The Killer Elite (1975)

People are voting emotionally.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

As someone who is a big fan of Peckinpah's films like "The Wild Bunch" or "Convoy", I was very excited when I read the plot for 1975's "The Killer Elite". However, although it was not the worst film I ever saw, it became clear that it was not the greatest one either. The film stars James Caan and Robert Duvall as CIA contractors Mike Locken and George Hansen respectively, who take on the jobs the government doesn't want you to know about. The two are the best of friends until George betrays Mike by killing a man they were supposed to protect and shooting Mike in the knee. Broken, both physically and mentally, Mike soon sets his sights on revenge by going at it in physical rehab and martial arts. Soon he gets his chance when the people he works for learn that George is back in town to assassinate a client they've been hired to protect. Naturally, there's only one man who can do it and won't pass it up.The film works better in the first half, where George betrays Mike and Mike does everything in his power to get well and in the process shacks up with a pretty nurse. And it's also fun when we meet Mike's two helpers for the job, expert but cowboy killer Jerome Miller (Bo Hopkins) and street smart but world weary operative Mac (Burt Young). However when we get to the second half of the film, all of suddenly high stunt Kung Fu is introduced when it's learned that the man Mike and his team are supposed to protect is Oriental politician Yuen Chung (Mako) and his entourage that includes his daughter, Tiana (Tiana Alexandra). This might sound cool and it would have been if .........SPOILER....... Robert Duvall's character didn't die too early in the film. The sole purpose for Mike to take this job is of course his desire for revenge on George. The movie's plot made it look like the whole movie was going to be a cat and mouse game between Caan and Duvall. Once Duvall dies though, there's very little reason for the movie to continue. Yet it does for another forty-five minutes and as a result, it feels a little too long. END OF SPOILER........Now the martial arts that follows is done very well and impressive to watch; however, it just doesn't feel like Peckinpah's heart is in it. Case in point, at the final fight scene between Yuen and the head ninja occurs, Mike and his comrades seem content to watch, and rather dispassionately I might add. The film also suffers from disjointed editing, particularly the scene with the two heads of the company going over papers while one of them is bidding his time to make an important phone call (if you watch the film, you'll know it when you see it). "The Killer Elite" just doesn't seem to have the feeling of Peckinpah's other work. With that said, the film is not all bad. All the actors give great performances, be it the underrated James Caan as Mike, Robert Duvall as the treacherous George, Burt Young as Mac (who curiously, does a good job fighting ninjas), and Bo Hopkins as Jerome Miller. There's even a little bit of rare comedy from Peckinpah here concerning a cop and a bomb. And of course the idea of the CIA hiring unofficial heavies to do their dirty is by no means far-fetched. Plus, one has to keep in mind that there may very well have been studio tampering involved here, something that Peckinpah had to constantly deal with in his career. Who knows, perhaps he had a very different story in mind and it was shot down. For what it is though, if you are a big Peckinpah fan, "The Killer Elite" would not be a bad way to spend your time. After all, as someone else on this site said, watered down Peckinpah is still Peckinpah.

