Violent City

Charles Bronson's career can be broken down into two easy categories, a pre-mustache stage and a with-mustache stage. In the early half of his career, Bronson played roles with some depth that allowed him to show off his range. But in the late 60s sometime after Once Upon a Time in the West, a nicely maintained mustache showed up and from then on in, Bronson became more well known as a vigilante with any number of movie roles.

Of course it's not fair to say Bronson was a one-trick pony, he made some quality movies in the 70s, but the role of a vigilante is surely what he was typecast as in the second half of his career. He was also pretty adept at playing the stone-faced tough guy, like in 1970's Violent City, an Italian crime thriller based and shot in New Orleans. This was the first of two hitman movies he would make, including the much-better The Mechanic several years later.

There are problems here that stem from the location shooting with director Sergio Sollima admitting he loves shooting in America on the DVD special features. And to his credit, Sollima found some unique spots for his location shooting. But in too many sequences, he's clearly in love with the city and just wants to show it off. One sequence that goes on too long has Bronson boating through the swampy marshlands outside the city. It serves no real purpose other than to show the area and in the process slows the movie down to a halt.

Bronson plays Jeff Heston, a freelance hitman. He's hired by a race car driver (who's not even in the cast listing now that I look) to perform a hit, but in the aftermath, his employer turns on Heston. Before he's arrested, Jeff discovers this and plans to get revenge on his boss and girlfriend, Vanessa (Jill Ireland), who looks to be involved in the double-cross. Jeff does his time in prison and is released only to find more problems have come up. Vanessa is now married to a New Orleans mafioso, Weber (Telly Savalas), who wants Jeff's services as a hit man for the sake of 'the family.' A lifelong 'orphan,' Jeff wants nothing to do with the mob and has to fend for his life as he plots his revenge. I'll give Italian crime thrillers and spaghetti westerns their due, they don't take the easy ending too much.

Nothing new here with the revenge plot and a fair share of betrayals and double crosses. Sollima starts things off with a bang though, a wordless 10-minute car chase in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands that wraps up with a nice little shoot-out SPOILERS sort of, it's the start of the movie. The complete lack of dialogue works in the opening scenes, but in subsequent scenes, the lack of conversation is noticeable and not in a good way. Another chase, this time on foot through New Orleans, takes place about halfway through, but up until the finale Violent City is somewhat short on action.

Bronson had his fair share of critics during his career, but I'm not one of them. With the right part, he could really show off his chops. He wasn't just a tough guy, but he so often played parts like that people forget what he could actually do. This isn't his best role, but he is still a strong lead. Bronson's wife Ireland starred with him in 16 movies by my count, and while she's not the greatest actress overall, this is one of her better ones. So often playing prim and proper, Ireland plays the femme fatale to perfection. In a large cameo role, Savalas hams it up as the mafioso trying to hire Bronson.

It is an Italian crime thriller so what would it be without a score from Ennio Morricone? Listen to more of it here and here. Sollima said Morricone fell asleep during a screening of the movie, but when he turned in the score it was just right for the story and tone of the movie. With a movie like this that I had some trouble getting into, Morricone's score certainly helped. Good performances from the three leads, strong Morricone score, some good action, and a surprising ending. Not a great movie, but an enjoyable enough way to spend 100 minutes.

Violent City <----trailer (1970): ** 1/2 /****