Dangerous Soulful Sexy Deep Freeze: Lee

How did I miss Lee Marvin's birthday last Friday? The tough tender odd sexy soulful icy icon would have turned 86, February 19. With that, I'm returning to Lee Marvin in Point Blank, one of his sexy deep freeze finest. I also love the man in Michael Ritchie's Prime Cut, but that's another column...

Is Lee Marvin the coolest man to ever walk the earth? Today, as I write this, directly after rewatching his detached though complicated, gloriously glacial though substantially obsessed badass gangster in John Boorman’s neo-noir Point Blank, I am saying yes. In my world, Lee Marvin is the grand master, the most deserving mac daddy, the top dog, numero-uno recipient in my own personal cool-cat contest. And he’s so cool that if he were alive to read this now, he would have cared less. Cool guys can’t be bothered with such silly, effusive honors.

Of course, I might change my mind tomorrow (after all, there are those other kings of cool swaggering through cinema --  Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen, Alain Delon, Humphrey Bogart, Toshiro Mifune, John Garfield, Lee Van Cleef…oh Lee Van Cleef… and so on) and my purpose here isn’t ranking chill factor, it’s discussing Marvin as tough guy. But I can’t talk Marvin without regarding his late-’60s, early-’70s hep-a-tude, especially since Marvin’s deep freeze was what made him so potently formidable in 1967’s Point Blank  --  a movie that spins its tough-guy protagonist to the existential limit.

The story is simple, yet layered with all kinds of mystery. Marvin plays Walker, a man who was deceived, robbed and left for dead by his evil former bosses. Returning from the wreckage of his past, he storms through a slick, sick Los Angeles seeking payback for his money and his life, enacting all sorts of violent vengeance on any sorry sap getting in his way. That $93,000 his bosses owe will be met with blood, guts and an agenda that’s obvious but compellingly peculiar. Marvin is a hulking force of icy bloodlust, a man so filled with rage that he’s numbed himself  --  almost into a zombie. Inside, he’s half dead, and obtaining all that money (“I want my money!”) is the only way he might possibly reanimate the near-Frankenstein he’s become.

I say near monster because, in Marvin’s hands (and in his fantastic squinty eyes, his wonderful early-to-age white hair and his deep, rich voice), there’s a tortured, emotional soul underneath his frighteningly unflappable exterior. You can’t become tough without a little pain, and Marvin’s Walker has felt pain. And this deeply embedded despair heats up his thick-skinned reserve with a potent blend of savagery and sexuality.  When Marvin simply stands while hot-headed babe Angie Dickinson smacks the shit out of him with her purse and then her flailing hands and slaps, it’s a sizzling overload of detachment, violence and sexual aggravation that ends with an exhausted Dickinson simply giving up. Or giving in -- an angry lady orgasm in a heap on the floor. Why I find this both hilarious and hot only lends to the picture’s sometimes bewildering power and turbulent eroticism.

And what happens following her fit? He ambles upstairs and watches TV. Yes, only the imperturbable Lee Marvin makes handling the television appear almost as cool as a handling his gat. As a postmodern noir, Marvin sitting in front of the tube following Angie Dickinson’s fury, frustration and fever seems perfectly, absurdly appropriate. And unlike many modern films, one is actually excited (though a little terrified, but in a good way) for the make-up sex. And that will be pretty damn spectacular.

Comments

[John Levy]

Okay, you and I must be plugged into the same cinematic cosmo or something. I also feel very strongly that Lee was the "grand master" of cool. And possibly one of the nicest guys who ever lived from what I have heard. And you definetly highlighted my favorite scene from POINT BLANK.

Thank you for this! Always a true pleasure to read you.And I think if Marvin were alive and read this, he would smile to himself in a private moment.

[George Hedgepeth]

He was a GENUINE tough guy as well, not just on the screen.

[Ripley]

Lee Marvin is the greatest thing to happen ever. I'd like to see him in a room alone with Clint Eastwood for five minutes and see what happens.

[jcrn]

I'd love to know more about his background, bio, etc. and how he came about creating his persona. Or maybe it was natural?

[John Lawler]

Bravo, coolest of ladies. Been a Marvin fan since I watched him scald poor Gloria Graham as a kid. Never missed a movie he was in and never happier than when he won the Oscar in 65 and then gave credit to his horse. Hell of a guy,on and off screen. Sure you've checked out the Roger Ebert interview with Marvin. Its on Roger's blog for those interested. Great fun.

[scott]

That's a solid group of actors you list for cool but yeah, Marvin is at the top of that list ( or at least he shares that spot with Bogart ). If you liked Marvin and Dickinson in Point Blank their last scene together in The Killers is great. Another must see from the 70's like Prime Cut is Emperor Of The North.

And why was Marvin so cool? Because he was the real deal.While a lot of today's actors are basically pampered brats, Marvin was a marine sniper wounded in action in WW2. So when he made films like Hell In The Pacific or The Big Red One he brought real experience and no time for bullshit to those performances.Why was he so cool? Because as John Levy stated he was also apparently a really nice guy.

