I had managed to find a copy of this several months ago but had held off watching it; not quite Tantric, but waiting for the right moment. Thank Heavens I didn't wait any longer! What a brilliantly empty piece of nihilism and what a brilliant combination McGoohan and Van Cleef turned out to be. The one and only discordant note was the over-cooked 'maniacal cackling' by Van Cleef at the very end. I chose to ignore this on the basis it was the sound editor's fault!! The cold emptiness of the two protagonists is offset by the warmth of Edna O'Brien's 'lost wife' narrative extracts. Her off-stage contributions add pathos and the ultimate explanation of her presence is clever enough to resist the clichéd visit to a headstone. The viewer is left no sentiment to wallow in, right to the end.
McGoohan plays a Hit Man. Nothing to do with the IRA, just a gangsters' tool. The gangster, Van Cleef, associates with dark intra-governmental organisations. McGoohan has killed and killed again for money. He has lost family and all meaning but has enough moral strength left to demand his retirement. What he could possibly retire for, or to, is impenetrable. My sense was that he was a being, and like all life-forms his base instinct was to stay alive, and like all base creatures he knew not why.
His one redemption was his wife and children however and he clung to their safety and survival like a drowning man to a life-belt. Like the drowning man, in a freezing sea, he clung to the life-belt, even when it became obvious he could not survive. He might have done better to let go and sink down but he struggled and fought the hard way, unto death.
ITC made this film. Where on earth have they hidden it? John Boorman is credited as Executive Producer...come on John, get it OUT there!
McGoohan plays a Hit Man. Nothing to do with the IRA, just a gangsters' tool. The gangster, Van Cleef, associates with dark intra-governmental organisations. McGoohan has killed and killed again for money. He has lost family and all meaning but has enough moral strength left to demand his retirement. What he could possibly retire for, or to, is impenetrable. My sense was that he was a being, and like all life-forms his base instinct was to stay alive, and like all base creatures he knew not why.
His one redemption was his wife and children however and he clung to their safety and survival like a drowning man to a life-belt. Like the drowning man, in a freezing sea, he clung to the life-belt, even when it became obvious he could not survive. He might have done better to let go and sink down but he struggled and fought the hard way, unto death.
ITC made this film. Where on earth have they hidden it? John Boorman is credited as Executive Producer...come on John, get it OUT there!