Death Wish Two

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Should I give it a try?

[Shit Good Nose]

No - it's an even grimmer retread of the first one, barely notable for an early turn by Jeff Goldblum.  Skip straight to 3 - debut of the blue leather jacket, mail order rocket launcher, Martin Balsam shooting a howitzer by hand, the Giggler and the best villain death in cinema history.  So good they did it again in 4.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

No - it's an even grimmer retread of the first one, barely notable for an early turn by Jeff Goldblum. 

Was that the first mainstream film to use the c-word?  It must have been the first one to use it as many times as Goldblum's character did in one single minute.

[magval]

What would be some good Charlie Bronson films to watch in general? I really like the look of Hard Times.

[The Culture Bunker]

What would be some good Charlie Bronson films to watch in general? I really like the look of Hard Times.

Well, Once Upon a Time in the West, naturally.

[Dex Sawash]

What would be some good Charlie Bronson films to watch in general? I really like the look of Hard Times.

Skip the one where he's a hitman with Jan Michael Vincent, it is shit.


edit- it's The Mechanic innit. The Statham one is better.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Death Wish Two is a fucking horrible film, and you really shouldn't watch it. HTH.

[Shit Good Nose]

Skip the one where he's a hitman with Jan Michael Vincent, it is shit.


edit- it's The Mechanic innit. The Statham one is better.

Totally disagree - The Mechanic is, probably, Winner's best film.  The first 20 minutes is brilliant - no dialogue, long takes.  Although Charlie dies with crossed eyes again, as he does in pretty much every film where he dies.  It was like his thing.  His shit acting thing.

What would be some good Charlie Bronson films to watch in general? I really like the look of Hard Times.

Hard Times is great.

Well, Once Upon a Time in the West, naturally.

Definitely. 

Also The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape and The Magnificent Seven, although they're not really Bronson films of course.


Also worth a watch are - Violent City, Death Hunt (great two-hander with Lee Marvin), Farewell Friend, Red Sun, From Noon Til Three (pretty much his only proper comedy), Chato's Land, Breakhart Pass and, in what is probably his best performance, Rider On the Rain.

Some also-rans where the parts are greater than the sum - Telefon, Mr Majestyk, The Valachi Papers, St Ives, and Michael Winner's Dirty Harry rip-off The Stone Killer.

Most of the rest he's either second-tier support, or the films are terrible.

[Dex Sawash]

Totally disagree - The Mechanic is, probably, Winner's best film.  The first 20 minutes is brilliant - no dialogue, long takes. 

It has that thing where one scene doesn't flow well into the next, abrupt or whatever. Like most much older films were. Is that editing or direction or? The first 20 is what kept me going though.

[Shit Good Nose]

It has that thing where one scene doesn't flow well into the next, abrupt or whatever. Like most much older films were. Is that editing or direction or?

Bit of both.  Winner was editing as well as directing his films by then, and he was rarely the most subtle at either job.  He was capable of doing half-decent work but, like Bronson, was more concerned about getting stuff in the can quickly and efficiently and meeting release dates.  Most of his Hollywood films feel a bit rushed, that being the case.  Death Wish is one of the few exceptions, but that has different problems instead.

[DukeDeMondo]

Who posted the video where Bronson's arms appear to extend as he leaves the room. Could you post it again, please? I'm doing a series of posts about films influenced by Taxi Driver for my film theatre facebook page and would love to conclude- more of less - with that.

[Dex Sawash]

i uploaded it seperately hope that's ok https://youtu.be/wTUSHM8Tfkc

If you click through on the quote header, the thread has full clip linked too

[DukeDeMondo]

If you click through on the quote header, the thread has full clip linked too

Ah brilliant, thank you very much Dex! And thanks to the original uploader too.

[Mantle Retractor]

That clip is ace. Also, going through YouTube I came across The Daily Bronson, which is magnificent:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAJQedUneKXW-WIDryFZADHyG7-7hP8X8