Callan, the old spy/hitman telly series got, as all TV series did in the 70s, a big screen version.
The difference here from our usual fayre is that our hero, Callan - an utter bastard - is also a wargamer. As was Edward Woodward, in fact, as its apparently his table and minis seen on screen in long pornographic shots of table display (his stuff was made by Peter Gilder)
Callan, retired off from black ops and in a crappy accountancy job, drinking too much and wanting an out, gets contacted by the old firm. They've a job for him. He gets back in shape, works out how to do it, then carries out the hit.
The key point for us is that when he makes contact with the hit (the chap works in the same building), the fellow is a wargamer! So they bond over this and the final scenes play out across the games table as they both try and work each other out.
Lots of scenes of Callan pondering how to deal with killing someone he genuinely likes and, well, has a superb games table and could be a regular opponent. This is filmed over scenes of him casting lead......not his own bullets, oh no, but his own miniatures.
It was 1974 after all and you have to DIY or die then (literally!). Still - Casting whilst reading a history of the American Civil War and surrounded by paints, brushes and glues? They've got the detail of being a gamer down to a tee.
I enjoyed it, but its a cheapo film. Edward Woodward is always good for the money and him playing a cold bastard is always good value. This lead to him becoming the Equalizer later (directly from this role), so yeah - the Equalizer in his early years.
You know what? I think I might watch it again.
Sounds like a good film,more my brother's type of film,but I might look it up for the wargame element. Wargames on film, the US house of cards,Wargamer complete and utter bastard,Callan as above, the opening of Lawrence Fishburnes Othello the Venetian senate moving wargame galleys around,we all know what they were like,are we getting a bad press? Or is it just a useful shorthand for controlling psychopath?
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Hello Iain, I think there was also an episode of Midsomer Murders based around one wargamer offing another, so you may be on to something with the "wargamers = duplicitous" theme in film!
DeleteThe other one that springs to mind is the wargamer that gets briefly mentioned in Groundhog Day, but not enough evidence in that one line to tell if he's a bad un or not.