Charles Bronson was one of the hottest movie stars in the
seventies only behind Clint Eastwood when it came to the box office. But before
he had his breakout role in THE MECHANIC, he played mostly second tier parts
doing so with ease. All of that changed in 1972 as that film became a hit and
was quickly followed up to cash in on its release with THE STONE KILLER.
Made between THE MECHANIC and DEATH WISH (all three of which
teamed Bronson with director Michael Winner), Bronson stars as New York police
detective Lou Torrey. As the film opens he’s in trouble with the higher ups for
shooting a suspect who had drawn and fired on him. This isn’t the first time
it’s happened and with the public making a scene he decides to turn in his
badge and move west. He’s given a detective’s badge again and makes as little
problem as possible.
Time passes but Torrey ends up getting clues that something
big is in the planning stages. It begins with the arrest of an old hit man he
recognizes who is then gunned down. Each clue leads him closer and closer to
the truth, a situation that will merge his past and present. It seems that old
mob boss Al Vescari (Martin Balsam) planning to finally unleash the revenge
he’s waited years for.
His plan is to exact vengeance on the mob families that were
behind the “night of the vespers”, an evening decades earlier when a number of
mob bosses were all killed on the same night, changing the makeup of the mob
from then forward. How he plans to accomplish this is where the clues come into
play and while a number of posts online will tell you what that is I’ll allow
you to find out for yourself.
This is not Bronson at his best but it is better than a few
others he’d done by that time. The character is in the mold of Dirty Harry
which had come out two years earlier. The tough cop who plays by his own rules
and employs a sort of vigilante justice in the eyes of the press and police
watchdogs who aren’t there to walk the same areas he covers or be shot at. The
good part about it is that in watching his films you can see the progress of
Bronson from supporting to leading roles. Some would like to discredit his
skills as an actor but come on, this isn’t Shakespeare here. He does a great
job at what he’s doing in these films.
Twilight Time is releasing this film in the usual beautiful
clearest presentation possible in 1080p hi-def on blu-ray. They include several
extras this time around including an isolated music track, audio commentary
track by Bronson biographer Paul Talbot and the original theatrical trailer.
Copies are, as always, limited to just 3,000 so if you’re interested pick one
up soon. Bronson fans who failed to do so on previous titles found themselves
left empty handed by not picking up titles right away.
Click here to order.
No comments:
Post a Comment