There are numerous movies that begin slowly and then pick up the pace as they move along. Strangely, "The Killer Elite" does the opposite as its best action, humour and surprises are all in the first act which brilliantly sets the scene for its story of betrayal, double crosses and revenge. Its main characters are all amoral, their outlook is nihilistic and there's also plenty of cynicism. The type of cynicism that's a reaction to the amount of treachery that they all encounter on a daily basis as well as general feelings of cynicism about all political "power systems", none of which really care about their "civilians".

Best friends and partners, Mike Locken (James Caan) and George Hansen (Robert Duvall) are a couple of operatives who work for "Com Teg", a private company that does contract work for the CIA. Their specialities are carrying out assassinations and providing personal protection for important clients. The two men are protecting an East European defector in a safe-house on the outskirts of San Francisco when Hansen, (out of sight of his partner) suddenly shoots and kills the defector before approaching Mike and shooting him in his elbow and left knee. Mike, who's in considerable pain, is shocked by his friend's betrayal but also recognises that he must have been bought off by another organisation.

When Mike starts to undergo treatment for his injuries, he's advised that he won't ever be able to achieve much improvement and his bosses at Com Teg want him to retire immediately. Mike, however, is determined to return to his old job and embarks on a long and challenging period of rehabilitation during which he also learns some new martial arts skills.

One day, it comes as a great surprise when he's invited to return to work for Com Teg to provide protection for an Asian politician called Yuen Chung (Mako) who'd recently escaped an attempt on his life by a group of assassins at San Francisco airport. Mike's interest in the job then suddenly increases when he discovers that Hansen was working with the assassins and recognises the opportunity that this will give him to take revenge on his old buddy.

Despite its chases, gunfights and some well-staged action sequences, this violent thriller never fully hits top gear because of the way in which it loses its impetus so dramatically during the period in which Mike is working on his rehabilitation. This is a shame because its story is interesting, good use is made of San Francisco locations and some of the dialogue is quite amusing. An example of this comes when Mike's bosses are trying to encourage him to accept the retirement package he's being offered and say "That leg of yours will never be anything but a wet noodle. You're Humpty-Dumped Mike. Face it".

James Caan's convincing as a tough guy and a ladies man and is absolutely great in the scenes that he shares with Robert Duvall. Bo Hopkins, Burt Young and Gig Young also do well in their above average supporting performances that add some sparkle to the whole proceedings.

Easygoing freelance special agent Mike Locken (an excellent and engaging performance by James Caan) gets severely wounded in both his knee and elbow after being double-crossed by his tough and shifty longtime friend and partner George Hansen (a typically fine Robert Duvall). After a long and painful recovery, Locken gets a gig to protect noble Asian politician Yuen Chung (well played by Mako) and a prime opportunity to exact revenge on Hansen. Director Sam Peckinpah, working from an edgy and convoluted script by Marc Norman and Stirling Silliphant, astutely captures a distinctly 70's post-Watergate atmosphere of dread, paranoia, and moral ambiguity while exploring his usual themes of ethics, friendship, loyalty, and betrayal. Peckinpah stages several bang-up action set pieces with his customary stylistic flair: a failed hit at an airport, a wild shoot-out and subsequent car chase on the streets of San Francisco, and the exciting climax at an empty ships' graveyard. Cann and Duvall both do sterling work in the lead roles; they receive able support from Arthur Hill as the duplicitous Cap Collins, Bo Hopkins as nutty live-wire gunman Jerome Miller, Gig Young as the gloomy Lawrence Weyburn, Burt Young as cynical cab driver Mac, and the lovely Tiana as Chung's feisty daughter Tommie. Kate Heflin brings a sweet and appealing warmth to her part as Locken's helpful and sympathetic nurse girlfriend Amy. Moreover, this picture pushes the PG rating as far as it can go: the starling moments of ferocious violence are pretty brutal and grisly and we even get a decent smidgen of tasty gratuitous female nudity (look fast for ubiquitous soft-core starlet Ushi Digard in a cool uncredited bit). Philip H. Lathrop's handsome widescreen cinematography makes neat occasional use of graceful fades and dissolves. Jerry Fielding provides an effectively varied and shivery score. While not one of Peckinpah's best-ever movies (the film suffers from an overlong running time and the narrative meanders quite a bit),it's still worth seeing for fans of Bloody Sam just the same.

"The Killer Elite" is a really, really annoying Sam Peckinpah film. After all, up until the very end, it was very well made and had an excellent script. And then, out of no where, ninjas appeared!! And, although it was 1975 and the good guys sported guns, the ninjas were armed with swords!! Didn't someone read the script and notice how dumb this was and how frustrated the theater patrons would be with this dopey plot device? Such a shame...as I had loved what I'd been watching.

Mike Locken (James Caan) works for a company that is subcontracted by the CIA for various operations...including witness protection. However, out of the blue, his partner kills the guy they are supposed to be protecting AND he then shoots Locken in the elbow and knee in order to cripple him and make him unable to stay in the business. However, Locken is determined...and works hard rehabilitating himself so that he can return to action. What's next? A lot of cool action and, unfortunately, ninjas!

Up until the dopey ending I would have given this one an 8 or possibly higher. But the ending....uggh!

By the way, IMDB says that violence was trimmed in order to make this a PG film. I saw it on the TUBI channel and it said it was PG...but ended up having a lot of nudity...so much that I cannot imagine it's the same version released to theaters.