The Osterman Weekend is a 1983 suspense thriller film directed by Sam Peckinpah, based on the novel of the same name by Robert Ludlum. The film stars Rutger Hauer, John Hurt, Burt Lancaster, Dennis Hopper, Meg Foster and Craig T. Nelson. It was Peckinpah's final film before his death in 1984.
Plot
The film begins with CIA director Maxwell Danforth (Lancaster) watching a filmed recording of agent Laurence Fassett (Hurt) and his wife making love. When Fassett goes into the bathroom to take a shower two assassins enter the bedroom and kill his wife by holding her down and spraying poison into her nostrils. It is hinted that the woman was an innocent bystander sacrificed by Danforth as collateral damage. The agent, unaware of his employer’s involvement, goes almost insane with grief and rage and begins to hunt down the assassins, eventually uncovering a Soviet spy network known as Omega.
Fassett is called into the director’s office and says that he wants to turn some of Omega’s agents to the side of the West, and he has the perfect opportunity: John Tanner (Hauer) is a controversial television journalist, highly critical of government abuses of power. Fassett explains that Tanner’s closest friends are Omega agents. He believes Tanner could turn the Soviet spies into defecting. For proof he offers videotaped evidence of Tanner’s friends discussing financial matters with a Russian man, whom Fassett identifies as KGB. Tanner had met his friends years ago in college, and they have all gone on to successful careers. The spies are: Bernard Osterman, a television producer, and two others -- Richard Tremayne, a plastic surgeon, and stock trader Joseph Cardone.
Tanner agrees, but only on the condition that the CIA appear as a guest on his show. Danforth agrees to this condition.
Tanner has a very troubled marriage with his wife Ali (Foster), which is not helped when Tanner asks her to avoid the upcoming Osterman weekend and to take their son. Tanner does not want to involve them in the events, but cannot tell her why he wants her to stay away. While Ali is driving to the airport, her truck is ambushed, and she and the child are kidnapped. In the meantime, Tanner's home has been wired with closed circuit video so Fasset can gather more evidence.
The three spies arrive for the weekend, each having recently encountered difficulties engineered by the CIA in order to unsettle them, and make them receptive to 'turning.' Tensions flare up and on the second night Fassett puts a video-feed on Tanner's living room television, showing video evidence of the spy ring to the traitors. Having reached the breaking point, Ali and Virginia end up in a brief scuffle and everyone goes to their rooms. John’s son discovers the decapitated head of the family dog in the refrigerator, but this turns out to be a fake head. John has had enough and orders everyone out of his house and then confronts Fassett, who is close by, and presents an ultimatum: arrest the suspects. Fasset orders a guard to kill the broadcaster.
Meanwhile, Cardone and Tremayne have taken their wives and escaped in the Tanner family’s RV. Tanner confronts Osterman in his house and tries to attack him, but Osterman easily overpowers the television reporter and demands to know what is going on. Tanner tells him that he knows that Osterman and his friends are Soviet agents, which Bernie dismisses as being ridiculous. He states that they have been illegally stashing money away in Swiss bank accounts to avoid taxation; “It ain’t legal, but it sure as hell isn’t traitorous.”
Then Fassett reappears on the television by closed circuit, admitting the truth; his friends are nothing more than tax evaders. Nevertheless, Fassett kills the Tremaynes and Cardones by detonating an explosive device on the RV by remote control, then orders his soldiers into the house to kill Osterman and Tanner. Using the televisions in the house, and the video cameras, Fasset taunts Tanner during the attack on the house: Fassett has learned that Danforth authorized his wife’s murder, and he wants revenge. Fasset tells John he will give his family back to him if he will expose Danforth on air.
After an interval, we see Danforth preparing for his remote interview with Tanner. Danforth is at his office, and will speak into a camera and microphone crewed by the TV station. Tanner introduces Fassett on the air, and Danforth explodes into a rage when he discovers he has been tricked. Fassett, who is also being filmed remotely, exposes Danforth as a murderer. Fasset's remote location is obviously secret, but it is clear someone is coming for him. It is revealed that Tanner himself has pre-recorded his questions for both men and has used the video feed to locate Fasset.
The film ends in an ambiguous moment where Tanner shoots Fasset -- and it is unclear whether the shot was necessary. We finally see Tanner's wife, son and dog safe and sound.
Production
As related in the documentary Alpha to Omega, producers Peter S. Davis and William N. Panzer were celebrating the wrapping of a film when they ran into Larry Jones. Jones, also a producer, revealed that he owned the film rights to Robert Ludlum's 1972 novel The Osterman Weekend, but was giving up on turning it into a feature film since he had not been able to develop a satisfactory screenplay. Davis and Panzer immediately offered to purchase the rights, as they felt this could be the project that elevated them out of the B-movie features that they had been financing up to that point. Jones and a partner agreed, and Davis and Panzer began pre-production.
