Sam Peckinpah's The Osterman Weekend is so strangely plotted, so illogical and hard to understand, that not even John Hurt providing a play by play from an ever present TV monitor can seem to make sense of it. It's not that it's a bad film, parts are very well done and there's that nostalgic Cold War vibe that 80's espionage thrillers always have, it's just that somewhere along the way, whether in the editing room, the shot list or scheduling, someone quite literally lost the plot. It's enjoyable, well acted and supplies some of that classic Peckinpah grit he's known for, but it's just one massive loose thread that no one bothered to pull taut, which is a shame when you look at the talent involved. The film opens with the murder of a beautiful woman, the wife of a CIA spook (Hurt). Now, this inciting incident is what spurs on the rest of the plot, but the how and the why seem to be missing, and the matter of his wife doesn't come into play again until all is almost said and done, and seems to have not a lot to do with the entire rest of the film. The bulk of it focuses on controversial talk show host John Tanner (Rutger Hauer), a man who lives to rub people the wrong way and put men of power on the spot with provocative, candid questions, all from the safety of his brightly lit studio. He's forced to get his hands dirty though when Hurt contacts him, informing him that his three friends he's planned to spend the weekend with (Craig T. Nelson, Dennis Hopper and a sleazy Chris Sarandon) are in fact soviet spies in hiding. Forced to bug his weekend home and play host to Hurt as he watches them all via hidden cameras, tensions arise as they try to smoke the three out and figure out... something. But what? It's anyone's guess what three potential traitors have to do with a murdered agent's wife, and I'm sure the novel by Robert Ludlum on which this is based covers that a little more pointedly, but this film is just all over the place. It drags where it should glide, and skips hurriedly over scenes with potential to be great. Nevertheless, they achieved some level of class at least, with a crackling on-air conclusion that cathartically weeds out some corruption and provides almost a glimmer of an answer to what's going on. There's a fight scene between Nelson and Hauer that's excellently choreographed, the performances are committed and engaging, and I'm always a sucker for cloak and dagger theatrics. But the thing just can't seem to cohesively pull itself together and present a story that makes sense. It's not even that it doesn't make sense in a Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy sense, because I'm sure that if I sat down and watched that film like five times in a row, id get it, it has a plot buried under all of it. This one though, it's like there's pieces missing, and the ones that are left are either out of order, or from a different puzzle entirely. Close, but no cigar.

The cinematic swan song for the maverick filmmaker known as "Bloody Sam" Peckinpah, "The Osterman Weekend" is not among his best. Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum, it's somewhat muddled, especially when it comes to motivation and methodology. Still, it's not without interest as a politically conscious, and fairly suspenseful, action-thriller. While some viewers may take exception to the late-in-the-game revelations in this story, this viewer found them rather amusing and appreciated just how well characters have manipulated each other throughout. A little too much time is indeed spent on weekend hijinks, but Peckinpah eventually introduces his trademark flourishes to the set pieces in the latter part of the film, making it rather exciting. An excellent cast does what it can with their roles.Rutger Hauer stars as John Tanner, an investigative TV host who tries to hold people in positions of authority accountable. He's approached by a rogue CIA agent, Lawrence Fassett (John Hurt) who attempts to convince him that his three friends - Bernard Osterman (Craig T. Nelson), Richard Tremayne (Dennis Hopper), and Joseph Cardone (Chris Sarandon) are traitors working with the KGB. Tanner doesn't want to believe it, but he agrees to have surveillance cameras set up in his house and on his property for one of the regular get-togethers between the friends and their wives. Eventually, Tanner finds out that things are not as they seem.Overall, the film is enjoyable if nothing great. The characters are reasonably engaging if never that compelling. Hauer is good in the lead, with strong support from Hurt, Nelson, Hopper, Sarandon, Meg Foster and her real-life son Christopher Starr as Tanners' family, Helen Shaver and Cassie Yates as Hoppers' and Sarandons' significant others, and the always solid Burt Lancaster in an authoritative turn as Maxwell Danforth, director of the C.I.A. Anne Haney, Jan Triska, and Tim Thomerson have small parts. Hurt delivers the most interesting performance in the whole thing.While this may be no "Wild Bunch" or "Straw Dogs", "The Osterman Weekend" is still worth a look for those wanting to see the final Peckinpah film.Seven out of 10.

