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I first saw this movie when I was in college in the Seventies. I viewed the film again in 2001. The power of the film was the same on my senses. Several reasons come up: British Director John Boorman was at his best trying to outdo Don Siegel's The Killers (1967)-which also stars Marvin and Dickinson in somewhat similar roles. I will really be surprised if Boorman denies that he was not influenced by the Siegel movie.

Why did Point Blank make an impact on me? Was it Lee Marvin's raw machismo? No. It was Boorman, who gave cinema a brilliant essay on alienation. When Dickinson's Chris asks Marvin's Walker 'What's my last name?' after a bout of sex and gets a repartee 'What's my first name?' you can argue the alienation is embedded in the dialog. But Boorman's cinema includes the loud footsteps of a determined Walker on the soundtrack, somewhat like Godard in Alpahaville, contrasting bright wide open spaces for the exchange of money that goes according to plan and closed dimly lit confines of Alcatraz for those that go wrong. There is laconic humor without laughter, pumping bullets into an empty bed, guards who narrowly miss Marvin going up the lift, the car salesman's interest in an attractive customer than in his job, the sharpshooter's smug satisfaction not realizing that he has got the wrong man…The list is endless.

The camera-work of Philip Lathrop is inventive, but was it Lathrop or Boorman that made the visual appeal of the Panavision format of this film come alive?

Viewing the film in 2001, several points emerge. $93,000 was important to Walker, nothing more nothing less. But was it money he was after or was it the value of an agreement among thieves? The open ended finale runs parallel to the end of an Arthur Penn film (also on alienation)called "Night Moves" made some 10 years later. What surprises me is how a good movie like Point Blank never won an award or even an Oscar nomination.

In the wake of his Cannes Best Director award for The General, Boorman's stunning debut has been released with a new print. Unrelentingly downbeat, this stylish crime thriller made in 1967 seems to have fuelled virtually Elmore Leonard novel.

Steely, panther-like hitman Walker (marvellous Marvin) has been fitted up, shot at and had $93,0000 stolen from him all because of ex-pal Mal Reese (John Vernon). A tad upset he decides to resurrects himself, with the help of the shadowy Yost (Keenan Wynn) for revenge and his payment.

Boorman greets us with a five-minute sequence that is crammed with curious camera angles, fractured time-lines and carefully constructed compositions. We're bombarded by a montage of piercingly violent images blended together with fragments of a failed heist on Alcatraz Island and a pair of slugs ripping into Walker's body. We're only privy to these flash snippets of information, but they're still enough to help us empathise with Marvin's masterly obsessive.

A year or two later Walker is on a tourist boat trip to Alcatraz, being propositioned by Yost. The creepy Yost knows where Mal and his Walker ex-wife Lynne (Sharon Acker) are and is willing to reveal this to him, just as long as he receives some information on a shadowy body called "The Organisation". Walker simply nods. His dialogue is minimal, his obsession is reflected through his curt questions, his sudden movements, his eyes and the flashbacks that haunt him.

When he catches up with his cheating ex-wife he allows her to talk uninterrupted in a desperate, forlorn monotone - "He's gone. Cold. Moved out," she says. Walker barely takes it in, all that motivates him is the thought, "Somebody's gotta to pay."

While others flounder, Marvin appears impenetrable like one of Sergio Leone's cowboys. Only Clint Eastwood never conveyed this much emotion in his movements.

Boorman's seminal film preceded the spate of fabulous paranoia flicks that enriched 70s American cinema – The Conversation, The Parallax View, All The President's Men – where a shadowy "Organisation" pulls the nation's strings. Tarantino has since appropriated this organisation theme on a small-time level, plagarising the black suits and the unwavering professionalism of the violence. De Niro's ex-con in Jackie Brown is based on Marvin's Walker, as are countless other performances.

Even Angie Dickinson, playing Lynne's sister Chris, leaves him cold. In a remarkable scene she resorts to repeatedly slamming Walker's immovable slab of a chest. He remains impregnable, emotionally void. She keeps on punching until she finally collapses on the floor in a heap. They finally make love, only for the isolation, the loss of identity, to continue. Is he an avenging angel? Is he there at all?

"Hey, what's my last name?" asks a post-coital Chris. "What's my first name?" he deadpans, answering a question with another question. Always seeking answers, never providing them. No love left in him, only a need for payment.