The first order of business was to adapt Ludlum's complex story, and for this they hired Ian Masters. Davis claims that Masters heavily followed conspiracy theories and closely paid attention to the CIA's activities throughout the world. After Masters developed the script's groundwork, Alan Sharp was hired to work on characters and dialogue.
With the screenplay completed they went looking for a director, and an offhand comment led them to Sam Peckinpah, the controversial and troubled man who had helmed The Wild Bunch (1969) and Straw Dogs (1971). Suffering from a damaged reputation due to alcohol and drug addictions noted most recently on the set of his 1978 film Convoy, Peckinpah had been given the opportunity to do second unit work on Don Siegel's Jinxed! in 1981. The competence and professionalism he displayed made it at least possible for him to be considered as director of The Osterman Weekend.[1]
Peckinpah's reputation was such that many studios did not want to work with him because of his antagonistic relationship with producers. Additionally, the director's health was in poor shape. Davis and Panzer were undaunted, as they felt that having Peckinpah's name attached to their film would lend it an air of respectability. Because of their director's damaged reputation, the producers were forced to seek financing from independent sources.
According to the commentators on the film's special edition DVD, Peckinpah hated Ludlum's novel and he did not like the screenplay either. Peckinpah requested and was given permission to work on the script himself, but after submitting his first few pages the producers forbade him from any more rewrites.
In Marshall Fine's book Bloody Sam, screenwriter Sharp said that he himself did not like the screenplay he had written, and that he found it incredulous that Davis and Panzer used his draft as the shooting script. Fine also wrote that Ludlum had stated to his friend Jason Robards that he would provide a free rewrite; if this is true the producers never accepted his offer. But in spite of his distaste for the project, Peckinpah immediately accepted the job as he was desperate to re-establish himself within the film community.
Multiple actors in Hollywood auditioned for the film, intrigued by the chance of working with the legendary director. Many of those who signed on, including John Hurt, Burt Lancaster and Dennis Hopper, did so for less than their usual salaries for an opportunity to work with Peckinpah. Rutger Hauer, fresh from the success of Blade Runner, was chosen by the producers for the lead role.[2] For the film's primary location, the Tanner household, the filmmakers chose Robert Taylor's former residence in the Mandeville Canyon section of Los Angeles, the "Robert Taylor Ranch."
Peckinpah managed to keep up with the 54-day shooting schedule and within a budget of just under $7 million, but his relationship with the producers soon soured and became combative. On the other hand, the cast greatly respected him and stated that Peckinpah put everything he could into directing the picture in spite of his physical exhaustion and health problems.
By the time shooting wrapped in January 1983, Peckinpah and the producers were hardly speaking. Peckinpah delivered the film on time and on budget, submitting his director's cut to the producers.[3]
This version was screened once on May 25, 1983.[4] Test audiences reacted unfavorably and many walked out of the theater during the first few minutes. Peckinpah opened with a distorted image of Fassett and his wife making love, and the way he had edited the scene made it difficult for the audience to discern what was going on.
Panzer and Davis were hoping that Peckinpah would go back and re-edit the film himself, as they did not desire to antagonize him any further, but the director refused to make changes. Peckinpah had also filmed several satirical scenes, subtly ridiculing the product.[5] As a result, the producers felt they had no choice and effectively fired Peckinpah and re-edited the film themselves.[6]
The producers changed the opening sequence and deleted other scenes they deemed unnecessary. History would repeat itself as Peckinpah proclaimed to the media that producers had once again sabotaged his film, a common complaint dating back to his films Major Dundee (1965) and Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973). He was much less vocal this time around, mindful of the fact that studios and producers were keeping an eye on his behavior.
Anchor Bay has included the director's cut of the film on its DVD release, but it's sourced from the only known copy in existence, a low-quality, full-screen videotape.
The film was not a blockbuster, though it grossed $6 million domestically and did extremely well in Europe and on the new home-video market.[7] Theatrical distribution was handled by 20th Century Fox, and Thorn EMI picked up video rights; a laserdisc edition was published by Image Entertainment. It is currently available on DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Reception
Critics reacted very unfavorably towards the film, one of the common complaints being that the story was full of plot holes. Roger Ebert wrote, "I sometimes enjoy movies that make no sense whatsoever, if that's their intention. But a thriller is supposed to hold together in some sort of logical way, isn't it?'" The Chicago Reader's Dave Kehr has stated, "The structure is a mess...which ultimately makes it too difficult to tell whether its oddly compelling qualities are the result of a coherent artistic strategy or the cynical carelessness of a director sidelined." It currently holds a 38% approval rating on RottenTomatoes.com, marking it as "rotten."
Main cast
References
External links
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Films directed by Sam Peckinpah |
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The Osterman Weekend (1983)
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