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IMDb > Payback (1999/I)
Payback
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Overview

User Rating:
6.9/10   35,074 votes
Writers:
Donald E. Westlake (novel)
Brian Helgeland (screenplay) ...
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Release Date:
5 February 1999 (USA) more
Tagline:
No More Mr. Nice Guy more
Plot:
Porter is shot by his wife and best friend and is left to die. When he survives he plots revenge. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
2 wins & 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Lucy Liu: Action Woman (From WENN. 7 October 2002)
Mel Gibson's Film Company Signs Deal With Fox (From WENN. 18 March 2002)
User Comments:
Point Blank Great! more

Cast

 (Cast overview, first billed only)

Mel Gibson ... Porter

Gregg Henry ... Val Resnick
Maria Bello ... Rosie

David Paymer ... Arthur Stegman
Bill Duke ... Det. Hicks

Deborah Kara Unger ... Mrs. Lynn Porter
John Glover ... Phil

William Devane ... Carter

Lucy Liu ... Pearl (as Lucy Alexis Liu)
Jack Conley ... Det. Leary

Kris Kristofferson ... Bronson
Mark Alfa ... Johnny's Friend #2
Kwame Amoaku ... Radioman

Justin Ashforth ... Michael, Bartender #1
Len Bajenski ... Fairfax Bodyguard #1
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Porter (USA) (working title)
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MPAA:
Rated R for strong violence, language, and drug and sexual content.
Runtime:
100 min | USA:90 min (director's cut)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Colour:
Colour
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital
Filming Locations:
Chicago, Illinois, USA more
MOVIEmeter: ?
^ 2% since last week why?

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
While the identity of the person assigned to direct the re-shoots of the film following the departure of Brian Helgeland was originally unknown, Mel Gibson revealed in a Hong Kong newspaper interview that that person was production designer John Myhre. more
Goofs:
Continuity: The prostitute's hair changes style during the scene in the cafe with Porter. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Porter: [voiceover] GSW: that's what the hospitals call it: gunshot wound. Doctor has to report it to the police. That makes it hard for guys in my line to get what I call, quality health care.
more
Movie Connections:
References "The Twilight Zone: The Jeopardy Room (#5.29)" (1964) more
Soundtrack:
Anniversary Song more

FAQ

What is the difference between the director's cut and the original cut?
more
30 out of 36 people found the following comment useful:-
Point Blank Great!, 7 June 2005
10/10
Author: John Wayne Peel (jwpeel@tiac.net) from Lynn, Massachusetts

If you don't like violence, then don't watch this movie. If you are open to great storytelling and gritty dialogue, this is the movie for you. In some ways superior to the remake and just as gripping. Some have hated this film just because of what it was, and that's a shame for them that they can't enjoy a film that neither glorifies nor trashes the underside of life. In a weird way, the main character Porter (played this time by Mel Gibson who is as good as Lee Marvin. Nobody could be better than Marvin in this kind of role) has a kind of decency code of his own even though it is more than a bit twisted. After all, in a world inhabited by criminals, the rules change significantly and so once has to either adapt or find a way out. Porter does both in both versions.

No sense in rehashing the plot. Suffice it to say that it is about a crook who got burned and wants what is coming to him and gets even along the way. Besides, the plot has been recounted by so many better reviewers than myself.

It's always hard for me to rate one film version over another. It is almost impossible to not want to (in my mind at least) mix and match actors in roles. James Coburn played the same part as did Carroll O'Connor in the original and they are both perfect while being so different. After all, they were both accomplished actors. And maybe I could have done without a lot of the S&M and B&D scenes in the newer version but I chalk that up to the changes in the world since the 1960s.

Long before there was a Quentin Tarrantino, there were great directors like Don Siegel, Sam Peckinpah and Sam Fuller who were as tough as nails and not just some fan who knew how to use the best of all of these guys brilliant touches, and add some sick jokes. But director/writer Brain Helgeland does spectacularly well with the material, while the new cast shines in their roles almost as though they weren't acting, but living the parts. And that goes right down to the underrated David Paymer as a pathetic hustler (who could easily have been played in earlier times by an Elisha Cook Jr. as he did with the Wilmer role from "The Maltese Falcon" yet Paymer does so with more humor.) It is hard to make one root for people so lacking in morals but director, writer and actors manage amazingly well.

Both "Payback" and "Point Blank" are instant classics that should be considered as such. And God bless the memories of Lee Marvin and John Vernon (both in the original "Point Blank" version.) Such fine thespians will be sorely missed. Fortunately, their memories are on celluloid and other mediums to be enjoyed by many more audiences.

You might have guessed I really love these two movies.

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The Script!? minusthepegs
What did Val Resnick mean... arfordc-1
PAYBACK: The Director's Cut........damn good! WormRacer
Will we ever see the original again? Does anyone know? jaredflothe
maxpayne venderine32
question johnnybravo767
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