Point Blank contains inspiring visuals, a haunting soundtrack and some stunning acting. Fabulous, groundbreaking cinema. --Ben Walsh

... and maybe that's ultimately why it failed at the box office in 1967. People generally got only one shot at the apple as far as viewing went before years passed and it got on TV. Now that you have continuous access to a film, whether via streaming or DVD, you can do back to back viewings and catch everything.

1967 was a good year for Lee Marvin at MGM, where he made two movies for the studio that have ended up in the 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, this one and The Dirty Dozen. John Boorman does some stylistically interesting things, but it's a bit too much, the flourishes calling too much attention to themselves and distracting from the story. He had become much more masterful at letting the visuals contribute to the advance of the story by the time he made Deliverance and Excalibur, IMO. These flashbacks Marvin/Walker kept having to events that had previously occurred in the movie - and in a movie that clocks in at under 95 minutes, at that - just seemed like overkill to me.

I found the plot terribly confusing the first time around. The crooks were hiding out in Alcatraz, where regular tours are conducted? Heck, Marvin himself is shown on such a tour very early in the film. I had no concept of what Marvin's life was supposed to have been before the events of the movie. In the flashback where he met his wife, he appears to be a dockworker straight out of On the Waterfront. The bit where the future marrieds circle each other, locked in eye contact was kinda sexy, but the presence of all of Marvin's coworkers standing one inch away from them was weird. I also didn't understand the connection between Walker and Reese or what this incredibly crowded party was where they reunited or the other barroom scene where Reese knocks Walker to the floor and climbs on top of him to tell him how badly he needs money. These scenes didn't make sense to me at all, but they didn't ruin my overall enjoyment of the movie.

I liked Carol O'Connor as the Nicest Guy in the Mob. Keenan Wynn's character I didn't get. He somehow finds Walker when no one else knows he's alive and recruits him in pursuing mutual interests. I thought for the whole movie until the final scene that he was some kind of law enforcement - a Fed, maybe. The ending is also vague, I suppose deliberately so. Wynn tells the Hired Gun to leave the bag with the money, so I guess Walker gets the money? Though we don't see it explicitly.

Anyway, I just love the 60s look - the architecture, the cars, the hairstyles, the clothes. I loved the hamburger joint where Marvin and Dickinson ate with the giant windows. I loved her pad with the balcony that looked down on the living area. I loved O'Connor's sprawling retreat. I loved the technology! I guess mob millionaires had remote controls for their TVs in 1967 (Well, Jack Lemmon had one in The Apartment way back in 1960, and he was at best a middle-class schlub). Oh, yeah, I also dug O'Connor's primitive speaker phone, where he put the receiver in some kind of device so you suddenly had speaker phone.

The thing I missed the most? The screenplay, in its attempt to be ultra-cool, neglects to provide wronged gangster Lee Marvin with the one ingredient that is indispensable to the sort villainous hero he specialized in, namely humor. This is one of the few Lee Marvin films that contains not one memorable zinger, delivered in that patented, guttural drawl of his. It's worth a look, but I can see why 1967 audiences didn't take to it, with only one viewing to "get it".

Point Blank is one of those lost gems from the 1960's. It got buried because it was released around the same time as Bonnie and Clyde. This film combines all the great elements of the American action film with flourishes of European art house cinema. John Boorman's direction is excellent, and not enough can be said about Lee Marvin's performance. This is without question one of Lee's best tough guy performances. I don't understand how the previous reviewer can say this film seems "dated" and "funny for all the wrong reasons". It is as fresh and interesting as it was back at the time of its release. Those looking for it on DVD may want to know that the widescreen format version appears on TCM occasionally. You may want to pop in a tape the next time it is on until the DVD finally comes out.

Interesting though strange picture plenty of flashbacks , slow-moving and a difficult pace . Being based on the book "Hunter" by Donald E. Westlake or Richard Stark and rightly adapted by Alexander Jacobs , David Newhouse and Rafe Newhouse . After being double-crossed by his partner (John Vernon) and left for dead by unfaithful wife , a mysterious man named Walker (Lee Marvin) single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him and he seeks reckoning with a strange Organization (Lloyd Bochner, Carroll O'Connor) , a crime syndicate to which he belongs that takes on all comers . He is betrayed and becomes determined to exact vendetta on his betrayer , no matter how great the odds . There are two kinds of people in his up-tight world : his victims and his women. And sometimes you can't tell them apart .

