rider on the rain cold sweat

For today's generation, the name Charles Bronson is probably nothing more than an IMDB trivia search to find out who starred in Death Wish before Bruce Willis....if that. But in the early '70s, the actor was the embodiment of gritty a new wave of action stars transitioning from the saddle to a more urban frontier. With Once Upon a Time in the West proving he could eclipse an ensemble cast, Europe came calling with a quick burst of starring roles, proving that in the right hands, Bronson could be much more than a not-so-pretty face. In fact, Rider on the Rain (1970), a Hitchcockian thriller directed by Rene Clement, may very well be the best film in the actor's overstuffed career.

After being raped by a stranger who breaks into her home, Melancolie (Marlene Jobert) kills the man and hides his body out shame and embarrassment. But her clumsy cover is blown almost immediately by Harry Dobbs (Bronson), a mysterious investigator who's been tracking the man for his own reasons and now wants to recover the body...along with a travel bag full of cash. The trouble is, Melancolie won't talk. So the two develop a strange romantic relationship as their game of cat and mouse plays out in the French countryside.

The beauty of Rider on the Rain is every character has something to hide; yet only one of them is on the hook for murder. Clement follows Hitchcock's classic recipe for suspense - going so far as to nickname the missing cash a MacGuffin - but incorporates the lessons learned in the French New Wave. His film is a twisted love story, psychological thriller and meet-cute comedy all in one, but feels more like a genuine personal epiphany for its main character. Jobert (a Godard veteran herself) is alive in the role of Melancolie the way few actresses ever are, without a trace of self-consciousness or effort. In the #MeToo era, her pixie-cute looks and naïveté threaten to weaken the sexual assault storyline, but instead only reinforce her growth as a character.

Bronson is the wild card here; and the film uses him as such. His surface level misogyny can be jarring, but Clement uses it as slight of hand, distracting the audience while more details come to light. It's an intimidating performance, but also one of surprising charm and empathy. By the time Bronson gets to actually use his fists in the final act, it's an almost unnecessary action film contrivance. He never had it so good again.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray has two cuts of the film: an English language version and longer French cut (Clement filmed each scene twice). The latter is definitely the way to go as it sports a much better hi-def transfer and includes a few more minutes of content, although Bronson is dubbed by another actor.

Later that same year, Cold Sweat (1970) found Bronson cast in the role of a more typical tough guy, hiding out under an assumed name in another quiet French town with an unsuspecting wife and daughter. But the truth hits hard when his old gang turns up looking for revenge and a boat ride across the border to even the score. Based on a novel by Richard Matheson, the international co-production feels like a template for dozens of thrillers to come (A History of Violence tops the list) with a dark past coming home to ruin a life of false domesticity.

Directed by 007 veteran Terence Young and co-starring Liv Ullmann, James Mason, Luigi Pistilli and Jill Ireland (soon to be Mrs. Bronson), there's a ridiculous amount of talent involved here. But despite that, Cold Sweat never manages to make you feel the tension so well communicated in Matheson's novel. In fact, it's a paint-by-numbers affair until the third act kicks off with a ticking clock car chase as Bronson's character races recklessly on winding French roads to save his family. Bronson seems disinterested, Ullmann is miscast and James Mason, whose voice is worth its weight in British sterling, affects a Southern accent that makes every line of dialogue unintelligibly hilarious. The scenery gets chewed so early and often, it's a wonder there's any left to capture onscreen!

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray looks very nice and includes an audio commentary with film historian Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, a theatrical promo focused on the film's big car chase (Bronson had another doozy that year in Violent City set on the island of St. John), theatrical trailer for the film along with other recently available Bronson releases.