from noon till three

To call Charles Bronson a "one-note actor" isn't necessarily an insult. After all, a talented musician can make beautiful music out of the simplest of instruments. And Bronson used his talents wisely, playing within his admittedly limited range of tough guys and flawed heroes, never failing to keep the audience on the edge of their seat. He was the sort of actor who could carry an entire picture with a few words and a thoughtful squint. And he was rarely asked to do anything more.

But From Noon Till Three (1976) has Bronson singing am entirely different tune as Graham Dorsey, a wayward bank-robbing romantic who falls hard for lonely debutante Amanda Starbuck (Jill Ireland) living in on a desolate piece of prairie. During their short three-hour window of time before Graham's partners are due to arrive, the pair fall into an ecstatic affair that, ironically, begins with an attempted rape and culminates in a black-tie ballroom soiree.

But Graham's partners never do arrive; instead they await death by hanging after a botched bank job. Amanda urges Graham to go to their rescue, but the professional outlaw has second thoughts about throwing his own life away and swaps identities with a local traveling dentist...who winds up being killed in his place! Amanda's grief at what she believes to be the death of her lover results in a rousing public display that inspires a novel based on their brief relationship. The book becomes a global sensation, Amanda a literary celebrity and the Starbuck ranch a haven for tourists.

Meanwhile, Graham, still very much alive, is stuck in jail for crime he didn't commit and finds it impossible to compete with the exaggerated version of himself printed in Amanda's book. Described as a six-foot tall, ruggedly handsome man-of-honor, the "legendary" Graham Dorsey becomes an icon of the untamed west. And when the real Graham Dorsey comes knocking on Amanda's door once again, their reunion is anything but romantic.

Written and directed by Frank D. Gilroy (based on his own novel which he'd already turned into a stage production), From Noon Till Three isn't just an oddity in Bronson’s filmography; it's an anomaly within the entire western genre. The opening dream sequence, with Dorsey and the gang killed by an anonymous ambush, is Gilroy's first bait-and-switch, luring the audience in with the expected shootouts and suspense. It's followed by Graham and Amanda's meet-cute mutual attraction, which could very well have filled out the rest of the film. But Gilroy's story is really about stories themselves, particularly the western mythmaking that made infallible heroes and notorious outlaws out of men whose real lives could never live up to their reputations.

Bronson’s face is more comfortable with a smirk than a smile, and Dorsey's lighthearted moments pose a challenge. But his chemistry with Ireland (the two had already been married for 10 years at this point) results in an easy repartee with affectionate short cuts that translate believably to the screen. It's all quite mannered and stagey, as you might expect, but the film's literary twist is a powerful one, with just as much to say about the fictionalized history of the west as John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. And it's yet another example of the genre's ability to bend but not break under the weight of an ambitious filmmaker.

Twilight Time's 3000-copy limited edition Blu-ray looks like a million bucks, but will set you back far less. Special features include an isolated score track from Elmer Bernstein, original theatrical trailer and liner notes by TT regular Julie Kirgo.