Love and Bullets

This action flop has aged so well to the point when you leave out Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland and most of the cast, the film moves into the realms of a minor (but most certainly unintentional) masterpiece. The stars undoubtedly had a pleasant paid holiday in Switzerland while making the film. Charles Bronson preferred Europe, so this ridiculous change of scenery was probably thrown in as it suited producer, director and stars.

Paul Koslo (the actor perpetually with the worst hair in Hollywood) is as always a lackey and fallguy who gets blown away. But this film really comes into its own with such a towering performance from Rod Steiger that one has to wonder why he wasn't nominated for an Oscar. 100% brilliant comedy send up - his speech impediment is a masterstroke, masterly executed. Steiger can be watched and rewatched endlessly, he's such a scream, while the end of the film one of the best blasts you'll ever see.

An Arizona Police Inspector named Charlie Congers (Charles Bronson) is sent on a dangerous assignment to Switzerland to bring an outrageous mafioso(Rod Steigers)'s love interest named Jackie Pruit(Jill Ireland , Bronson's wife) back to USA to testify against him in trial . Meanwhile some killers (Henry Silva, Paul Koslo) attempt to murder Jackie .

The picture contains suspense , action, thrills and is quite entertaining , though average . Excellent Rod Steiger as peculiar stuttering mobster who amuses himself with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald films . Very good support cast formed by prestigious secondaries as Strother Martin , Bradford Dillman , Albert Salmi , Michael V Gazzo , Val Avery and many others. Special mention to Henry Silva as a nasty and sadist criminal , as ever. Pretty locations from Switzerland well photographed by Fred Koenekamp and Anthony Richmond . Atmospheric musical score by Lalo Schifrin with certain influence in Ennio Morricone music.

Rosenberg's regular direction that underlines the strength of personalities involved , undercutting the less pleasant aspects and putting the focus squarely on Bronson's tough performance and Ireland's excessive silly character. Stuart Rosenberg was one of the best TV directors of the 50s and 60s and subsequently realized segment of crime and mystery series . In 1967 directed his first film , the successful ¨Cool and Luke¨ with Paul Newman . Booth of them attempted in vain to repeat the formula in three further movies together ¨WUSA movie, Pocket money and The drowning pool¨ . However he achieved other two hit smash in the terror genre with ¨The Amityville horror¨ and again with a prison film ¨Brubaker¨. Since then Rosenberg's output has been unsatisfactory and sporadic as ¨The Pope of Greenwich village ¨ a Mickey Rourke vehicle . Rating : Passable though mediocre thriller.

This is a solid if somewhat obscure Charles Bronson film. Rod Steiger gave a good performance as a mob boss. Beautiful Swiss film location. Somewhat tame and melancholy story. Still Bronson gets his man. Not his best, but still enjoyable.

What's on mind… love definitely more so than bullets. The premise seems rather straight-forward, but within the context is a primarily downbeat and melancholic angle. The crime/thriller slant is pretty low-key (as the chase scenes leisurely tick along) with the main focus being on the three performances; Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland and Rod Steiger and the eventual bonds that are crafted and from that the situations that occur. Love follows on… tragedy also with guts and grit winning out.

Police detective Charlie Congers has been picked to head to Switzerland to rescue an ex-mistress of crime boss Joe Bomposa who now wants her dead. Getting her first means a chance to probably convict Bomposa, but is she as innocent as she claims to know anything of importance about his crime ring.

I'm not particularly surprised to see this Bronson outing become a forgettable title in his career that rarely sees daylight, and those who had seen it mainly want to bombard it for being tedious and bland. I didn't feel that at all. It has a very European vibe to the get-up with a stylish and almost uncommon development. Stuart Rosenberg's textured direction (who replaced John Huston) is economically surefooted, as he works with the beautifully moody and authentic European backdrops (that the compelling cinematography frames) and constructs moments of high-strung suspense. Plentiful they're not, but those few are well-executed. I just wished that the dangerous side wasn't kept in check. Writer Wendell Mayles' (the man behind 'Death Wish') minimal screenplay is simply old-fashioned and the pacing is quite relaxed. Concisely structured. but nothing surprises… well the final climaxes do come up and pinch you. Were I thought it achieved a rather powerful imprint was because of Lalo Schifran's arousing score. It was exotic, colourful and flavoured. Never did it not make some sort of impression. I would say it's up there with his inspired score for 'Dirty Harry (1971)'. He knows how to place the action or feelings on screen with music and successfully push the buttons.

A strong cast do a serviceable job. Bronson's impassively stalwart turn fits accordingly and his chemistry with an empathic Jill Ireland (his actual wife) pays dividends. She was practically in nearly every movie he made during this period. Rod Steiger puts in an outstandingly staggering performance that grows with believable weight. Henry Silva and Paul Koslo hold up well in the bad guy roles. Also featuring with fine turns are Bradford Dillman, Strother Martin, Michael V. Gazzo and Val Avery.

I like Charles Bronson. In some film fan circles this is considered a crime, but I've learned to live with it. Ánd then there is "Love and Bullets". Considering the production values this must have been a major release in it's day. And watching the trailer you could guess why people went to the cinema for it. Seeing it in the day and age of Jason Bourne is a different story: A crook is on the phone. He calls his boss who is outside. We hear the phone ring, the boss hears it, walks into the house and after an excruciating long period of time reaches the phone. In a Matt Damon outing this scene would probably take 15 seconds, even if he had to use the 1979 model of a phone used here. Look at the geographical distance covered in the film. Bourne, Bond or any given thriller hero might cover this mileage in 2 minutes. Bronson takes about an hour. He walks, he sleeps and has to deal with Mrs Jill Bronson again. And as I've said before: she was an acting disaster. I hope their marriage was okay, she nearly ruined some Bronson movies all by herself. Lalo Schifrin's music is intriguing, but the very short motive is overused a zillion different times. But overall Charlie is okay, Rod Steiger is ridiculous (but hopefully on purpose), the scenery helps and the final scene makes you smile as you do in most classic Bronson outings. And as opposed to other reviewers: it is on DVD and has been for a long, long time through Carlton Entertainment in Europe. Sound of outdoor scenes is awful. All in all, this was the last big budget film for Bronson. It should have been slightly better. It could have been.