CHARLES BRONSON movies - Page 4

The Stone Killer is just ok. Watch for Charlie telling someone to go piss in their ear.

Yeah, THE STONE KILLER is kind of bland. There is one (unintentionally?) hilarious scene where Charlie gets upstaged by a group of hippies, and Paul Koslo's amusing as always ... so, might be worth a look.

I watched COLD SWEAT last night. This one is an odd duck, not very good but odd. It's based on one of Richard Matheson's early pulp thrillers, with Bronson and Liv Ullmann (!?) mismatched as a married couple and James Mason, playing a sleazeball American heroin smuggler, sporting Bob Denver's Gilligan hat and a ridiculous southern accent. There is a fantastic Remy Julienne car chase through the French countryside. I was also jolted by Bronson breaking one poor bastard's neck -- the sound effect is disturbing and Terence Young effectively conveys Ullmann's shock.

This is available (in something close to its original aspect ratio) as part of the Pop Flix Charles Bronson Collection:
http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Bronso...0422421&sr=1-4

A good deal. You also get Richard Donner's LOLA, SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR (good flick, another of Charlie's early 70s French thrillers with an interesting twist and solid Anthony Perkins performance), and ten episodes from the first season of Man with a Camera.

EDIT: OK, you may want to skip this collection. Transfers for SOMEONE and LOLA are crappy.

The scene with the hippies is pretty funny (just the juxtaposition of hippies and a bemused Charles Bronson). Winner did something similar in The Mechanic, with Bronson walking around the party watching all of Jan-Michael Vincent's hip young friends. I've never made one of those funny internet animated gifs before, but if I did, first one out the gate would be that scene of Bronson opening the door to a room, being surprised by a bunch of people making out, then immediately backing out while shaking his head in disapproval.

And yeah, Koslo adds value playing a bi jazz fanatic hitman (!). I'm also now remembering a scene where Bronson makes eyes at a 20something chick and she reciprocates like he's Paul friggin Newman or something... it's making me chuckle.

If anyone has DirecTV, 10 To Midnight and From Noon Til Three ("Bronson Time" Double Feature!) are available in 1080p on VOD. 10 To Midnight looks cleaner than most 80s blu-rays I have.

Didn't know they were remaking The Mechanic with Jason Statham and Ben Forster. Potential!

It's funny, I'm not usually one to get all pissed about remakes of my fave horror movies, but the idea of a guy like Statham trying to step into Bronson's shoes does somewhat irk me.

At least when Stallone says he's going to do a new Death Wish, there's some sense that he's earned it (plus it was only a matter of time, given that he's always dabbled with being other screen heroes- Steve Reeves his whole life, Eastwood in Cobra, Pacino's Serpico in Nighthawks, the Die Hard thing in Cliffhanger, the Arnold comedy thing with Stop!)

Telefon on TCM at 6pm Eastern today.

... is the perfect name for a Charles Bronson remake starring Jason Statham.

And shit, wish I had seen that Telefon was on, would've snagged it (still haven't got round to picking up that double bill DVD that came out a few months ago). It's both a lesser Siegel and a lesser Bronson, but still a good laugh. With the "brainwashed sleeper" plot the movie is almost to The Naked Gun, as Zero Hour! is to Airplane! (scene with Nielsen, Montalban, and his hypnotized secretary plays funnier after watching this, I think it might be a word-for-word repeat). Charles Bronson reads entire newspapers in seconds and coldly ignores post-Damien leading lady Lee Remick, who is outcuted by pre-KFC computer geek Tyne Daly. And Donald Pleasence runs around in a ridiculous wig, causing chaos and generally behaving like an evil little shit until SPOILER.... Charlie B personally strangulates the living piss out of him. It's a keeper!

Doesn't really need its own thread, but I read Death Sentence, Brian Garfield's sequel to Death Wish, today.



