L'assassino di pietra

The Stone Killer (1973)

*** (out of 4)

Charles Bronson plays tough Detecitve Lou Torrey who finds himself investigating a murder, which no one seems to know what it's connected to. After getting a name the investigation grows deeper and more and more bodies begin to pile up. Soon Mafia boss Al Vescari (Martin Balsam) enters the picture.

In a lot of ways this film borrows from DIRTY HARRY. Bronson is basically playing the same type of character, although this movie makes sure to show his character as someone who isn't a racist but instead someone who will beat you no matter what your color is. The film touches on several issues including racism but there's no question that the viewer isn't meant to think too much. Instead this is just a fast-paced action movie that has a lot of fights, a lot of gun battles and of course the lead doing what he does best.

It's really interesting watching the films that Bronson and director Michael Winner made during this period. In many ways this one here contains the most violence and it's certainly the most action pack. I'd say that the story has a bit too much going on as there's a lot of plot here for this type of movie but thankfully the screenplay basically just puts Bronson into one dangerous situation after another. This is a great thing because he shoots bad guys, beats confessions out of people and basically does whatever he can to get the job done.

Bronson is quite good in the picture and once again he isn't given too much dialogue. The actor always acted with his body and he would have been perfect in the silent era. He turns in a very good performance here and really packs a punch with the role including some very funny bits of dialogue. The supporting cast is also very good with Balsam doing a good job in the Mafia role and especially a scene set in a cemetery. You've also got Jack COlvin, Norman Fell and even John Ritter in an early role.

THE STONE KILLER has a lot of good things going for it but the action and stunts deserve a lot of credit. As you'd expect for the era, there's a pretty good car chase as well as plenty of scenes where bullets are flying and bodies are dropping. Fans of Bronson will certainly eat this one up but he and the director were about to make their masterpiece the following year with DEATH WISH.

Tense but violent film about a tough detective named Lou Torrey (Charles Bronson) who from New York is transferred in the underworlds of Los Angeles and uncovers a perfectly executed scheme carried out by a Sicilian gangster (Martin Balsam) to utilize Vietnam vets (Stuart Margolin , among others) to murder all his enemies in a mass killing , rerun of the 30's "Sicilian Vespers" when the former generation of Sicilian mobsters were all murdered on a single day by orders Lucky Luciano . Lou Torrey gets numerous tracks that something big occurs.

This exciting film contains suspense, noisy action-packed drama, intrigue, thrills and lots of violence . Interesting screenplay Gerald Wilson from the book ¨A complete state of death¨ by John Gardner .This is a formula two-fisted cop stuff in the Vigilante mould . Bronson with his usual stoic acting displays efficiently his weapons such as ¨Dirty Harry¨ style and killing mercilessly nasties . Bronson as wealthy and cold cop who takes the law on his own hands offers the sort of monolithic acting as always . It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the top cop Bronson's side . Packs thrilling multiple shootouts staged in a remote location on Mojave desert . As the picture emerges as a series of spectacular set-pieces , each perfectly realized ; the best of theses are the chase scenes between Charles Bronson-Paul Koslo , the busting on the desert and the Mafiosi slaughter with subsequent climax final . Furthermore, appears a nice secondary cast as Norman Fell as assistant cop , Ralph Waite as obstinate police , Paul Koslo as heinous hoodlum ,John Ritter in his film debut, Charles Tyner in minor role, Stuart Margolin as Vietnam veteran and Martin Balsam as mafioso chief. In addition , an atmospheric musical score composed, orchestrated and performed by Roy Budd .

This motion picture is professionally directed by Michael Winner though passionless , such as the successive films with his main star, Charles Bronson. In the mid-70 Winner had great commercial hit , ¨Death Wish¨¨ , a box office success he repeated when badly in need of another big hit smash with the sequel , but both of whom , Bronson and Winner, looked increasingly cold , clinic and mechanical in the later years of their partnership . The worst sequels in which Kersey goes on to torture robbers, all of them inferior and the violence could be deemed excessive, are the following : ¨Death wish II¨ by Michael Winner with Jill Ireland and Vincent Gardenia, ¨Death wish III¨ again by Winner with Ed Lauter and Deborah Raffin . Subsequently Michael Winner career was failed , alternating some hit as ¨the sentinel¨ and various flops as ¨Firepower,The big sleep,The wicked lady, Appointed with death, A chorus of disapproval, Bullseye¨ and of course ¨The stone killer¨ that got a mediocre box office . Rating : average but is indispensable ,essential and well worth watching for Charles Bronson fans.

In a three year period in the early 70s (72/73/74) director Michael Winner made three violent thrillers with leading man Charles Bronson. Sandwiched in between The Mechanic and the wave making Death Wish, is this effective piece. A film that is for sure the weakest of the three but still a film worthy of reappraisal.

