Peckinpah's The Killer Elite

[Ian Jane]

Meant to post this awhile back, but for those interested, some caps from the French Blu-ray of The Killer Elite, courtesy of Horace's disc.

[Ian Jane]

These are all linked to full sized versions, btw.

[Ian Jane]

Cover art and extras for the upcoming Twilight Time BLu-ray.

Special Features: Isolated Score Track / Audio Commentary with Film Historians Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, and Nick Redman / Passion and Poetry: Sam's Killer Elite / Promoting The Killer Elite / TV and Radio Spots / Original Theatrical Trailer / NOON WINE (1966)

Noon Wine also has an audio commentary with the same three participants.

[Ian Jane]

Scorpion are bringing this back to Blu-ray. No details yet but here's the cover art.

[The Silly Swede]

I prefer the Jason Statham movie with the same title, but this one is also good.

[Andrew Monroe]

I prefer the Jason Statham movie with the same title, but this one is also good.

I'd have to agree, I find Peckinpah's film to be a bit of a mess. I enjoy it somewhat but it's way below his prime films.

[Paul L]

Jerry Fielding's score for this is killer (geddit), but the film as a whole is mildly frustrating. Not terrible, but not particularly good either.

Peckinpah was heavy on the blow for most of the production, by all accounts, and the post-production of the film ran away with him, sadly.

There's glimpses of Uncle Sam's greatness, but they're bogged down by too much... mundanity.

This is worth posting:

[BW Haggar]

Agreed. I've always thought that this was the worst film Peckinpah signed his name to by a country mile.

His standards were high though, so that still means it's vaguely entertaining and has a few plus points (the score, decent performances, one or two good scenes) - perhaps even noteworthy as a kind of weird precursor to the '80s Cannon template, with random ninjas, white guys doing martial arts, ludicrous plotline, showdowns in spectacular locales etc?

More than anything though, it's just really sad to see the man who made 'The Wild Bunch' a few years earlier directing big action sequences which feel so boring, poorly constructed and emotionally disengaged. Assuming he even did direct them that is - feels as if he'd just completely checked out here for the most part.

[Ian Jane]

Some news on the Scorpion Release:

"Coming Soon from Scorpion Releasing, available through Ronin Flix, is the 1975 action movie "The Killer Elite". Directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring James Caan, Robert Duvall, Bo Hopkins, Gig Young, Arthur Hill, Mako and Burt Young. The film features a brand new 2020 restoration, brand new interviews with Bo Hopkins and production assistant Katy Haber, audio commentary with film historians Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and Nick Redman, TV and Radio spots, and English SDH subtitles. The first 1,000 will include a limited edition collector's slip sleeve so get yours before it sells out!"

[Derrick King]

Doesn't appear the Scorpion release will have Noon Wine, so you have to hang on to your Twilight Time Blu-ray.