There are two items of note at the film's beginning. The first point is "An interview with Laurence Weyburn of ComTeg . . . September 31, 1975." September has 31 days? Really? Maybe in Caesar's day, but Emperor Augustus altered his calendar. The other item is "There is no company called Community Integrity NOR ComTeg and the thought that the CIA might employ such an organization for any purpose is, of course, preposterous." Thus states Director Sam Peckinpah. Of course he is tugging our chains.In the opening scene of the film several men barely escape a building that they rigged to explode; we are never told why they did so. But we learn early on that ComTeg is a private intelligence agency hired by the CIA to protect certain individuals and to conduct nebulous operations. ComTeg, which earns 11% its gross from the CIA, is run by Laurence Weyburn (Gig Young). Belonging to ComTeg are agents Mike Locken (James Caan) and George Hansen (Robert Duvall). They bring a bearded fellow named Vorodny to a hideout for safekeeping. Within a few minutes Hansen pulls out his pistol and blows out Vorodny's brains; right after he shoots Locken in his left elbow and in his left knee. "You just retired, Mike. Enjoy it," utters Hansen. So ends the first part: the double-cross. The next piece, about a half-hour or so, focuses on Locken's emergency hospital operations and recuperation, and also during that recovery his budding attachment with a nurse. Locken has vowed to get well enough to return to his old job; his bosses have doubts. During his convalescence he discovers the martial arts. While this state of affairs is going there is an intercut. We see a separate, failed ninja attempt to assassinate an Asian dissident at San Francisco International Airport.Along the way we are introduced to Cap Collis (Arthur Hill), a perfidious figure who is the field boss of top honcho Weyburn. Collis approaches the reasonably recovered Locken to get him back to ComTeg business. Locken eagerly agrees. Plus he is itching to track down and get even with his former buddy, Hansen. Weyburn tells Collis that Locken has permission to assemble his own team as a subcontractor to ComTeg. Meanwhile the CIA wants to protect Chinese dissident Yuen Chung (Mako) while he is in the USA. Once Chung leaves America, then he is on his own. Weyburn then gets the contract for ComTeg from the CIA, and gives the assignment to Locken. Locken gathers two former compatriots, Mac (Burt Young) and Miller (Bo Hopkins); the former is described as retired, the latter, as crazy.Now the story takes a serpentine turn, to say the least. In a strip joint, Cap Collis meets with both the leading Asian ninja, Tao Yi (Woo) and with Hansen to take out Chung. Yes, you read that correctly. Not only does Hansen still work for ComTeg, but ComTeg has been contracted to assassinate Chung. And to protect him at the same time! Whew!!! The director seems to recognize this dichotomy, for he has Hansen utter to Collis, "That's your style, Cap, setting people against each other." Maybe Collis has sold out to the same high bidder that lured Hansen. But how can Hansen still work for ComTeg? And why does ComTeg obviously spend big money for both assignments? Convoluted? You bet! Anyway, there is a Chinatown shootout where Locken, Mac, Miller, and Chung in Mac's hopped-up fake taxi escape from assassins, including Hansen and a false cop. After that there is a bomb removal scene from underneath the taxi that is nothing less than pretentious. Does anyone believe that a cop will readily accept a greasy, ticking time bomb in his hand from a stranger? This segment may be atypical Peckinpah, but it is ludicrous. In the last part the adversaries are martial arts fighting on the decks of the large US Navy Mothball Fleet that lies in Suisun Bay. But it is not Locken's bullet that finds its way to Hansen.San Francisco locations are used to good advantage, like the Golden Gate Bridge, Embarcadero Waterfront, Chinatown, and Bethlehem Steel Pier. James Caan and Robert Duvall are reunited from their "Godfather" days. Then, Caan as Sonny Corleone and Duvall as Tom Hagen were on the same side. Overall the acting is generally passable, while the violence is a bit toned down for Peckinpah. But the movie is good only in parts, and is way too long. Frankly the feature is just too complicated for many, and the betrayals are overdone. And yet the movie is watchable.

