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Thursday, May 30, 2019

The Osterman Weekend (1983)

A television news journalist (Rutger Hauer) is given evidence by the director of the CIA (Burt Lancaster) that three of his closest friends (Dennis Hopper, Craig T. Nelson, Chris Sarandon) are KGB operatives. To this end, all three are invited to a weekend at the newsman's home (along with their wives) where their every move will be monitored by a CIA agent (John Hurt). Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum (THE BOURNE IDENTITY) and directed by the legendary Sam Peckinpah. Reportedly, Peckinpah hated the script and took the job because he needed the work. His reputation was pretty much shot in Hollywood at this point, so much so that no studio wanted to work with him. The film is an incoherent mess that is often difficult to follow and the producers edited the film themselves after being dissatisfied with Peckinpah's cut. The nutty plot is far fetched and its characters behave unrealistically. In spite of being so contrived, there's enough loony entertainment value (there's a spectacular swimming pool on fire sequence) to make it watchable. But it's not a good movie. With Meg Foster, Helen Shaver and Cassie Yates. 

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