Le flingueur

The forty-two year old hit-man Arthur Bishop (Charles Bronson) is frequently hired to kill without a trace and he carefully studies the profiles of his victims to find the perfect and clean way to execute them.

When he is hired to kill "Big" Harry McKenna (Keenan Wynn), who was a former friend of his father, Arthur meets his son Steve McKenna (Jan- Michael Vincent) asking money to Harry at home. Later in Harry's funeral, Steve asks for a ride to Arthur and they become very close. Arthur finds potential in the twenty-four year old Steve to become a professional killer and he invites the youngster to form a partnership with him. However his attitude displeases the Powers that Be and Arthur is sent to Naples to kill a mobster. Arthur finds a file about him in a drawer at Steve's house but he invites Steve to travel with him to Italy. Sooner they learn that someone wants them to see Naples and die.

"The Mechanic" is an engaging film by Michael Winner with another great performance of Charles Bronson in the role of a "mechanic", meaning a hired hit-man that kills his victims without leaving a trace. One of the best lines in this film is when he tells to Steve that murder is only killing without a license. Jan-Michael Vincent has one of his best performances in the role of a youngster that believe that he has learned how to lure an experienced man. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Assassino a Preço Fixo" ("Killer at a Fixed Price")

Effective thriller stars Bronson as Arthur Bishop who teaches a younger assassin named Steve McKenna (Jan-Michael Vincent) the tricks of the trade. The Mechanic emerges at break-neck pace but once it gets started it becomes an engrossingly savage thriller. Also watch for the twist ending.

Since the sixties, most of the movies in which I have watched Charles Bronson, he was always the tough guy...gritty man of action...macho man (The Great Escape, Magnificent Seven, Chato's Land, Mr Majestyck, Death Wish I to IV, Family of Cops I to III, Telefon, Murphy's Law, Red Sun, 10 to Midnight, The Evil That Men Do...) except for one, The Sandpiper, in which he played a painter, opposite Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor. I have always enjoyed watching his movies.

I consider this particular one as the best of his action movies.

The storyline is pretty straight-forward, except for an unexpected twist at the end: A contract hit-man, seemingly about to retire, took on a cocky young man as protégé, who eventually turned the table on the master.

Charles Bronson, played the contract hit-man (hence, the name, The Mechanic), Arthur Bishop. He was a loner but had expensive tastes. He worked for a sinister group known only as The Organisation, which issued all the contract hits. (It so happened that all the hits were criminals.) He took on Steve McKenna (played menacingly by Jan-Michael Vincent) as his protégé. His mind was cold as ice & apparently twisted. They screwed up one hit assignment while working together, after which The Organisation, was upset & put out a contract on Bishop. Apparently, McKenna took up the contract. The rest of the movie was a battle of wits among the two hit men.

What struck me most about the movie was the quiet characterization of a contract hit during the first fifteen minutes or so. No dialog at all,...only a very sober music score. Bishop studied the habits, life-style & schedule of his target, with meticulous observation & detailed planning. Thereafter, the movie went on to show Bishop, working with McKenna, going after different targets - each with different circumstances & each executed differently...ruthlessly, of course. The hot-pursuit action sequences - there were many of them - in the movie were beautifully orchestrated,...really exciting, especially the motor-cycle chase segment.

There seemed to be one puzzling part in the movie: McKenna happened to be the son of one of Bishop's hit victims. Bishop knew McKenna's father, Big Harry (played by Keenan Wynn) since he was a kid. In fact, Big Harry was an associate of Bishop's own father, who also happened to be a founding father of The Organisation. I can only conclude this way: hit men have certainly to be cold-blooded animals. Not only that, they have to be calculatingly efficient in their work.

The last fifteen minutes of the movie were quite unexpected. I would have preferred a totally different outcome. Go & watch this movie to find out what I meant.

On the whole, I find The Mechanic, to be an intelligent action thriller, with Charles Bronson in his best action role!

15. THE MECHANIC (action, 1972) Arthur Bishop (Charles Bronson) is the mechanic, a hit man hired by the Organization as an assassin. Bishop's contact to the Organization is Harry, a long time confidant of his late father. Bishop is meticulous in his work. He is without feelings or remorse, the consummate professional. Bishop's next target is Harry. He carries the job through without hesitation. Harry's son Steve (Jan-Michael Vincent) lives the life of a dilettante playboy. He suspects Bishop's involvement in his father's death, and tries to find out what his ties to the Organization truly are.

Critique: As far as spy and espionage films go 'The Mechanic' is one of the best. Not only for those Charles Bronson aficionados (like myself), but for lovers of well-made action films. Michael Winner's clever direction adds a sparkle to the genre. He sets up interesting insights into an assassin's mode of work.

A cut above Death Wish (1974- Bronson's best known film), in both content and script, Bronson's performance is the epitome of cool. He's perfect at playing a character that has been totally detached from the outside world, and a man trapped in a world he can only have created. In the same way that Steve McQueen used his laconic presence to great effect, Winner makes full use of Bronson's craggy features.

QUOTE: Bishop: "Murder is killing without a license. Everybody kills."

They sure don't make them like this anymore: smart, realistic, tough and fascinating. Charles Bronson is in top form here, he plays a hit man with creative and untraceable way methods of killing, he is like a "death doctor" and when he "fix something, it never works again". But things aren't so good for him lately, he suffers from anxiety and collapses in one memorable scene. He then decides to take under his wing the young Steve Mackenna (Jan Michael Vincent in one of his better roles) and teach his the skills of the trade. Director Michael Winner put together a piece of classic cinema with everything seems to work perfectly. The cinematography is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, especially the final scenes located in Italy. It's a shame that this film is almost unknown to the young generation and is way underrated here. The twisted ending certainly lifts up the already high level of the film. Highly recommended 10/10.