And Ripley if you'd like to see Marvin and Eastwood alone in a room, watch Paint Your Wagon sometime, they're actually pretty good together.

[Joe Campanella]

Just re-watched THE BIG RED ONE. One hell of a picture.

Marvin had such calm badassness about him. It's undeniable.

POINT BLANK is a great film, and while I love the Gibson version (both the regular and director's cuts) I think Boorman's is superior. Probably because Marvin punches a guy right in the balls.....

[Jack Maxfield]

Who was that San Francisco movie critic that Marvin called a "fag"?

[cwazyFRANK]

You might not find him so sexy if you watched him in The Big Heat on TCM the other night (I must have seen that as a kid, it has something I remember in it, a woman being scalded with coffee). What I think he did very well in several movies like this and others (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance for example) is playing the tough guy who turns coward. You really BElIVED he was a sniveling coward when he turned as such. Scary!

But I grew up with him as the tough Good Guy so I was shocked as a later teen seeing him in Liberty Valance as a bully.

When I finally saw Point Blank as an adult, I was impressed with his ability to portry single mindedness that would suddenly explode into a hint of madness behind it. I love the scene where he just says "I just want my money" quietly with a glint of insanity in his eyes as he says it matter-of-factly.

[George Schmidt]

Congrats Kim - you are on the IMDB.com mainpage pick(s) of the day links!

[Marvin]

Interesting...

I was named specifically after Lee Marvin (arguably, the uncool half), which, of course, endeared him to me immediately as a young boy, before I even knew what cool was. Two days ago, I made a playlist on my iPod and for the first time decided to include a soundbyte. Of course, it would be Lee Marvin talking about the "Mini"s of the '60s: cars and skirts, in that order. That interview perfectly conveys that "icy soulfulness" you write about.

Point Blank and Prime Cut are my two favorite Marvin films and on my list of all time favorites. But I have to admit, as much as I love Boorman's intellectually icy mindf***, I love even more Ritchie's by-the-numbers, down to earth neo-noir fable, not least of all due to Marvin's (less) icy soulful performance.

Oh, and BTW, I too missed Marvin's birthday last week...

[Richard Rifkin]

Yes "Point Blank" is possibly the quintessential Lee Marvin, but you can see that "cool" talent come through much much earlier as hitman Charlie Strom in the great film "The Killers" (1964). His last line as he blows away the lovely Angie Dickinson...
"Lady, I haven't got the time." Stays in my memory to this day. Talk about cool.

[Paul_In_Houston]

The man could also be screamingly funny when he wanted to be.

Check out "Cat Ballou" (1965) about which then Houston Chronicle movie reviewer Jeff Millar noted,

"He can go WAY past the point of over-acting (Jerry Lewis: Take note) and get away with it EVERY time. ... GIVE THAT MAN AN OSCAR!!!"

They did.
-

[Scaramouche]

As you say, Marvin was so cool he could not have cared less about anything.

[Jan Mouritzen]

Does anyone know where I can obtain a decent DVD copy of John Boorman's magnificent "Lee Marvin
- a personal portrait"?

[Butch beerman]

WTF this isn't order hotwings online!

[Sergio]

There's no cool men since 80's?
I think Samuel "I make cool every movie I star" L. Jackson deserves to be in this list.

[Dean Tavaras]

According to IMDB, Marvin enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at the beginning of World War II. In the battle of Saipan in June 1944, he was wounded in the buttocks by Japanese fire which severed his sciatic nerve. Watch "The Dirty Dozen" to see Marvin in one of his best roles.

[Michael]

Well, although I agree Mr. Marvin was a man among men (The Dirty Dozen, The Wild One, Point Blank, Big Red One) I'm a bit shocked to see that a certain someone was left off your list. Admittingly so, you confessed you'd change your mind tomorrow so if that's the case, perhaps I can aid in that? What about...Paul Newman? Not only should the man be remembered for donating over $250 million to charity (and still counting) but let us not forget some of the coolest characters his natural and brilliant ability brought to the screen. Forget? Alright...let's recap some: Luke in Cool Hand Luke, Butch in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 'Fast' Eddie Felson in The Hustler (and it's sequel The Color of Money), Henry Gondorff in The Sting or Ben Quick in The Long, Hot Summer. Need I go on?? True, Marvin brought some memorbale characters to the screen with his raspy, deep voice, commanding presence and white hair (Steve Martin ain't got nuthin' on him) However, Paul Newman just walked, talked and smiled cool. He reinvented coolness, charisma, charm, sex appeal and salad dressing (literally). Women wanted to be with him and guys wanted to be him. That's just my opinion. Really enjoyed your post though!

[Julie Andow]

He may have been a cool guy on screen but off-screen, especially in regards to his treatment of women, he was anything but cool. His behaviour towards Michelle Triola is a case in point.

[True Boardman]

His 1970 movie "Monte Walsh" is currently being remastered. You didn't hear this from me but it has been transfered to HD and is being worked on. Not quite sure when or where it is going to end up but look for it. Its a western co starring Jack Palance and Mitch Ryan.