Thing went down like a 99 cent bag of Doritos. It feels more like a legitimate follow-up to the original film than the Golan-Globus epics, picking up the character in Chicago as he continues his war on crime, and surrounds himself with people who like to have long-winded debates about "the crime problem." The pursuits and kills are more in keeping with the original film, with Paul getting all sweaty and nauseous about shooting a dozen black teens in the head.

There's also a potentially fun "good vigilante/bad vigilante" subplot that sits on the periphery, then gets tidied up in the last seven pages.

Oh, it has literally nothing in common with the Kevin Bacon film but the title, which it seems is enough to warrant a "Based on the novel by" credit in the movie. I would love to know how that works.

Death Wish V is guilty of the same sin as Death Wish IV - it takes Kersey away from killing evil brown minorities and sets him on another one-man war against the mob. Some of the stunts are nice, and there's some good pyro, but scene after scene of 73 year-old Bronson (who was admittedly more spry than I was expecting) impossibly dodging mafia machine gun fire just doesn't pack the same vicarious/ethical wallop as him shooting knife-wielding muggers in the face.

Michael Parks was a decent villain, and Robert Joy an effective henchman. His death by exploding soccer ball was joyous, especially in freeze frame:

"This'll cure yer dandruff!"

It was definitely better when it was just Kersey vs muggers, but I do like the later DWs, mostly because it was hilarious/awesome that he was so old when he made them. A stubborn old fuck with a hate-on for criminals and a shitload of guns hidden behind his innocuous looking Maytag.

But even Death Wish 3 gives you Absurdly Old Bronson while keeping the scuzzy, street level, mixed race gang element. The first three films increasingly ape the posturing of a B Western (an ironix twist on the genre in the first film, giving way to overt copying by 3), with Kersey a lone gunslinger taking on bandits and savages. I just can't get jazzed over the guy from the first film taking it to The Mob.

True. You also had old fart Balsam getting all worked up over "MY SHOP... MY SHOP... MY SHOP...", then trying to retaliate with some grossly disproportionate revenge via his huge World War II machine gun only to have it jam on him at the crucial moment. LOL.

I wonder if the DW movies were being influenced by the Punisher comics that Bronson himself helped spawn. I was just a kid then and not living in the US so I don't really remember, but maybe the fictional vigilante zeitgeist had shifted more towards crack/heroin and organized crime by the time 4 came out, and muggings weren't the hot topic anymore (officially a joke when Crocodile Dundee pulled that knife?). I know the Goetz thing was 1984.

Silver lining to Tony Curtis' demise: TCM is running a bunch of Curtis' films on Sunday including this one at 3:15 PM.

I saw Murphy's Law was on TV last night, but didn't get a chance to watch it. I watched it a bunch when I was a kid, and I remember liking it quite a bit. I hadn't seen too many movies with a female killer, and I liked Arabella McGee's insults to Murphy, and really their whole back and forth. It also used to freak me out a bit when the bad lady kills the judge in the bathtub by drowning, then electrocuting him.

I haven't seen the movie in years though. What do you all think about the film? It's always rated one star when I see a review or see it on a guide.

Couple of Bronson points to add.

Finally saw Red Sun before Netflix Instant took it down. It was a pretty damn good western. It deserves a decent dvd release, and the teaming of Toshiro Mifune and Bronson should have happened again in another movie.

Glad to hear that Phil didn't think Death Wish V was a total abomination. The inventive kills, and Robert Joy have fun in his role, like his namesake is pretty cool. Other than that, it's not a great film, but I found it cool to see Bronson still kicking ass in his advanced age.

In that Bronson box set that I picked up during the summer, it also had Murphy's Law. I was surprised at how much I ended up liking it. Mostly due to the girl saying all kinds of silly shit. Plus that scene where she starts taking a liking to Bronson while they're eating sandwiches. That's hilarious.

I place Murphy's Law up there with 10 To Midnight and Death Wish II and 3 as top Cannon Bronson. Death Wish 4: THE CRACKDOWN! is ok, but it's obviously a step down from the big budget looking Death Wish 3.

