I wanted to watch something with James Caan in it and I thought that this is top Caan - masculine, charming, tough and resilient. Bo Hopkins who also passed away recently was a plus as well. I think this is considered mid-level Peckinpah and it is hard to argue otherwise. He was forced by United to cut it enough to get a PG rating rather than an R - so who knows how that effected the film. I wish he had cut the hospital scenes - they bother me more than gun fights. When I saw this when it was released I recall really liking it and all these years later I still recalled a number of scenes. But this doesn't play as well now because times have changed. Films in the 70's were filled with cynicism about authority and paranoia about the government. A number of films like Three Days of the Condor echoed this - but now we just take that for granted. Nobody trusts the government any more, nobody trusts institutions any more. For good reason. They are all corrupt. So nothing surprises here and you begin to realize that the film makes little sense.


Caan and Duvall both work for a private organization headed by Gig Young and Arthur Hill is the number two man. They take on work from the CIA and other murky clients who need help with security or protecting clients. They are good buddies who clearly have affection for one another. Which is why Caan stays alive. Duvall takes a payment to betray the organization and Caan and kills the man they have in a safe house. Duvall shoots Caan in the elbow and knee and wishes him a happy retirement. The two top men tell Caan he is finished with the agency - a cripple . Humpty Dumpty as Hill puts it. Every time Hill talks it feels like you are knee deep in an oil spill.


But Caan refuses to give up - works hard - practices martial arts - and sure enough they call him back to protect an Asian leader (Mako) from being assassinated. And the cherry on top is that Duvall is on the opposite team. But from then on it makes little sense and Caan makes bone-headed calls, one after the other. How can he not connect the dots and realize that someone in the agency is betraying them, how can he take his client out the front door knowing the other side has a bunch of killers waiting, why is there a bomb under their car and why hasn't it gone off and why does he take them to a place that he knows Duvall knows. Nevertheless, Peckinpah knows how to layer on the anxiety and suspense in a few scenes that are terrific - but I had to wince when Burt Young, Bo Hopkins and Caan clean up an army of ninjas. Caan's only comment is "Why do they wear those funny clothes. What are they?". He didn't know a ninja?  The acting from everyone is topnotch as you would expect - Caan plays this very quietly - even after what Duvall did to him he seems to harbor no ill feelings- they are professionals.