Charles Bronson, R.I.P.

that's charlton heston.

y'all should read harry crews' profile of charles bronson. insanely good.

* other than one of them being dead, I mean

i had no idea he did a thriller with Rene Clement in '69... it and the '75 actioner Breakout (Robert Duvall co-starring) are getting the Lincoln Center treatment this month.

https://www.filmlinc.org/films/rider-on-the-rain/

https://www.filmlinc.org/films/breakout/

Rider on the Rain I found rather unappetizing in a late-'60s arty misogyny style... Grungier tho probably not as good a film as Clement's Ripley film Purple Noon.

The Mechanic is pretty and dumb, much like Jan-Michael Vincent.

The original script's gay angle is still palpable, but overstated by some critics -- I doubt CB and JMV thought they were playing it that way.

^^^watched this one for the first time, in a good-looking stream on Amazon Prime. There’s not nearly as much to it as the premise might suggest and it was hard for me to get past the fact that it seems that the elaborate kills exist because this killer is really bored and to just shoot someone would be too easy, so he decides to make it really hard on himself.

Also that ending is truly one of those rush jobs they don’t do anymore. It felt like suicide for that one character, considering the information he had recently acquired.

the French knew him as "le sacre monstre" (the sacred monster), the Italians as "Il Brutto" (the brute).

The Italians otm. The French only half-right.