Monsieur Saint-Ives

This movie essentially begins with a criminal mastermind by the name of "Abner Procane" (John Houseman) being blackmailed for $100,000 to recover his secret journals which detail all of his illegal activities. Desperately needing them back, he chooses a former criminal reporter known for his honesty and discretion named "Raymond St. Ives" (Charles Bronson) to act as his go-between. Unfortunately, with so much money on the line, other interested persons begin to get involved and things go downhill for everyone after that. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I really liked this film when it first came out and-other than showing its age here and there-it still remains one of my favorite Charles Bronson films to this day. Admittedly, the plot meanders quite a bit which can cause some confusion here and there. However, I enjoyed the chemistry between the John Houseman, Charles Bronson and Jacqueline Bisset (as "Janet Whistler") along with the way in which St. Ives kept one step ahead of everybody else-at least for the most part. That being said, I liked the in-depth plot and the good acting performances of all involved, and for those reasons I have rated film accordingly. Above average.

Writer St. Ives is hired to retrieve journals stolen from a thief who compulsively writes down his capers and is now being blackmailed...everywhere he goes someone is a step ahead of him and there is a dead body! Lots of killing and an appearance by Jeff Goldbum...all for four million!

This film is based on books that I haven't read, but Charles Bronson received a lot of criticism for his portrayal of St. Ives...I didn't have anything to compare him too and I thought it was a fun cop caper.

John Houseman was fun as an eccentric and wealthy thief-Abner Procain and Jacqueline Bisset was great as his former cop side-kick who St. Ives described as "You're tough, smart and you have a lot of good looking bits and pieces."...best line in the film!

Bit of a watch and delete for me...but still a fun caper, with a clever follow through on who dunnit.

An interesting visual side, with some well composed shots by J. Lee Thompson and expert cinematographer Lucien Ballard, is by far the best part of the film, and it is almost enough to atone for a rather lame screenplay. The story is at times difficult to follow, but it is not very original or out of the ordinary either, so there is not all that much reason to care. This is one of those films that you watch more so for a good amount of action and thrills. It just does not have the characters and plot that a brilliant film of its type would have. It is not helped out by poor music choices either, nor by wasting veteran film noir actor Elisha Cook Jr. in an insignificant supporting role. Still, it is okay viewing overall. It seems a little silly how Bronson runs into trouble everywhere, but that is the way that the plot of the film is made up, so be it. At least it is not annoying to view, and it is at times reasonably amusing.

I've been a big Bronson-fan for as long as I can remember, and I saw "St. Ives" on TV some years back and was always left with the impression that it was sorta dull, all though offering a nice change of pace for old Charlie. Now out on DVD I still had to order it though, as I pride myself on having *every* Bronson-film available in my collection. I am really happy to say that watching it again was a really wonderful surprise! I'll blame my stupid youth for not appreciating this movie as much back in my late teens because "St. Ives" isn't dull. Sure, it doesn't include all the normal action scenes one has come to expect from a Bronson picture, but it includes just about everything else lacking in his later action movies: great wit, humor, style and unexpected plot-twists and turns right up until the very end! To top it all off it is one of the best scored Bronson-films, with a wonderful soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin. Oh and just so you know; despite the low amount of action scenes, the body count DOES get alarmingly high before the end credits.

It also has a truly excellent cast supporting Bronson. To mention a few: Academy Award winning veteran John Houseman, one of the sexiest stars of the 1970's Jacqueline Bisset, Dana Elcar (Pete Thornton in "MacGyver"), Academy Award winner Maximilian Schell, the lovable Elisha Cook Jr, Michael Lerner, Dick O'Neill (Sharon Gless' memorable dad Charlie in "Cagney & Lacey"), Daniel J. Travanti (the star of "Hill St. Blues") and my favorite supports, the wonderful character actors Harry Guardino and Harris Yulin as police detectives. On top of this you get young versions of Robert Englund and Jeff Goldblum as hoods fighting it out with Charlie!

I also found myself laughing more than I normally do watching Bronson-movies, as "St. Ives" has several funny moments. My favorite one probably being the dinner/confrontation scene with Val Bisoglio.

If you are a *true* Bronson-fan you'll really enjoy old Charlie in this one!

Ex-crime journalist Raymond St Ives is struggling for doe, due to his gambling addiction and his slow progress of his unfinished novel. His offered a job as a "go-between" for the strange, old wealthy Abner Procane. He'll be payed 10,000 dollars for the job, to hand over cash for the exchange of Procane's stolen ledgers. However since he takes the job, nothing seems quite right and this leaves St Ives trying to put together what happened at the bungle exchange.

Director J. Lee Thompson along with actor Charles Bronson ( the first exercise to kick start their long-listed collaborations together) churn out a acceptable time-filler in the shape of the luxuriously smooth and constantly busy comic-crime caper "St Ives". Underlining the atmospherically exotic style is Thompson's sophisticatedly tidy direction, along with Lucien Ballard's handsomely crisp cinematography and Lalo Schifrin's high-strung score of sizzling jazz arrangement. The screenplay by Barry Beckerman is sleek, but overly knotty and perplexing in its deliberate developments of a devious layout. Still it stays conventional to the scheming and shady connections lurking around nearly every corner, and this generally engages. Sometimes not deliberately so, like often mentioned 'drive-in' sequence. The offbeat script can loose shape (even though it manages some quite cheeky dialogues), and begin to slumber off in the pulpy latter end of the film. The action is quite little, but pacey with some well performed and animatedly stylised stunts. The production managed to get a hold off a sensational cast. Charles Bronson in the lead as St Ives eases into the performance nicely. Jacqueline Bisset adds a sumptuously classy touch. John Houseman is very fun, and Dana Elcar gets some memorable scenes. Maximilian Schell hones in one hammy entrée turn, and Harry Guardino and Harris Yulin likewise are amusing. Also look out for some diverting performances from up-and-coming Robert Englund and Jeff Goldblum as two petty crooks. Michael Lerner and Elisha Cook Jr show up in minor roles too.

An elegantly charming enterprise with an excellent Bronson performance and great support.