Charles Bronson Marathon (II)

[Neville]

More movies with our favourite chunk of rock...

Chato's Land (1972) --> I had read this is is one of the finest Winner & Bronson efforts, but found it a bit dull. Bronson plays Chato, an indian who is pursued by a posse of vigilantes after killing a man in a barfight. And that's it, the film basically consists of scenes with people (Chato or his pursuers) riding through the landscaps of Almeria. Another director with more talent or personality could have pulled this one off, but Winner seems stuck with it. I'll admit the opening scenes and the ending are good, though. If only the rest was that interesting...

Breakout (1975) --> A relatively tame action film in which an american gets imprisoned in Mexico and Bronson and his bunch of mercenaries ellaborate different plots to set him free. It's a fun film, but almost free of Bronson-isms, so I don't think his fans will consider it a keeper. The supporting cast is very good, with Robert Duvall playing the prisoner and Emilio Fernandez playing one of the sadistic wardens. I'd swear the man is still wearing the same uniform he wore at The Wild Bunch (1968).

The White Buffalo (1977) --> Alright, people. This one is a stinker, clear and simple. I wanted to like this film. Really. The idea of Wild Bill Hickok and Red Cloud pursuing a white buffalo Hickok has seen in his dreams is an excellent material for a crepuscular western, and the director is nobody else than J. Lee Thompson, who before becoming the do-it-all for Cannon films was a solid director, with films like "The Guns of Navarone" or the supernatural western "McKenna's Gold" under his belt.

But nothing really works. Bronson is fine, but the script doesn't take much advantage of the materials (if Bronson was playing any anonimous cowboy I wouldn't have noticed the difference, and his relationship with Red Cloud is underused). Thompson directs with admirable eeriness some early appearences of the white buffalo, but the rest of the film seems as if directed by any TV director. And when the buffalo finally re-apperas, its scenes are nothing but laughable. I mean, one thing is to film a bad puppet of a buffalo, another to include in almost every shot the rails on which is moving (!) or not even trying to conceal that its legs never touch tthe ground.

And that's it! Those are all Bronson films I can see in a week without my brains turning into jelly.

[LH-C]

I wish that someone would release 'From Noon 'Til Three' (1976). Now that is a good Bronson flick!

[The Burgomaster]

FROM NOON 'TIL THREE would be a great release.  It's probably the most off-beat of Bronson's movies.

[The Burgomaster]

FROM NOON 'TIL THREE would be a great release.  It's probably the most off-beat of Bronson's movies.