The Osterman Weekend (1983)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
John Tanner	Rutger Hauer	½
Lawrence Fassett	John Hurt
Richard Tremayne	Dennis Hopper
Bernie Osterman	Craig T. Nelson	½
Ali Tanner	Meg Foster
Joseph Cardone	Chris Sarandon
Virginia Tremayne	Helen Shaver
Betty Cardone	Cassie Yates
Maxwell Danforth	Burt Lancaster	½

Review

1984 meets The Big Chill and a spree of machine guns in this, the final film of Sam Peckinpah. Unfortunately, both the logic of the former and the authenticity of the latter is missing in this clumsily shot, horribly edited and most likely amateurishly written spy/thriller flick. It feels dated both stylistically and thematically, even by 1983 standards, and even if there is a clever Robert Ludlum premise lurking underneath and gracing the surface from time to time, such as in a tense and semi-interesting middle part as the old friends (Hauer, Nelson, Hopper and Sarandon) gather at the former man's house. It soon all goes haywire, though, with more twists and turns than logic and relevance. Peckinpah claimed the studio had botched up his cut, and was probably right, but his direction is lacklustre at any rate; the action-sequences being particularly disappointing and, well, slow. Rutger Hauer does quite well in his first American lead, Hopper and Sarandon make little out of the little they have, whereas Craig T. Nelson seems the most inspired. For some reason, though, all these four Berkeley graduates have porn-star-ish wives. No wonder John Hurt found a need to monitor them.