One of my favorite films of the 90s is PAYBACK starring Mel Gibson. It is a remake of the overrated '60s film POINT BLANK starring Lee Marvin and directed by DELIVERANCE director John Boorman. Both films are based upon the novel THE HUNTER By Richard Stark (a pseudonym for Donald E. Westlake). Comic artist Darwyn Cooke adapted the novel into the first of a series of graphic novels but sadly passed away before he could finish the series. THE HUNTER is book one of Professional Thief PARKER on his life of crime. The books were adapted over the years with faces like Jim Brown, Robert Duvall, and more recently Jason Statham.
Quentin Tarantino dedicated a chapter of his non-fiction book CINEMA SPECULATION to THE OUTFIT (1973) starring Robert Duvall, which remains his favorite of the PARKER adaptations. Honestly, it is one of the better ones, but the film was far before my time to have the appreciation that Tarantino has for it. As a child of the '90s, it is Mel Gibson’s venture of the PARKER character that I have an appreciation for.
That would be 1999’s PAYBACK. However, when I am talking about PAYBACK, I am talking about the Director’s Cut of the film.
You see there are two versions of the film and I am going to let my friend Kyle Corwith take over from here. He operates a YouTube channel that you should check out.
Here’s the video.