Finally saw Bronson and Tony Curtis in You Can't Win 'Em All, thanks to the always awesome Turner Classic Movies. Until yesterday that was a rare Bronson starring Never Seen for me (Rider on the Rain is the last one, I know it's available but I've heard it's kinda special so I'm waiting on a good print or a TCM showing)

Anyway it was an enjoyable boy's own adventurer, with some unusual and sexy locales, and a nice casual working chemistry between the two leads. One of a very small handful of outgoing, talkative characters for Charlie, which of course never felt right for him, but were fun to watch because he was actually going out of his comfort zone. Don't think I've ever seen him laugh so much in a movie, and Smitten Bronson was rather amusing. Fave line from him: "Looks like the crap just hit the fan!". Interestingly enough the movie totally felt like Vera Cruz lite, with several scenes being direct lifts from the excellent Lancaster/Cooper flick. Luckily they made Charlie's character a lot less rapey this time.

Gotta love that they tried to make out like Curtis and Bronson were evenly matched tough guys, with Curtis knocking Bronson out cold at the start, then later threatening to punch his lights out again. "On yer feet!" LOL yeah right! IN YER DREAMS TONY

On the negative side, the movie really could have benefited from a widescreen picture, and not just because Turkey is gorgeous- there was a lot of basic information missing from the sides. But I know TCM wouldn't show it like that if they had the choice. Also there was some potentially good old school rat-a-tat action with Bronson and Curtis taking on all comers with their Thompsons, but it was spoiled for me by all those damn horsefalls! Always make me cringe, I'd rather see willing stunt men getting knocked around instead of horses. Another thing I didn't like was that Brownface Patrick Magee was completely wasted. But the movie was decent overall.

PS. SPOILER- I loved when at the end I realized that the whole movie was basically two Jews protecting Islam's holy book. Can't we all just get along?

PPS. The start of this movie has Charles Bronson playing "Oh My Darling Clementine" on a jaw harp. Now Bronson was not known for incorporating fun little references to previous work in his performances, but I like to think that in some small (possibly subconscious) way, he was throwing the hardcore fans a bone when he sang that same song years later in the movie Death Hunt.

There's a great Region 2 disc available:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rider-Rain-D...6836706&sr=1-2

The cheap-o label versions look terrible. Avoid.

Thanks, I had no idea that an English language Region 2 existed (only knew about the apparently horrible US DVD). Sounds like it's a good print too.

With Breakout, did anyone else think that Randy Quaid in drag looked alot like Jodie Foster in Bugsy Malone.



So-so film but the death by plane propeller scene was amazing.

10 TO MIDNIGHT streaming on Netflix. Thanks to folks here for recommending it. Has one of Charlie's funniest lines: "I hate quiche -- and coleslaw makes me sick!"

They didn't hire him to kill Bronson's character.  He does it himself because he thinks killing his "teacher/father figure" will make him his superior (by exploiting his weakness, which Bronson taught him).  The interesting thing is wondering if Bronson knows he's being set up.  The final scene certainly seems like he did.

 

A sense of existential dread plays throughout the whole movie (as if everyone is walking around, dead already, particularly in that hippie mansion scene).  And the abrupt finale really hammers it home (complete with Bronson's perfectly flat delivery).  Not a great movie, but certainly interesting and a pretty good performance from Bronson. 

I'm partial to "It's for jacking off, isn't it?"

All great lines, but my fave from 10 to Midnight has always been his hilariously blunt "No, you won't."

 

 

 

His character knows that ultimately it's all a set up when he finds that file on himself in JMV's things.

Yeah, I was talking specifically about the poisoned wine he's given.  Does he accept death willingly in that moment?

I think Arthur accepted death as soon as he saw his picture in the file. Perhaps it would come from drinking the wine, or maybe it would be some other way. It didn't really matter. By not preventing Steve from killing him, he acknowledged that he had it coming, for being a killer, and perhaps more importantly for what he did to Steve's father.

