The Osterman Weekend

This week we lost the terrific actor John Hurt. This amazing performer had an incredible body of work, The Elephant Man, Alien, Midnight Express, and 1984, just to name a few. There were some great performances from him that didn't get the attention they deserved as well. Over the next few blogs, I thought I would take a look back at some of those. Next up is 1983's The Osterman Weekend.

This is one very convoluted plot, so I'll give you the bare bones description. Hurt plays a CIA agent bent on revenge after the murder of his wife. He believes the assassins are a group of Russian spies known as Omega. Three Omega agents, Dennis Hopper, Craig T. Nelson, and Chris Sarandon, happen to be friends with a tv reporter, Rutger Hauer, and are about to have a weekend get together with their old friend. Hurt see's this as a perfect opportunity and uses Hauer as bait so that he can get his revenge.

I've seen this movie on many occasions, and I'm still not 100% percent sure how everything ties together. Based off a Robert Ludlum novel, it is quite complex. That being said, I still really enjoy this flick a lot. It really holds your attention. This was the last film from legendary director Sam Peckinpah, and he totally proves that he still had it. By this time in his career, Peckinpah had become unhireable due to his drinking and drug use, and for being a hard man to work with. But luckily he was giving a second chance with this flick. He still butted heads with the producers during production.

Peckinpah assembled a great cast, that also included Burt Lancaster and Meg Foster. And unlike the producers, the cast showed Mr. Peckinpah nothing but respect.

The end product might not make a whole lot of sense, but it is still a fun watch.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.