Its been said that if you work in the creative field, it is often more instructive to look at fellow artist’s failures versus their successes; that you can learn more about what not to do and, therefore, avoid those pitfalls.
For me and as a writer, I often find myself reading a book or seeing a film not only to get enjoyment out of them (their primary goals, obviously!) but also to scrutinize their strengths and weaknesses. And to that extent I agree strongly with what I wrote above, that sometimes seeing what does not work in a movie/book/story/etc. is more instructive than seeing what does.
Which brings us to the 1975 film The Killer Elite. Here’s the movie’s trailer (sorry for the quality, its the best I could find):
I’ve seen the film before and found it a fascinating failure. Directed by the legendary -and controversial- Sam Peckinpah, it can be argued that after achieving a high level of both praise for his at times incendiary works (The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs), The Killer Elite marks the moment his career first began to falter. Those who know of Mr. Peckinpah know he was a very heavy drinker and combative writer/director who had many run ins with the studios. Following the release of 1978’s Convoy, he all but burned every bridge he had within the Hollywood establishment. Including that later film, Mr. Peckinpah would direct only three more films following The Killer Elite before passing away in 1984.
The Killer Elite, as the above trailer indicates, concerns Mike Locken (James Caan, quite good) who, along with his partner George Hansen (Robert Duvall, also quite good) are wetworks specialists who work for an agency that the CIA contracts when they need someone to do that “special” job. By hiring this agency, the CIA keeps their hands clean should anything go wrong.
Following a mission presented in the film’s opening, things do indeed go very wrong. Hansen turns on Locken and, as the trailer shows, cripples him with two well placed bullets. Down and seemingly out, Locken doesn’t give up on himself even as his employers do. He trains and strengthens himself as best he can with his limitations.
Meanwhile, a dissident Chinese national arrives in the US and is instantly targeted for assassination. This national is an asset to the US and therefore the CIA. The CIA goes to Locken’s employers and wants to hire them to protect the National. The agency, stung by Hansen’s betrayal and suspicious the CIA might have secretly sanctioned it, at first rejects the job.
They instantly change their mind when the CIA operative reveals it is Hansen who was hired to assassinate the Chinese national and they not only want to protect this national, they also want Hansen taken out.
Because of his intimate knowledge of Hansen, Locken is brought back into the fold to take on this job but as the movie progresses, it becomes clear there is even more intrigue hiding beneath the surface.
As I re-read my description, I can’t help but think this film is just so in my wheelhouse. Assassins, betrayal, intrigue.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well, based on what I wrote in the very first paragraph of this review, plenty. As I said before, The Killer Elite marks, in my opinion, Sam Peckinpah’s first major misstep following creating a string of classic and cult hit movies.
The reason The Killer Elite fails, despite some really good acting by both James Caan and Robert Duvall (sharing the screen together for the first time since the classic The Godfather), is in the fact that Sam Peckinpah seemed unable to take the material seriously. The moment the Chinese national appeared, and then the ninjas coming after him, things turn mighty silly and tongue in cheek.
Further, the action sequences, while decent, aren’t quite up to the classic nihilism found in The Wild Bunch.
And then there are the scenes that, frankly, are complete head-scratchers.
One of the bigger ones is presented in the above trailer above, the “bomb planted under the taxi” scene. I don’t want to spoil too much, but during the course of the film the taxi’s driver, one of Locken’s men, suddenly stops his cab. He’s asked, in voice over, why he’s stopped the cab and replies -also in voice over- that he hears a strange rattling.
This after a major car chase and slamming the taxi against another car! I’d find it strange if he didn’t hear any strange rattling!
Anyway, he goes under the cab and, voila, finds and removes the explosive device, which as you see in the trailer he then gives to a motorcycle cop and -hilarity!- the motorcycle cop runs away with it to dump it in the bay.
That whole sequence, it seems to me, was a very late add-on/fix-up to the film. First off, there’s the fact that important information is given via voice over. If the scene was originally meant to play out as it was, why not show the characters saying these words? After they get away from the motorcycle cop and drive off, they stop their cab elsewhere and get out. As they do, you hear the distant sound of the explosion yet don’t react to it at all. It was as if that whole bomb and explosion was something created in post-production!
Why?
I truly don’t know. Perhaps the sequence was more “serious” initially. Could it be the motorcycle cop was a bad guy in disguise and our heroes had to kill him to get away? Is it possible that as filmed, this sequence was too confusing and maybe audiences thought our “heroes” were forced to kill a real cop? Perhaps they originally did kill a “real” cop to get away?
I truly don’t know but the scene, as presented, is a mess and feels like the product of some very hasty last minute work.
Later in the film, when the ninjas appear, any attempt at hard-hitting realism is thoroughly flung out the window, but not before we get one really odd scene involving James Caan’s Locken talking with the Chinese national’s daughter, who talks to him about sex and then, bizarrely, confesses she’s a virgin. I suppose it was meant to be a humorous scene as the bewildered Locken tells her to go away.
More bewildered was I as to the inclusion of the scene, which was not only silly but completely unnecessary. It added absolutely nothing to the film and felt like something you would expect would be clipped and discarded well before the film is released to the theaters.
But perhaps the film’s biggest sin is that even as it builds up the confrontation and cat/mouse struggle between Hansen and Locken, it subsequently deals with it well before the film’s climax.
Unforgivable!
I obviously can’t recommend The Killer Elite to anyone yet it still fascinated me. A failure, certainly, but an interesting one that features some interesting actors in a film that should have been a lot better than it ultimately was.
Ah well!
POSTSCRIPT: In 2011 Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert DeNiro stared in a film called Killer Elite. While it looks like its a remake/reworking of The Killer Elite, it appears not to be. Here’s its trailer, if you’re curious…