Der Liquidator

Stumbling upon this 1984 movie by random chance in 2023 and seeing that it starred Charles Bronson, of course I opted to sit down and watch it.

I had actually never heard about this movie before, so I didn't know what I was in for here. So writer John Crowther and Fred A. Wyler had every opportunity to entertain me with this movie.

The storyline in "The Evil That Men Do" was entertaining enough for what it turned out to be. It wasn't, however, the best of Charles Bronson movies. And that being said, don't get me wrong, because it definitely is a watchable movie, it just was sort of bland in a way.

The movie does have some familiar faces on the cast list, aside from Charles Bronson himself, with the likes of Joseph Maher, John Glover, Roger Cudney and Joe Seneca.

As it turned out, then I hadn't exactly been missing out on a particularly outstanding Charles Bronson feature here. And now that I have seen it, I doubt that I will actually ever return to watch it a second time, because the storyline just didn't have all that much appeal.

My rating of director J. Lee Thompson's 1984 movie "The Evil That Men Do" lands on a five out of ten stars.

This movie was a foray into the darker sides of men. It was released in the final-wave post WWII 'man hunt' era, and the midsts of human rights troubles in various parts of the world where governments tried to rule by violence. The year of its release '1984' is probably not an accident either.

Unfortunately, this movie quickly fell victim to the 'PC' culture, apparently, and with a few snips of the sissors became nothing but a hollow vision of barely believable evil.

This movie, largely because of the now 'missing' scenes, etched its message deeply upon me the first time I saw it. The second time I saw it, those scenes were gone. And they are not in either of the 2 VHS releases I have.

Playings on both pay and free TV over the past decade have cut out (at least) the first scene where the 'doctor' discusses and demonstrates the differences in torturing men vs women. Without that opening scene, many of the following scenes and much of the movie become pointless depictions of torture without the insights into the deepest 'evil that men do.'

Admittedly, even with those scenes, it was not Charles Bronson's best, yet any movie that etches itself as deeply, and as hauntingly upon the memory is worth seeing at least once, uncut.

In recent times I've been watching the collaborations between director J. Lee Thompson and actor Charles Bronson with pretty decent results. "The Evil that Men Do" was somewhat an interesting, and cynically effective little shocker. From the very beginning you realise this gritty b-grade fodder is looking to simply shock you with its sadistic subject of torture for political ground, and the hidden acceptance of it in the governments that makes Maher's pitiless character believe his actions of the trade to be far from evil. The material stays powerful, scathing and covered with moral questioning. It's always seems to be about retribution, and finding it in themselves to take that next step. Even when it isn't visually hard-hitting, the despairing oral context can get under your skin. Strictly the tone and style Thompson opts for is unpleasant, rough and ice-cold.

I was engrossed, but then the formula (but still packing an excessive sting) changed to a by-the-numbers revenge spin and an unconvincingly irate Theresa Saldana floods the screen. I just didn't buy her, and the chemistry with Bronson felt weak. Joseph Maher easy performance drips with a strangely subtle intensity of callousness that's purely evil. He's not some demanding, towering presence but those vile sadistic acts, and unflinching cruelty comes second nature for this character, that just listening to his softly spoken voice is very uneasy. Charles Bronson's calculated, stalwart and quite mystique turn is hard to switch off because he makes this character an all-out professional killer with a more humane view of things, and managing to keep his self-righteousness intact.

Thompson's raw, tactical direction utilises the low-budget, and working in its favour is the grimy, fade-out look from the authentically seedy urban consolidations to the sparse desert locations. A harrowing music score by Ken Thorne has a slight and edgy tinge, and Javier Ruvalcaba Cruz's tight, voyeuristic cinematography hit's the mark. When called upon the tension stays hard-boiled, and some scenes pack an abrasive bite as the meaningful violence is highly explicit and explosive. However it's not an all-out torture parade full of senseless snapshots. Antoinette Bower, Jose Ferrer and Max Ortiz offer strong support.

Rather a effortless manner by all, but certainly it does the daring job it sets out to do.

Charles Bronson plays Holland, a man who has retired from his 'professional killer' days and lives at a beautiful island home. Suddenly, Bronson's character is coerced into un-retiring upon hearing about various crimes committed by a sadistic Josef Mengele copycat-killer/torturer named Mulloch (J. Maher). By plotting his vengeance step-by-step, Bronson eliminates Mullochs inner circle in a cold, calculated fashion leading up to the inevitable confrontation at the end of the film. This film to me seems to follow the vigilante-Bronson thread pretty well, his character in this movie seems to reflect previous characters he portrayed in earlier efforts in his career (i.e. The Mechanic and Death Wish). Director J. Lee Thompson's pace throughout the film was enough to keep me interested, Maher's portrayal of the sadistic Mulloch was very eerie and uncomfortable at times, his methods/beliefs of and about torture are pretty gruesome, which greatly impacts how we as the viewer look at him during the film. This is definitely a good installment to the collaborations that J. Lee Thompson and Charles Bronson have had together in film, it isn't the best they've done together but it is well worth a watch if you are a fan of either Thompson's or Bronson's works.

Charles Bronson doing what he does best--setting things right with fire power. This is not quite a vigilante movie like the Death Wishes, but it has a vengeance element to it. This time he is trying to stop "The Doctor," a sadistic torturer for despotic Central American governments.

Holland (Charles Bronson) has been pulled out of retirement to rid the world of a brutal menace. He travels to Mexico City under the guise of being a married tourist with a child. The woman he has posing as his wife is a woman who suffered personally at the hands of The Doctor. I don't have to tell you that this woman and her daughter only makes things more difficult for Holland. If I didn't know any better I'd say they inserted them into the movie just so he'd have to rescue someone.

This was a by-the-numbers hired assassin film. Holland was creative, decisive, and always one step ahead of the bad guys. It was alright.