The screenplay is by Gerald Wilson who adapts from John Gardner's novel A Complete State of Death. Joining Bronson in the cast are Martin Balsam, Norman Fell & Paul Koslo. The plot sees Bronson play a tough New York cop, Lou Torrey, who is forced to leave the service after shooting dead a teenager during a pursuit. Later, he is hired by the LAPD and finds himself in the middle of a plan by a Mafia don (Balsam) to avenge the slayings of Mafia dons back in 1931 (The Night of Sicilian Vespers). His plan involves using Vietnam Veterans as hit men as opposed to the conventional Mafia ways of eradication. It's a big operation, a dastardly operation, and as the bodies start to pile up; it's evident that this case calls for the toughest of detectives to get to the bottom of it.

Ah, the tough cop movie. In fact, ah, the tough grizzled no nonsense cop movie. It's a formula that the cinema and TV loving world would get plenty of during the 1970s. The decade would start with a bang as Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman laid down markers in Dirty Harry and The French Connection respectively. Which, to be frank, is a tough standard for any one to have to follow. Enter Michael Winner and Charles Bronson. Bronson had done some fine work in the 60s, with his weather beaten face, raspy voice and machismo seeping from every pore, Bronson was every inch a tough guy actor. Yet there was more talent in his armoury, talent that sadly was very rarely tapped into by directors more concerned with using him as a macho prop. Something that Winner does here. Dialogue for Bronson is kept to a minimum as Winner rides in on the crest of a tough cop driven wave. Which while that doesn't do Bronson any favours as an all rounded thespian, it does however let him excel at the physical side of his character, and in the process of doing that he also gives Torrey the moody method treatment.

Ultimately it's only those who are in it for the action and violence that will get something from The Stone Killer. For although it's a nicely layered story (in spite of the daft core of the villain waiting 40 years to enact revenge!), it's swamped (enjoyably so) by Winner's eagerness to lay down action and adrenalin rushes whenever possible. He may not be the best director with actors, but he is more than capable when it comes to gun play and chases, both of which greatly serve The Stone Killer well. The stunt work and choreography is top notch here, something that more than makes this a worthwhile excuse for a night in with the beer and snacks. There's also nice snapshots of early 70s Americana in the story, with weird Hippies and the Militant Black Activists nestling alongside the Mafia. All of which gives Bronson the chance to brood and flex his muscles some more.

It's escapism so it is. Nothing more, nothing less. View it as such and it entertains, because this really isn't deserving of the scorn that is often poured down on it. 7/10

You either get Old Stone Face or you don't. I get him. He played virtually the same type of character in every movie from the '70s forward, although his character's profession changed from time to time. Didn't matter if he was an unflinching streetwise cop that walks outside the law to bring justice, an architect, or an amazingly tough journalist that can beat up bad guys as easily as normal people breath air (how often do you see that?), he was always a character that looked out for what was right, the law be damned. And no mamby pamby metrosexual stuff anywhere in sight.....

This movie was interesting to me in that it was filmed during the prime of the '70s Cop Movie glory days and also happened to be part of the golden age for Bronson himself. I dig the terrible period clothing, hair and lingo. I also dig the neo-psychedelic soundtrack. It was rather amusing seeing Bronson amongst the young hippie burnouts at a wacked out party when he was searching for clues, talk about a fish out of water! And even way back then, the ever popular grouchy old Italian mobster stereotype was in full play, although this was one of the first Bronson films to do this (and it often resurfaced in his movies, even in Death Wish 4 decades later). It also featured several familiar faces including "Mr. Roper" of Three's Company as a cop(!) and "Jack Tripper" of the same show as a bumbling, inept rookie cop. Those with either sharp memories or an extensive Twilight Zone collection will recognize Mob Boss Vescari as the star of the much loved wax figures episode (New Exhibit).

You're not going to see Oscar type performances in a Bronson film, but then again, that's not what they were shooting for. You do get a glimpse of a great period of gritty American cop films. They didn't have the internet to help them. No GPS. No Google maps. Just coffee, steel revolvers, typewriters and good old fashioned investigational work, and of course real cars that were driven to death by stunt men, not computer generated crashes. And you do get politically incorrect, 150 proof MANDOM of the kind that isn't made any more. And that makes for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon in my book.

If you're not already a Charles Bronson fan, this film isn't likely to change your mind. But for those of you like their action films with side-burns, bell bottoms and good old fashioned,hard-hitting action, you'll really enjoy this. Bronson does his "Dirty Harry" impression while investigating a strange ring of murders involving ex-vietnam vets and the Mob. Great car chases. The crazy car crack up inside a parking lot is this film's action highlight. One of my favorite Bronson flicks.