 

What makes the ending to the movie great though, is that despite all that, Arthur still thinks the world would be better off without Steve.

 

"Bang. Yer dead."

RIDER ON THE RAIN - I ordered the Region 2 disc and was impressed with Optimum's new transfer -- the best the film has ever looked since probably its theatrical release. I'll avoid spoilers (though one big surprise is blown in a plot summary on the DVD case), but the script makes little sense and since the movie is fairly straightforward in its narrative approach, the holes are glaringly obvious. What distinguishes it are Bronson and co-star Marlene Jobert's excellent performances in several long, stagey scenes. Jobert, the mother of Eva Green and later the star of Claude Chabrol's superb TEN DAYS WONDER, is the protagonist: the neglected wife of an airline pilot terrorized in her home, first by a rapist and then a mysterious investigator (Bronson). The first 20 minutes are a masterclass in suspense, and the film has, in spots, an engaging European loopiness. Rene Clement (PURPLE NOON) directed. The disc includes both an English- and (slightly longer) French-language version; English is recommended to hear both Jobert and Bronson's voices.

 

THE VALACHI PAPERS - Dino DeLaurentiis' project about low-level New York mafia thug Joe Valachi has fine period flavor spanning several decades, from Valachi's initiation in the 1930s (somehow Bronson convinces as a wide-eyed Italian American in his 20s) to incarceration and testimony before the McClellan Commission in 1963. Never has much of significance to get across -- even the real-life Valachi's own recollections of the top NYC crime families were questionable -- but the film is brisk and entertaining, an unpretentious gangster saga with a bizarre mix of nationalities on both sides of the camera: Englishman Terence Young directing Bronson for the first of three collaborations, Lino Ventura, Joseph Wiseman, Jill Ireland (of course), Walter Chiari (who suffers the most gruesome fate), and creepy Anthony Dawson (DIAL M FOR MURDER, DR. NO) dubbed by someone else. Excellent Riz Ortolani score. The movie is extremely violent, especially in the uncut version restored for the Sony DVD.

 

TWINKY - A completely unfunny and unappealing swinging 60s relic with Bronson as a smut novelist living in London who falls in love with and marries an obnoxious teenager (Susan George). Bronson is miscast and has zero chemistry with George; the film is dead in the water because we never for a single moment believe these two have any feelings for each other. Richard Donner's third feature (his second with Bronson) and though you won't see much of the polish the director brought to SUPERMAN or LETHAL WEAPON, at least the film is energetic. With a large cast of fine character actors, mostly wasted.

Edited by Malmordo - 4/15/11 at 10:12am

Twinky is a Bronson I've never actually seen but the morbid curiosity is off the charts.

Bronson convinces as a novelist, especially in the scenes where he's interrupted at the typewriter. But I never believed his love for the Twinky character, nor even the physical attraction. He's just coasting through the movie, a real shame considering how much of a departure the role was for him. With a decent script and a character more attuned to his strengths as an actor, Bronson could have been great.

 

If you do plan on seeing it, try to get a copy of the Optimum Region 2 disc. It's full-frame but the transfer is better than any you'll find on the cheap-o labels, and it's uncut.

the Indian runner

assasination

the sea wolf

Messenger of death

Murphy's law

are the my personal favorite movies featuring CHARLES BRONSON''''''''''''''''''''

 

 

I hate this one. Saw it when I was a bloodthirsty little shit who would eagerly rent any movies with ole Stone Face, because back then his name was a guarantee of violence, sleaze, and smashed punks. Cover had him holding a gun, and "Messenger of Death" in big letters above his head- good sign, right? Nope, MISLED. Actually a really boring, tedious mystery about a bunch of Mormons. I can't recall Charlie murderizing a single person in this movie.

 

Could have put this in "Movie Things You Just Realized" thread too: The Mechanic was originally supposed to star Cliff Robertson in the Bronson role and Jeff Bridges in Airwolf's role.

 

Cliff Robertson and Jeff Bridges!