The Osterman Weekend (1983)

The Osterman Weekend (1983)

Dir. Sam Peckinpah

A government agency seeks to use one man to catch a group of other men in a political game of cat and mouse. Or is it cat and cat? Maybe it's mouse and mouse?

It's an adaptation of a 1972 Robert Ludlum novel of the same name, so there are the usual scenes of important men getting nervous over dodgy dealings and a twisty-turny ending. It makes you aware that not everyone sees friendship in the same way, and may even stir you to question if the people who claim to be your friends really are when they aren't beside you.

There's an unusual car chase and a few scattered moments where Peckinpah piqued my interest technically, but despite a strong cast his cinematic swansong isn't as memorable as much of what preceded it.

Payback Time Triple Feature (2017)

Blind Fury (1989)

Dir. Phillip Noyce

Three movies on one Blu-ray disc. There's no special features, but PQ is decent, at least.

First up is Rutger Hauer in Blind Fury (1989), an American remake of Japanese director Kenji Misumi's Zatoichi Challenged (1967) that somehow isn't as bad as I'd feared it would be.
Rutger was a good choice to play the blind swordsman; his cheesy factor is balanced out by his strength of character and his ability to play it wryly comical when needed.

The plot has the sword-wielding Vietnam vet taking on the role of protector to a kid who's wanted by the one-note villains. It's part escort mission and part revenge drama that descends into something resembling an episode of The A-Team that, for me, worked in its favour because I love The A-Team.