The Stone Killer

Charles Bronson made 25 movies over the course of one decade - 1970 to 1980 - cementing his status as one of the premiere tough guys in cinematic history. While he often patrolled the same city streets and dusty cow towns as rival star Clint Eastwood , whose Dirty Harry installments served as a template for the post-Western action film genre, Bronson was even more of a minimalist when it came to his onscreen performances. To his critics (then and now) the actor was sleepwalking through undemanding roles. But to his fans, each laconic line delivery and squinty stare spoke volumes.

The Stone Killer (1973), Bronson’s third consecutive collaboration with director Michael Winner (they'd finally hit pay dirt the next year with Death Wish) is far from either man's best work. A seemingly random concoction of ingredients pulled from popular hits like The Godfather and Dirty Harry - although it's based on a British novel - the film leaves a trail of stranded characters and scenes in its wake like the aftermath of some tragic freeway accident. But, even so, one can't help but slow down and look.

Bronson pays Lt. Lou Torrey, a NYPD cop shipped out to LA after burning too many bridges and killing too many suspects. But once he arrives, hints of a conspiracy with Mafia ties back east sends him back to the Big Apple where a prisoner under his protection is assassinated upon arrival. Bucking the system, Torrey jumps from coast to coast trying to track down the architects behind a 41-year-old plot to wipe out the heads of the crime families using vulnerable Vietnam vets as muscle to keep their hands clean.

The Stone Killer's plot is about an incomprehensible as The Big Sleep. Bronson's character, however, seems to have it all figured out from the get-go so it's best to just sit back and let him do his job. Torrey is a terrible cop by any modern standard; during the film's signature car chase he puts hundreds of lives in jeopardy, causes thousands of dollars in damage and winds up running down the suspect! But he seems to have a moral compass that even the bad guys respect. And in a nutshell, that's the essence of Bronson's appeal as an actor.

But Winner's film is so unpredictable the audience has a hard time keeping up. There are elements of racial tension, police brutality, PTSD scandals and hippie love-ins not so elegantly mixed with a Mafia melodrama (led by Martin Balsam) that's almost an afterthought. The violence is unapologetically cartoonish - every bad guy Bronson shoots promptly takes a 50-foot fall upon eating a bullet - and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it attempt at giving his character a back-story makes you wonder why they even bothered. In the end, The Stone Killer is a rather odd chapter in the Bronson-Winner catalog, overreaching and underachieving in equal measure.

*Three's Company fans might get a little giddy waiting for co-stars John Ritter and Norman Fell (Mr. Roper) to share a scene. It's almost like a drinking game waiting for them to finally meet!

Twilight Time's 3000-copy limited edition is another awesome-looking addition to their already rather large Bronson collection. This is some sweet looking '70s location cinematography given an unblemished hi-def polish. The usual isolated score track, trailer and liner notes are accompanied by an excellent audio commentary by Bronson biographer Paul Talbot, whose brisk informational style makes the movie much more enjoyable upon second viewing.