| Director | John Boorman |
|---|---|
| Genre | action film, crime thriller film, drama film, film based on a novel, heist film, neo-noir |
| Runtime | 92 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $2.5 million |
| Box office | $9 million |
Walker works with his friend Mal Reese to rob a major crime operation, ambushing the courier on deserted Alcatraz Island. After counting the money, Reese shoots Walker, leaving him for dead. Reese takes the money and Walker's wife, Lynne. Walker recovers. With assistance from the mysterious Yost, Walker sets out to find Reese and recover his half of the money; $93,000. Reese used all of the money from the job to pay back a debt to a crime syndicate called "The Organization". Walker goes to Los Angeles, where he bursts in on Lynne and riddles her bed with bullets, only to find Reese has long since disappeared. Lynne is distraught and that night, while Walker sleeps, she takes an overdose of sleeping pills and dies.
Walker approaches car dealer Stegman for information, smashing a new car and terrorizing him until Stegman says that Reese is with Walker's sister-in-law, Chris.
Breaking in on Chris, he learns that she despises Reese and admires Walker. Willing to help in any way, Chris agrees to a sexual tryst with Reese inside his heavily guarded penthouse apartment, where she will unbolt a door for Walker. Walker ties up some men in an apartment across from the penthouse and has a call made to police to report a robbery, creating a diversion that enables him to slip into the penthouse.
With a gun to Reese's head, Walker persuades him to give up the names of his Organization superiors – Carter, Brewster, and Fairfax – so he can make somebody pay back his $93,000. He then forces Reese, naked except for a bedsheet, to stand next to the balcony, saying that both will go and meet Carter together. Suddenly, a bodyguard switches on the light in the room they just left, calling for Reese. Startled, Walker backs up quickly while still holding on to Reese behind him by the bedsheet. Forced to back up himself, Reese accidentally goes over the side and plunges to his death. Walker, still grasping the bedsheet, watches him fall.
After next confronting Carter for his money, Walker is set up. A sniper is assigned to kill him at a money drop in the paved Los Angeles River bed. Walker, suspecting a trap, forces Carter to get the money instead. Carter and Stegman both get shot at the pickup. The sniper leaves; Walker tears open the package of money but finds only slips of blank paper.
Yost takes Walker to a house belonging to Brewster. Walker visits Chris in her apartment, which has been trashed by The Organization. He brings her with him to Brewster's house, claiming she will be safer with him. While waiting for Brewster, Chris slaps and punches Walker as he regards her impassively, not defending himself. She leaves the room. Walker hears noises from the kitchen and goes in to turn off several appliances that Chris has apparently turned on. She taunts him as "washed up" over a speaker system. He finds her playing pool; she turns on him and hits him in the head with a pool cue. They fall to the floor in an embrace, then go to bed and make love. The following morning, Brewster comes home and is ambushed by Walker, who demands his money. Walker forces Brewster to call Fairfax, but Fairfax refuses to pay. Brewster says the only cash available for Walker is in San Francisco. "The drop has changed, but the run is still the same", he explains.
At Fort Point, Walker refuses to show himself as the courier delivers the money. Hiding in the dark is the sniper, who shoots Brewster. Yost emerges from the shadows, telling Brewster that it was not Walker who shot him. Brewster shouts to Walker: "This is Fairfax, Walker! Kill him!", and then dies.
Yost/Fairfax thanks Walker (who is still hiding in the darkness) for eliminating his dangerous underlings, telling him: "Our deal's done, Walker. Brewster was the last one". He offers a partnership, but Walker remains silent and retreats further into the shadows, apparently disappearing. Yost/Fairfax and the hitman go away while leaving the money on the ground, and silence falls on the place.