I don't think its hyperbole to say that "Killer Elite" is Peckinpah's most pedestrian effort. While he didn't have a hand in the writing (which was bad!), he over came this in the past with a good cast and his deft direction. If you stand "Killer Elite" next to "Junior Bonner" you have two under written films whose characters experience little transformation. Yet J.B. is a tightly crafted film. Peckinpah wastes little time telling us his story. His signature portrayal of his male protagonist as super stud is handled in one ridiculous scene (the bar fight) and we move on. Peckinpah gets the most out McQueen, Robert Preston, and Mary Murphy. In K.E. we start the film with Caan in bed and then digress again as he wins over his nurse. Peckinpah obviously had a thing with nurses since the tryst in "Cross of Iron" had Coburn over coming his injuries to win the heart of his pliant healer. The "Killer Elite" is too long, too slow, and in many moments just plain ridiculous. James Caan and Robert Duvall do little to distinguish themselves or raise the level of this film. Arthur Hill, Bo Hopkins, Mako, and Burt Young deliver familiar performances as the familiar characters that kept them employed but rightfully won them no praise. All in all, a movie that woefully underachieves and is at best, forgettable.
Review of The Killer Elite