I don't know about you, but I had certain expectations of a movie called 'The Killer Elite', starring two guys out of the Godfather and directed by the man who brought us The Wild Bunch and The Getaway. It's about spies! It's got 'killer' right there in the title! It's made in the 1970s, so you know there must be at least two car chases. Sure, this was made during the period when Peckinpah was single-handedly keeping several major pharmaceutical companies in business, but at least it couldn't be dull, right? Wrong. Oh, so very wrong. The Killer Elite is damn nearly incoherent, but that would be OK if the action sequences were any good. Or if anything, you know, happened for the first 50 minutes or so. Literally the only action during the first half of the movie is the sequence where one spy suddenly goes rogue, shoots the guy he's supposed to be protecting and his partner, and then buggers off. It's a good sequence, and one that lasts for maybe two minutes. The rest of the first half of the movie is given over to Caan and Duvall laughing uproariously at their own jokes, and the most gruelling depiction of physical therapy I've ever seen. Gruelling for the viewer as much as the guy going through it, because it seems to last approximately forever.By the time we got to the halfway mark, I was watching a poorly-defined character who I didn't care about, but who was certainly very, very horny. Other than that single trait, James Caan's playing a guy with no discernible characteristics at all. He is later joined by several other cardboard cut-outs, and we are treated to something that I thought was literally impossible, a boring car chase.Why is any of this happening? I don't know, and I really didn't care. The plot barely exists at all, everyone from the writers to the actors seem to be sleepwalking through the thing, and in a 110 minute movie you could cheerfully lose 100 minutes without getting rid of anything of importance.If schools are really serious about getting kids to avoid drugs, show them this movie and The Getaway back to back. One was made by someone before drugs took over his life. The other was made by the same guy, after narcotics had wrecked him. This is a hell of a mess of a movie. And not in a good way.

The problem with "The Killer Elite" is that just by seeking this film out, and investing time to watch it, you are putting more effort into the experience than many of its principals did, particularly director Sam Peckinpah.The already volatile Peckinpah was heading into rough weather with this film. According to at least one biographer, this was where he became acquainted with cocaine. Add to that his binge drinking, and it's no wonder things fell apart.It's a shame, because the concept behind the film is a good one, and the first ten minutes promise much. Mike Locken (James Caan) and George Hansen (Robert Duvall) are private contractors who do a lot of dirty work for the CIA. They move quick, live well, and seem like the best of friends - then something happens to shatter their brotherhood.An opening scene shows them blowing up a building - why exactly we aren't told, par for the course in terms of this film's murky motivation. But the implication is these guys hurt people and don't really care - antiheroes much like the Wild Bunch of Peckinpah's not-so-long-ago. An opening title tells us they work for ComTeg, then adds with obvious tongue in cheek "...the thought the CIA might employ such an organization for any purpose is, of course, preposterous." That's a pretty clever way of letting the audience know all bets are off.Add to that a traditionally strong Peckinpah backup cast, including Burt Young, Gig Young, and Peckinpah regular Bo Hopkins in the plum role of a madman who can't pass up an opportunity to be shot at for $500 a day, and you only wish that the scriptwriters, including the celebrated Sterling Silliphant, tried to do something more with the story than turn it into a platform for lazy one-liners and bad chop-socky knockoffs. An attempt at injecting a dose of liberal social commentary is awkwardly shoehorned in. "You're so busy doing their dirty work, you can't tell who the bad guys are," someone tells Locken, as if either he or we need it pointed out.Worse still are Peckinpah's clumsy direction and sluggish pacing. We're 40 minutes into the film before we get our first battle scene, a completely chaotic collection of random shots where a bunch of people we haven't even met before are seen fighting at San Francisco Airport, their battle intercut with a conversation in an office suite.By the end of the film, what's left of the cast is having a battle inside a fleet of mothballed Victory Ships, ninjas running out in the open to be gunned down while Caan tosses off one liners that undercut any hint of real suspense. "Lay me seven-to-five, I'll take the little guy," he wisecracks just before a climatic samurai duel between two ninja warriors - from China, which we all know is the land of the Ninja. (The battle takes place in San Francisco, but surprisingly no Mounties arrive to break things up.)Caan is much better in smaller scenes, like when Locken, recovering from some nasty injuries, is told by one of his bosses, played by a smooth Arthur Hill, that he's been "Humpty-dumped" by the organization. Caan refuses to stay down, and his recovery scenes, though momentum-killing for the movie, feature fine acting from him and Amy Heflin, Van's daughter, as a supportive nurse. Caan was one of the 1970s' best actors, and his laconic byplay with Heflin, Duvall, Hopkins, and both Youngs give "Killer Elite" real watchability.But you don't watch "Killer Elite" thinking about that. You watch it thinking of the film that got away.