Main Cast: James Caan, Robert Duvall, Arthur Hill, Bo Hopkins, Mako
Release Year: 1975
Country: US
Run Time: 122 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
This second-string Sam Peckinpah action film features James Caan as ex-CIA agent Mike Locken, who has retired due to injuries received at the hands of his ex-partner George Hansen (Robert Duvall). But Mike is lured out of retirement to protect Yuen Chung (Mako), an Asian political leader. There's a contract out on Yuen Chung's life -- and the killer assigned to rub out Yuen Chung is none other than Mike's former partner, George Hansen. The confrontation between the two leads to a showdown on a decaying naval vessel between Mike's forces and a group of ninja warriors. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
This 1975 action opus lacks the inspiration and precise storytelling of Peckinpah classics like The Getaway and The Wild Bunch, but still has plenty to offer action fans. The main problem with The Killer Elite is Stirling Silliphant's script, which drags after an interesting setup and never finds the right balance between action and the blackly comic satire of the genre it attempts to achieve. Despite these key flaws, The Killer Elite will still appeal to action buffs for a few reasons, the first is the impressive performances of its cast. Robert Duvall delivers a supremely icy performance as the mercenary Hansen and James Caan's work as Locken makes every painful step of his rehabilitation believable. There is also some colorful supporting work from Bo Hopkins and Burt Young as a pair of eccentric assassins whom Caan enlists to help him in his revenge. The Killer Elite also benefits from Sam Peckinpah's golden touch with action set pieces. Highlights include the bombing that takes place under the opening titles and the meticulously edited fight finale aboard a set of abandoned war ships. In short, The Killer Elite is not top-flight Peckinpah, but delivers enough action and quirky characterizations to make it worthwhile for anyone interested in this director's work. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
Burt Young - Mac; Gig Young - Weyburn; Tom Clancy - O'Leary; Kate Heflin - Amy; Sondra Blake - Josephine; Helmut Dantine - Vorodny; Rick Alemany - Ben Otake; Tiana Alexandra; George Cheung - Bruce; Uschi Digard; Danny Inosanto; Matthew Peckinpah - Kid; Simon Tam - Jimmy Fung; James Wing Woo - Tao Yi; W. Wallace Kelley - Walter; Hank Hamilton - Hank
Credit
Newt Arnold - First Assistant Director, Sam Peckinpah - Director, Frank Kowalski - Second Unit Director, Garth Craven - Editor, Monte Hellman - Editor, Tony de Zarraga - Editor, Jerry Fielding - Composer (Music Score), Ted Haworth - Production Designer, Philip H. Lathrop - Cinematographer, Helmut Dantine - Producer, Martin Baum - Producer, Arthur Lewis - Producer, Joel Freeman - Producer, Rick T. Gentz - Set Designer, Charles M. Wilborn - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Portman - Sound/Sound Designer, Whitey Hughes - Stunts Coordinator, Marc Norman - Screenwriter, Stirling Silliphant - Screenwriter, Robert Rostand - Book Author
The screenplay was written by Marc Norman and Sterling Silliphant from the Robert Rostand novel Monkey in the Middle. The editing was done by Monte Hellman. The film represents the last collaboration between Peckinpah and soundtrack composer Jerry Fielding, who apparently felt the creative partnership had run its course.
Two agents belong to the so-called Killer Elite, a private mercenary organization working for Com-Teg: Communications Integrity Associates (i.e., CIA).
George Hansen, having been bought out by an unknown rival group, assassinates a man they are supposed to be protecting, and shoots his partner Mike Locken in the knee and elbow as part of the bargain.
Crippled for life and his career seemingly at an end, Locken undergoes a long rehabilitation and earns another assignment from his Com-Teg contact man, Cap Collis. It requires him to protect an Asian client, Yuen Chung. It also gives him the opportunity to seek revenge against Hansen, who is part of the team out to assassinate the client.
Locken, now skilled in martial arts with the help of his cane, recruits a couple of former associates, Miller and Mac, to help him. However, the deal turns out to be an elaborate set-up, part of an internal power struggle involving the Com-Teg directors, Collis and his superior Weybourne.
Hansen gets the drop on Locken, but is killed by Miller. A final showdown between the Asian rivals takes place aboard an abandoned naval vessel in port, with Locken and Mac involved in the fray and confronting Collis one last time.
The film is regarded as one of Sam Peckinpah's weaker efforts. The screenplay's lack of character development and predictable story are the most common complaints. Nonetheless, some critics have noted that the film's action sequences are shot and edited with some of the flair typical of Peckinpah's earlier action films, though his characteristic use of slow motion tends to mesh poorly with the kung-fu sequences (which are edited in a highly dynamic, quick-moving style in 1970s kung fu film fashion).
Peckinpah stated in an interview that he prepared for the film by watching Bruce Lee films. The film climaxes in a shootout/brawl on the deck of a ship between ninjas, Yakuza and Caan's mercenaries.
Caan and the other actors often ad-libbed the dialogue, which is frequently quite amusing, but the ad-libs also make clear the actors' and director's contempt for the material (for instance, Caan's from-the-sideline jibes during the supposedly climactic kung-fu duel on the boat). Peckinpah only directed the film because he was assigned to it by Mike Medavoy, the then-head of United Artists, who believed in the director's talents and was willing to give him work at a time when Peckinpah had essentially severed ties with every other major studio.