Noir film dealing with a complex intrigue that contains action , thrills , suspense , violence and high body count : 8 . Violent story grows more exciting with each new plot twist . Main cast is frankly magnificent such as a sensational Lee Marvin , a gorgeous Angie Dickinson and the nasty John Vernon . Lee Marvin was Boorman's favorite actor , he told : ¨I learned more from Lee about filmmaking than from anyone , he has this incredible economy and brilliant camera technique ; most actors are completely spastic when it comes to moving properly, but Lee has the economy and quickness¨ . Excellent support cast such as Lloyd Bochner , Keenan Wynn , Michael Strong , James Sikking and special mention to Carroll O'Connor . Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by good director of photography Philip H. Lathrop , being filmed on location , as this was the first major picture to film on location at Alcatraz Island after the closure of the federal prison in 1963 . Imaginative and haunting score by Johnny Mandel . ¨Point Blank¨ and its taut remake Payback (1999) by Brian Helgeland with Mel Gibson,Gregg Henry , Deborah Kara Unger , David Paymer , Bill Duke are both based on the book "Hunter" by Richard Stark or Donald Westlake . The picture was ignored during its premiere but now regarded as one of the best films of the 60s .

The motion picture was well directed by John Boorman . He's a real professional filmmaking from the 6os , though sparsely scattered and giving various classics . John started as an assistant direction and his friendship with Lee Marvin allowed him to work in Hollywood as ¨Point Blank¨ (1967) and ¨Hell in the Pacific¨ (1968) from where he returned to the UK and directed ¨Leo¨ (1970) , a rare Sci-Fi titled ¨Zardoz¨ (1974) or the ¨failure Exorcist II¨ (1977). His films are without exception among the most exciting visually in the modern cinema . He became famous for Excalibur (1981), the best of them , ¨Emerald forest¨ (1985) with a ecologist denounce included and his autobiographic story ¨Hope and Glory¨ (1987) and which brought him another Academy Award Nomination after ¨Deliverance¨ . ¨Point blank¨ rating : Better than average . Wholesome watching .

On paper this is a relatively straightforward noir. A guy gets done wrong and goes after revenge or at least to get compensated for the trouble, finds himself in a world of danger and conspiracy that is well above his paygrade. What really makes this movie unique is how it looks and how its directed.

Visually it reminds of the middle seasons of Mad Men, where the early 60s starts to transition into the later 60s. From suit and tie, modernist, art deco, straight lines to a world of color and post modernism and wild editing and sounds.

I don't know to what extent this was on purpose or a result of the time it was made, but I love how this movie has one foot in 1961 and one foot in 1969. Worth a watch just to see what I'm talking about. I can't think of another movie like it.

POINT BLANK is an early outing for DELIVERANCE director John Boorman, who acquits himself ably with the hard-boiled crime format. Tough guy Lee Marvin stars in one of his most memorable roles as a small-time gangster who's double-crossed by his partner and his own wife!

The story sees Marvin going on a rampage of revenge as he tracks down various gangsters who owe him money, including a deliciously slimy John Vernon and other effective character actors. Angie Dickinson shows up as a femme fatale, while Boorman has style to spare, creating a gorgeous-looking movie full of sun-bleached city-scapes.

In fact, as a movie, POINT BLANK ticks many of the boxes in its journey to the twist ending. The action is sparse and well-handled; Marvin's tough beyond belief in the type of role that Charles Bronson would later make his own; the plot is lean and mean, and there are some wonderful set-pieces, like the bit in the drainage canal. Altogether a fine little movie and one of the most impressive of its decade.

Walker (Lee Marvin) is a man left for dead at Alcatraz by his best friend Mal Reese (John Vernon) who has lied and betrayed him. After surviving, he goes on a one man crusade to obtain his $93,000 that he believes is rightly his.

Starting with his wife that ran away with Reese he sets about infiltrating his way into a crime syndicate known only as The Organisation to get his money and take bloody revenge on Reese for his wrong doing on Alcatraz.