The Osterman Weekend, a respectable, entertaining if not auspicious swan song of a great subversive director's career (then again neither was his death very auspicious), is from a Robert Ludlum novel. Being that it's from the 'Bourne' series writer, going in without much knowledge of how he exactly writes one can be sure of certain traits that the film adaptations will have. One of which, chiefly, are some twists, and then double-twists, and maybe one more twist for the road. It's fitting though since the story is pit in the arena of the CIA, KGB, shady dealing, backstabbing, revenge, and friendships and family on a slippery slope. For Peckinpah, it's more of a "job" than an actual artistic endeavor like an 'Alfredo Garcia.' And, in fact, his final cut was taken away and re-edited slightly by the producers.Whether or not it's a credit to Bloody Sam's talent and intuition that the film looks as good as it does with the producer's meddling is hard to figure. Certainly things need to be paid attention to closely for confusion not to run rampant, but for this kind of thriller it doesn't feel too compromised. This isn't to say this is any unique material for Peckinpah, with the story of a TV show host (Rutger Hauer) who is put under pressure by an operative (John Hurt) to turn in his old college friends (i.e. Craig T. Nelson, Dennis Hopper) who come every year to his house for a weekend of frivolity, and then everything going to pot as the tables are turned. In fact, to be blunt, most any director with a capability for the spy-thriller genre could handle the material with good enough gloves to make it watchable.But for Peckinpah, luckily, there are some points where he can put his trademark touches on the material (i.e. car chase, final attack scene by the pool-side), and he's also got a pretty good ensemble to work with (aside from the others mentioned, Burt Lancaster appears in a few scenes and is terrific as usual in all of them). It's not very heavy material, and there's even some dated 80's music- odd since it's dependable Lalo Schifrin at the chords- put in a couple of scenes to badly staged sex scenes. But overall it's still good work from the director, usually on his toes with the material despite the reports of his alcohol abuse on the set. We're sucked into this character John's dilemma, and see the subtleness of Hurt's performance as an indicator that something isn't quite right throughout until the surprise comes along.It's slick film-making, with some touches of taut suspense thrown in, and a fairly tasteless bit involving a dog's severed head! Just don't go in expecting full blown magnificence (or the rock-em-sock-em style of the Bourne movies).

This is only the second of Peckinpah's works I watch... the first being Convoy(yup, I sure do seem to pick 'em, don't I?), and I'm definitely intrigued. The first thing that struck me as interesting in this was the use of the medium of television, and the act of watching... there is a lot of playback. There are some very memorable scenes herein. The plot is well-written. I was confused at times, which I can't quite say at this point for sure who that has more to do with, Ludlum or already mentioned director(or even one of the script-writers). The pacing is quite good. There is considerable tension at points(Sam certainly knows how to create that), and the use of slow-motion, and to relatively negligible extent, his strong violence(don't get me wrong, though, this is pretty disturbing viewing) that I've been told of, I did see. There's not an awful lot of action, but it's well-done when there is, engaging and exciting. There is some language, and a nominal amount of nudity and sexuality. The acting is great(not sure I've cared for T. Nelson in anything else), Foster displays a wider range of emotion here than in They Live(and Hurt I'm not sure is actually capable of not giving solid performances). Effects are nicely done. The editing is marvelous, and there are some remarkably effective bits. This film is worth watching. The commentary track is worth a listen, featuring some of those who studied the director. I recommend this to fans of Sam Peckinpah, Robert Ludlum and/or spy movies. 7/10