Payback (1999 film)

Payback
Payback movie poster
Directed by	Brian Helgeland
Written by	Brian Helgeland Terry Hayes based on The Hunter by Donald E. Westlake (under pseudonym Richard Stark)
Produced by	Bruce Davey
Starring	Mel Gibson Gregg Henry Maria Bello David Paymer Bill Duke Lucy Liu John Glover William Devane Deborah Kara Unger Jack Conley and Kris Kristofferson Uncredited: James Coburn
Cinematography	Ericson Core
Edited by	Kevin Stitt
Music by	Chris Boardman Moe Jaffe
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (USA) Warner Bros. (non-USA)
Release date	February 5, 1999
Running time	100 min.
Language	English
Budget	$90 million
Box office	$161,626,121

Payback is a 1999 crime thriller starring Mel Gibson and directed by Brian Helgeland. The film shares the same source material as the 1967 noir-classic Point Blank (whose rights are currently owned by Warner Bros., the international distributor of Payback, via its ownership of the pre-1986 MGM library through Turner Entertainment), directed by John Boorman and starring Lee Marvin; both are based on the book The Hunter, written by Donald E. Westlake under the pseudonym of Richard Stark.

The film was Helgeland's directorial debut after a career as a screenwriter. Helgeland in 2007 issued a director's cut greatly different from the version released by the studio.

Plot

In a seedy basement, Porter lies severely wounded with two gunshot wounds in his back. A surgeon removes the rounds and Porter spends several months healing. He returns and begins tracking down Val Resnick, his former partner, and Lynn, his ex-wife, both of whom betrayed Porter and left him for dead following a $140,000 heist from the Chinese Triads, whose leader is Pearl.

After leaving Porter for dead, Val rejoined The Outfit, a powerful criminal organization, using $130,000 of the heist money to repay an outstanding debt. Porter is intent on reclaiming his $70,000 cut of the heist.

He enlists the help of a call girl, Rosie, who is affiliated with the Outfit. Porter used to serve as a driver for Rosie, during which time they developed a close, romantic friendship, which ultimately was the reason behind Porter's wife conspiring against him. To get his share of the money back, Porter is forced to deal with his former employer, The Outfit; the Chinese Triads; and corrupt police officers Det. Hicks and Det. Leary, leaving a trail of bodies behind him.

Following several unsuccessful attempts to reclaim his $70,000 share of the original heist, Porter shoots one of the Outfit's top men, Carter, and kidnaps Johnny, the son of Bronson, the Outfit's head. The mob's two top figures, Bronson and Fairfax, join the hunt to take him down.

Porter is captured by The Outfit after a wild chain of events involving the Triads. After being tortured by Bronson, he lures them to an apartment that had previously been rigged, by a few of The Outfit's men, to a phone connected to dynamite. Using a slick ruse, Porter directs the Outfit members to the apartment where they meet their explosive demise, while he and Rosie (with her dog, also named Porter) drive off to begin a new life.

Production

Although credited as director, Brian Helgeland's cut of the film isn't the final version released to audiences. After the end of principal photography, Helgeland's version was deemed too dark for the mainstream public. Following a script rewrite by Terry Hayes, director Helgeland was replaced by the uncredited Paul Abascal, who reshot 30% of the movie. The intent was to make the Porter character accessible, to excise the potentially controversial scene of spousal abuse, and add more plot elements to the third act. After 10 days of reshoots, a new opening scene and voiceover track were added, and Kris Kristofferson walked on as a new villain.

Helgeland's version, Straight Up: The Director's Cut, was released on DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD DVD on April 10, 2007. The Director's Cut version features a female Bronson rather than the male Bronson in the other version, and an entirely different, ambiguous ending.

Cast

• Mel Gibson as Porter
• Gregg Henry as Val Resnick
• Maria Bello as Rosie
• Lucy Alexis Liu as Pearl
• Deborah Kara Unger as Mrs. Lynn Porter
• David Paymer as Arthur Stegman
• Bill Duke as Detective Hicks
• Jack Conley as Detective Leary
• John Glover as Phil
• William Devane as Carter
• James Coburn as Fairfax
• Kris Kristofferson as Bronson
• Paul Rodriguez Jr. as Valet
• Manu Tupou Pawnbroker

Straight Up: The Director's Cut

In 2005, Paramount allowed Helgeland to re-edit the movie. However, the tapes from the original production were missing and he was limited to material available on film. The final result is a much darker film.

Some changes to the director's cut include:

• Removal of Porter's voice-over
• Rosie's dog (also named Porter) does not survive after being shot by Val Resnick
• All of the blue tint was removed and replaced with hyper-saturation
• Director's commentary
• Interview of Donald E. Westlake
• Documentary of the film's history
• A new score was written and recorded by Scott Stambler
• Removal of scenes with Kristofferson's character and the torture scene
• An alternate ending

External links

• Payback at IMDb
• Payback at Box Office Mojo