John Boorman's film is brilliantly styled and very violent for its time. Lee Marvin is simply awesome as Walker, more of a force of nature wearing tailor made suits that go beyond cool rather than a human being.

My favourite moment in this film is where Keenan Wynn as Yost gives Walker his wife's and Reese's address and we see him stomping down a long, coloured corridor inter cut with his wife waking up in bed and going about her business as Walker's footsteps get louder and louder until he kicks her door in and throttles her to the ground. It is a brilliant moment.

I also liked the way he remembers his life with Lynne, and how she narrates how they were so happy together before and after he met up with his long lost friend Mal Reese, its actually quite moving.

There's also this excellent idea that while you watch this film you are only seeing what Walker would have wanted to happen IF he survived...and that he is still lying there in that cell on Alcatraz.

Thats my theory. Either way, Point Blank is a classic thriller put together with class and style.

Fully recommended. Ten Out Of Ten.

Some movies are must-sees simply because of their pioneering value and the influence they had on cinema in the years/decades after their release. John Boorman's "Point Blank" is such a landmark that left a quintessential and everlasting impact on the world of action/gangster cinema, even though - in all honesty - the film itself looks badly outdated by today's standards. Released in 1967, "Point Blank" was one of the first Hollywood blockbusters to depict uncompromising violence and introduce a merciless and very unlikeable good guy. Who knows, without Lee Marvin's Walker, there perhaps wouldn't have been Clint Eastwood's (Dirty) Harry Callahan or Gene Hackman's Popeye Doyle.

The simple yet compelling plot comes from a novel by Donald Westlake. Betrayed and left for dead by his former best friend and girlfriend after a heist, tough guy Walker is determined to claim back his 93,000$ share of the loot and get revenge. Finding his pal turned double-crosser Mal Reese isn't much of a challenge, but recovering the money definitely is.

The best twist about "Point Blank" - according to your truly, at least - is that Walker is an old-fashioned and no-nonsense crook who quickly gets lost in a new world where criminal gangs turned into organizations, ordinary thugs have become respectable businessmen in suits, and cash dollars got replaced by credit cards.

"Point Blank" delivers in the action and suspense department. Walker is a streetwise man who avoids death traps and goes straight for his goal. Quite often it looks far too easy, like how he manages to reach a heavily guarded penthouse, but I'm gladly overlooking those kinds of flaws, as well as the painfully dated special effects (most notably the body falling from the rooftop). It's also full of great names, with macho-icon Lee Marvin, obviously, but also Keenan Wynn, Angie Dickinson, Lloyd Bochner, and John Vernon.

Okay so I watched this so called Crime? Drama? Thriller ? Film and what I drew from this film was an impression that some producers had some money to spend and wanted to quickly put together a group of available A-List actors who were readily available on short notice to film over a four (4) to six (6) week period what they classified as a Crime/Drama/Thriller box office bonanza.

Instead what we are provided with is a series of written scenes from a book that don't fit very well together and get lost in the tough guy image of an older than expected Lee Marvin (he was only 43 but looks like he is 63) mobster who gets screwed out of his share of a robbery only to be left for dead so he battles back to get his money from anyone and everyone who gets in his way.

The most impressive piece of the film was the movie's film poster so I hope the artist got paid more than the actors did. I give the film a ho hum 5 out of 10 IMDb rating.

Love it, great film.

For one thing, POINT BLANK, directed by British director John Boorman, has all the good looks of the various movements of the European New Wave, but walks the walk and talks the talk of an American thriller, and I mean that as a good thing. Boorman's brilliantly composed combination of European artfulness with film-noir elements make for an exceptionally rich and multi-layered crime thriller.

Lee Marvin, in typically emotionless fashion, is the remorseless Walker who, after pulling off a successful heist from the mob, is double-crossed, shot and left for dead in the now abandoned Alcatraz prison by his wife (Sharon Acker) and his partner-in-crime (John Vernon). Walker survives, escapes and moves to LA, where he kills his way up the ladder of a vaguely defined organized crime syndicate called "The Organization", hardly distinguishable from a legitimate cooperate business, in order to get his $93,000, occasionally aided by his sister, Chris (a great Angie Dickinson), who seems to know Walker's targets pretty well.

