2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

SnoopyStyle Mafia don Al Vescari (Martin Balsam) seeks revenge against the heads of criminal families around the country using a team of Vietnam vets. Police detective Lou Torrey (Charles Bronson) loses his job after the death of a young suspect. He gets a new job in L.A. He stumbles upon Vescari's plan and starts investigating with Daniels (Norman Fell).This has some darker police drama. It's not the most thought out but it works. There are some interesting bad guys. Bronson would do Death Wish the year after. The movie climaxes with lots of crashing cars, gunfire, and general fire in an underground parking lot. It's a fun, action-packed, exciting ending to a fine crime drama.

Mark Turner Charles Bronson was one of the hottest movie stars in the seventies only behind Clint Eastwood when it came to the box office. But before he had his breakout role in THE MECHANIC, he played mostly second tier parts doing so with ease. All of that changed in 1972 as that film became a hit and was quickly followed up to cash in on its release with THE STONE KILLER.Made between THE MECHANIC and DEATH WISH (all three of which teamed Bronson with director Michael Winner), Bronson stars as New York police detective Lou Torrey. As the film opens he's in trouble with the higher ups for shooting a suspect who had drawn and fired on him. This isn't the first time it's happened and with the public making a scene he decides to turn in his badge and move west. He's given a detective's badge again and makes as little problem as possible.Time passes but Torrey ends up getting clues that something big is in the planning stages. It begins with the arrest of an old hit man he recognizes who is then gunned down. Each clue leads him closer and closer to the truth, a situation that will merge his past and present. It seems that old mob boss Al Vescari (Martin Balsam) planning to finally unleash the revenge he's waited years for.His plan is to exact vengeance on the mob families that were behind the "night of the vespers", an evening decades earlier when a number of mob bosses were all killed on the same night, changing the makeup of the mob from then forward. How he plans to accomplish this is where the clues come into play and while a number of posts online will tell you what that is I'll allow you to find out for yourself.This is not Bronson at his best but it is better than a few others he'd done by that time. The character is in the mold of Dirty Harry which had come out two years earlier. The tough cop who plays by his own rules and employs a sort of vigilante justice in the eyes of the press and police watchdogs who aren't there to walk the same areas he covers or be shot at. The good part about it is that in watching his films you can see the progress of Bronson from supporting to leading roles. Some would like to discredit his skills as an actor but come on, this isn't Shakespeare here. He does a great job at what he's doing in these films.Twilight Time is releasing this film in the usual beautiful clearest presentation possible in 1080p hi-def on blu-ray. They include several extras this time around including an isolated music track, audio commentary track by Bronson biographer Paul Talbot and the original theatrical trailer. Copies are, as always, limited to just 3,000 so if you're interested pick one up soon. Bronson fans who failed to do so on previous titles found themselves left empty handed by not picking up titles right away.

dave_starsky77 Good old stone faced Charlie Bronson. Man he's featured in some great movies, The Great Escape, Once Upon A Time In The West (probably his best), The Dirty Dozen, The Mechanic, Mr Majestyk and Death Wish (only the first one, none of the sequels). This, however, wasn't one of them.It's a shame because I was looking forward to this as I like CB's work but this seemed to be akin to a badly made Starsky & Hutch episode. And I love S&H! I have all the seasons on DVD even the awful season 4! The hackneyed plot, clichéd Mafioso villains (one even attempted to pull off a Brando style Godfather accent), cringeworthy dialogue and poorly made action sequences were all major Cons. Often badly made movies with some of these flaws are actually damn fun to watch and partly for said reasons. They have charm and character despite limited production values. Not this time.I couldn't think of any Pro's, even Bronson let me down. He seemed flat and sleepwalked his way through the movie. That didn't stop him making maybe the best pistol shot I've ever seen on screen. From a fairly fast moving helicopter cresting a rise Bronson popped a bad guy below with his trusty .38! An epic feat of marksmanship so unerring that the other hood flung his hands skyward and surrendered immediately....probably in shock and awe.Winner managed to squeeze in a pointless car chase in which Bronson managed to needlessly destroy numerous shops/establishments/stalls in pursuit of his quarry (the guy looked like Nik Kershaw or Lamahl with that hairdo) before roadkilling him GTA style when he probably could have taken him alive and pumped him for info.During said car chase he also managed to bump into a parked car which prompted a semi naked couple to pop up in shock from the back seat. Ahh a 70's movie staple for sure. I've no clue why Winner threw that in there.I can't bring myself to write anymore on this atrocity.1/10 purely for that pistol shot.I'm off to watch The Mechanic.....and not the Statham remake.

LeonLouisRicci This is a bit more ambitious in Plot than one would expect from a One Dimensional Actor like Bronson and a One and One Half Dimensional Director like Michael Winner. But it is not better for it. What works here is the many Shootout and Chase Scenes that are well done and are as exciting as they are repetitive.The aforementioned "Deep" Story is never completely engaging or understandable for that matter. But Fans of this type of Street Stuff don't need that sort of intellectualizing. What they need is a "throw the book away" Law Enforcement type that is on the same level as the Scum He's up against. "takes one to catch one", or in this case "kill one". This He does and lots of them. The Body Count is as high as the Car Crash Count. This is a delightfully Dizzy Ditty from the early Seventies that is more Action oriented than some of its more Gritty contemporaries. It is more Slick and less Edgy, and that works for what it is. The Movie feels like it has a bigger budget than it needs but that's what is here so enjoy it. Overall it holds its own and has a dandy, dated look that is pleasing for those with an eye for Period. The Script is also a definitive Dialog on the eras Customs and Slang. Bloody and amusing, not seminal but enjoyable.