this adaptation helped show that he still knew what he was doing. Starring Jason Robards, the TV film put Peckinpah back on the map.

A Swedish drifter arrives at the dairy farm of Mr. Royal Earl Thompson (Jason Robards.) He is looking for work and hopes to make a dollar a day. He is offered seven dollars a month, a seat at the table, and a place to rest. He accepts. His name is Olaf Helton (Per Oscarsson.) On the diary farm, Robards lives with his wife (Olivia De Havilland) and two boys. Helton prizes his couple harmonicas. When the two boys play with Olaf’s harmonicas, they ruin them and his anger shows through. One day a man named Theodore Batch comes by the dairy farm to call upon Helton. He has some devastating information regarding Olaf’s past.

Noon Wine is a really well made drama. I love Jason Robards in everything and he shines in the role of Royal. I am glad that they would work together again on The Ballad of Cable Hogue and he would show up in a minor role in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Robards manages to make Royal feel as pathetic as the role requires in the later scenes of the film. Olivia De Havilland is similarly good in her role, although she did seem a bit old to be cast in the part. Peckinpah regular Ben Johnson also has a role in the film. 

Noon Wine is a very well done piece by Peckinpah. It shows that he was already experimenting with techniques like montage which he would showcase in The Wild Bunch. It is a really atmospheric piece and ultimately emotionally satisfying and memorable. The film is also notable for its Jerry Fielding score. Strangely enough the score was not liked by Katherine Anne Porter who even wrote Peckinpah a note about it. I am so thankful that Twilight Time was able to include Noon Wine on this disc. Peckinpah fans should rejoice to be able to see it.

Video

Twilight Time used a great looking transfer of the film provided by MGM using an MPEG-4 AVC codec in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The Killer Elite may not be Sam Peckinpah’s best film, but the wide-angle lensed cinematography by Philip H. Lathrop looks fantastic. San Francisco is a visually exciting city, and the transfer brings the detailed imagery to Blu-ray capably. Fine detail is good and the colors and clarity are excellent. Visually, there is nothing to complain about here. 

Audio

The audio treatment of The Killer Elite is competently done. Featuring a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track, the film is not the most immersive experience imaginable and the action sequences don’t quite pop the way that one might hope. That said the score by Jerry Fielding shines on the release. It was the final time that the two men would work together.

Supplements

• Noon Wine (480i; 51:18) An amazing bonus to this release and reason enough to recommend purchasing this set. See the review above.
• Passion and Poetry: Sam’s Killer Elite – like the other Passion and Poetry pieces featured on the Peckinpah films, this is an excellent and informative discussion of the production of the film – in this case, a troubled production. The memories of Peckinpah’s later tribulations by the friends who knew him so well are a sad bookend to the career of the genius director.
• Promoting The Killer Elite – a gallery of advertising material.
• TV and Radio Spots
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer 
• Audio Commentary –  Peckinpah scholars Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, and Nick Redman discuss the film in great detail. They do the same for Noon Wine which is a nice bonus. It’s a shame that David Weddle couldn’t join the gang for this track, but fans of the other commentaries done by these gentlemen will find themselves fascinated.
• Isolated Score Track by Jerry Fielding is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 4/5

The Killer Elite is a minor film by Sam Peckinpah that signaled the beginning of the great director’s decline in output. Peckinpah never quite figured out what he wanted to do with this film. It’s a shame because there are some great things in the film including very entertaining turns by James Caan, Robert Duval, Bo Hopkins, and Arthur Hill. The film never materializes into the action satire that Peckinpah would have enjoyed or the true action film that audiences would have expected. I still have watched the film a couple times, which I account to the excellent cinematography by Philip H. Lathrop. More importantly, this release features the excellent Peckinpah directed television drama Noon Wine which features an absolutely fantastic performance by Jason Robards. This feature on its own justifies a purchase in my mind, and the technical presentation of The Killer Elite is excellent. On the basis of those two items, this release receives my recommendation for fans of the director.