Philip Wisethrop's widescreen compositions are absolutely stunning. One of the most impressive scenes is when Walker is fighting two hoods in a nightclub, against a swirling psychedelic backdrop, to the strains of the R&B houseband, with its black singer hysterically shouting letting the mostly white clientèle shout with him in his microphone. But every scene is a marvel to watch, with every detail painstakingly composed without getting stiff or forced in any way. Even the car windows are almost unrealistically spotless, in order to film Walker through the glass with the reflections of the city on his face.

The film is packed with all kinds of surreal surroundings and lots of flashbacks concerning Walker's past. Boorman's games with narrative time, with extensive use of echoing flashbacks and jump-cuts, are the perfect reflection of Walker's dream-like struggle for justice, He's the typical tragic (noir)-hero, in a perpetual struggle to grasp what happened to him. He desperately tries to comprehend the situation he's in, but hasn't got a clue who's who and his outdated moral codes make him seem an even bigger anomaly in the modern corporate world he works his way into.

Whether this is all actually happening or it's all a mind-spin inside Walker's head is impossible to say. Best to enjoy the ride in this true genre classic, definitely one of the best American thrillers of the '60s. If you get the chance, watch it together with Melville's LE SAMOURAI (1967) and Seijun Suzuki's BRANDED TO KILL (1967), in many ways its French and Japanese counterparts.

Camera Obscura --- 9/10

Not sure if my title will pass muster. Lee Marvin, a masculine guy out for revenge pursues his money and perhaps, a woman. This is a late 60's movie that hits certain buttons for action, attractive women and the little guy against the "establishment." Marvin is his usually understated self. Tough and cool. A decent plot as Marvin chases various, typical bad guys to get what is owed to him. The direction is what one would expect from a movie from this era. The cinematography is solid. The cast is wonderful. Carroll O'Connor before he was Archie. Angie Dickinson talking about powerful men using their influence over her. The movie is a reminder of better times for me, when my Dad used to get candy for me and my brothers for some fun. I guess when you're getting old, a movie like this is sufficient. The pyrotechnics, contrived action, sexual bs and the usual attractions of 2023 don't entertain me. San Francisco before Gov Newsom?

John Boorman's highly stylized, metaphysical revenge tale is one of the most interesting and innovative American films of the 60's that like The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde showed the influence of European filmmakers. Influenced by Antonioni's color symbolism and Resnais' fragmented chronology, Point Blank is a lyrical, multi layered, and truly singular film noir that was the best and most daringly abstract American film released in 1967. Marvin is "Walker" and he is absolutely elemental in his unrelenting quest for $93,000. Angie Dickinson, despite an ugly wardrobe, is as good as she's ever been playing Walker's accomplice and has a memorable scene wearing herself out slapping Marvin to no avail. Boorman's direction is truly spectacular, if occasionally overdone, and he makes stunning use of LA locations. Philip Lathrop's widescreen photography is fairly amazing and Johnny Mandel's dirge-like score is haunting. Like Lolita, The Naked Kiss, Nothing But a Man, Rosemary's Baby, The Night of the Living Dead,and Rachel, Rachel, Point Bank is one of the essential American films of the 60's and it was surely an influence on Mike Hodges' equally bleak Get Carter(71); the title itself is an homage to Carter(Lloyd Bochner) in Point Blank.

Did it ? I don't think it did. I might have found out if I'd listened to the director's commentary, with Soderbergh, but I couldn't be bothered. Maybe I'll take it in at some future time. Otherwise it was quite interesting, but terminally puzzling. It didn't hang together very well. More or less a permanent clash of personalities. Difficult to know why they were so cool with each other. Why did Angie try to batter Lee so furiously, with no effect ? Frankly, I needed more clarity. What exactly was it about ? Did Marvin collect his money ? Did he wind up as a part-owner boss of the mob ? Most of the rest of the cast were dead by the end. Similar to Bacon's opinion about his own paintings. Meaningless, unless you find meaning in them. One critic thinks that Marvin was actually dead throughout the entire movie.

Point Blank is directed by John Boorman and collectively adapted to screenplay by Alexander Jacobs, David Newhouse and Rafe Newhouse from the novel The Hunter written by Richard Stark. It stars Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O'Connor, Lloyd Bochner and Michael Strong. Music is by Johnny Mandel and the Panavision cinematography (in Metrocolor) is by Philip H. Lathrop.

