Rent The Killer Elite (1975)

An Odd Conspiracy Thriller - The Killer Elite review by GI

This is arguably Sam Peckinpah's weakest film, he was a director for hire here and had little to do with the film's development and was by this stage of his career an unreliable alcoholic. But in here there are signs of his genius for structure, character development and set piece action direction. It's just that the film is disjointed and at times incoherent. The mid 1970s was the time when martial arts movies were very popular and this conspiracy espionage thriller adds huge doses of kung fu etc into the narrative. The result makes for a film of its time and one of casual interest only. James Caan stars as Mike, a mercenary agent working for a shady private company that specialises in the CIA's dirty work. His friend and partner George (Robert Duvall) betrays him and leaves him crippled. Determined to get his revenge Mike eventually gets rehired by the company for a job where they tell him George will be his adversary. But there are others who can't be trusted. Evidence of Peckinpah's natural animosity to the establishment and puritan conservatism is visible in the characters and these aspects are signs of Peckinpah's rewrites of the script. In many ways the themes here are to be found again in Peckinpah's last film The Osterman Weekend (1983). Overall though this is not close to his best work although fans of Peckinpah may still enjoy the glimpses of his unique style.