Betrayed by wife and friend during a robbery, Walker (Marvin) is left dying on a stone cold cell floor at closed down Alcatraz...

Pure neo-noir, a film that could be argued was ahead of its time, given that it wouldn't find a fan base until many years later. Yet it deserves to be bracketed as a benchmark for the second phase of noir, a shining light of the neo world, experimenting with techniques whilst beating a true film noir heart.

The story is deliciously biting, pumped full of betrayals and double crosses, fatales and revenge, death and destruction. It even has a trick in the tale, ambiguity. It all plays out in a boldly coloured Los Angeles, the photography sparkles as Mandel lays an elegiacal and haunting musical score over the various stages of the drama. The talented Boorman has a field day with the elements of time, shunting various strands of the story around with sequences that at first glance seem out of place, but actually are perfect in context to what is narratively happening, the director gleefully toying with audience expectations. While suffice to say angles are tilted and close ups broadened to further style the pic.

Then there is Walker, a single minded phantom type character, played with grace and menace by Marvin - who better to trawl the Los Angeles underworld with than Marv? This guy only wants what he is owed from the robbery, nothing more, nothing less, but if the meagre reward is not forthcoming, people are going to pay with something more precious than cash. His mission is both heroic and tragic, with Boorman asking the viewers to improvise their thought process about what it all inevitably means. Funding the fuel around Marvin are good players providing slink, sleaze and suspicion.

Deliberate pacing isn't for everyone, neither is stylised violence and stylish directorial trickery, but for those who dine at said tables, Point Blank, and Walker the man, is for you. 9/10

Back in the theater where I first saw Point Blank, the film became known for down to this day as the film where Lee Marvin, shot the telephone. It was a very destructive thing to do, but as Carroll O'Connor says in the film, Marvin is a very destructive man.

Marvin's a professional hit man who took a large contract with a partner and friend John Vernon, however Vernon has some heavy debts and he steals Marvin's end of the fee. It amounts to $93,000.00, a really heavy sum back in 1967.

Marvin don't want to hear excuses he wants his money and goes up the organized crime chain of command to get it, aided and abetted by the mysterious Keenan Wynn who has his own agenda.

Angie Dickinson is on hand to lend Marvin some moral support and she's very helpful indeed in getting to the protected John Vernon.

The one thing I notice about Point Blank is that Marvin, professional hit man that he is and no doubt tough guy, does not really kill all that many people in the film. But the bodies do keep dropping all around him.

A lot of people seem to think Point Blank is some great piece of cinematic art. I don't think so, but it's still entertaining enough, especially for Lee Marvin's fans.

What is it about the old guys that sets them apart from today's superstars? Lee Marvin is infinitely more believable as a Mafia insider who says: "I just want my money" than is Mel Gibson in last year's Payback, the remake of Point Blank. Maybe it's just that I was exposed to Lee Marvin's machismo when I was still young and impressionable, and those things stick. I like the understated quality of Marvin's character - cool during violence. there's an undercurrent of determination, of purpose, that makes Marvin's attack scenes especially chilling. this matches my impression of the "hit man." violence is his tool to be used to achieve goals rather than as an expression of anger. he is detached from the emotion of killing...as cold as an ice pick.

LEE MARVIN wants revenge and his $93,000. That's the summation of the plot of POINT BLANK--there's really no more to the story. I see others here praising John Boorman's direction and reading much more into this simple minded action flick than there is.

The dialog borders on the absurd. The flashbacks into past events are piled on like a sledgehammer, hardly subtle in effect. The editing is rough, the music is loud and abysmal--and everything about the film has an ugly atmosphere.

Marvin plays an entirely unpredictable character who makes everyone else around him look like the definition of sanity. ANGIE DICKINSON is a slutty kind of female (apparently, she specialized in these kind of roles), decked out in fashionable '60s garb and big hairdo. She and Marvin have absolutely no chemistry and their big love scene is enough to make you cringe in embarrassment.

Why anyone ranks this among the best film noirs remains a mystery to me. It's no more than a cheap exploitation film of violence for the sake of gory action. The ending is open-ended, to say the least, leaving Marvin's motivation a puzzle that is never solved.

Have to agree with the original N.Y. Times review: it's extreme violence is disturbing and viewers should be forewarned.