Chato's Land

Here's one of my biggest pet peeves as I watch westerns. Well, any movie that resorts to this hackneyed technique. When you need someone to play a Native American character or a Mexican or an Asian or whatever....you just cast a white guy who can pass as a different ethnicity. It almost always fails in grand fashion...so when it does work? Enjoy it. Go figure, but Charles Bronson of all people makes for a passable Apache in 1972's Chato's Land.

Picking up supplies in a desert town in Arizona, Pardon Chato (Bronson), a half-breed, is told by the sheriff to leave the saloon without getting a drink. The sheriff draws on Chato, forcing the half-Apache, half-Mexican to turn and fire, killing the sheriff. Chato mounts his horse and rides out of town as news spreads across town. A former Confederate officer, Captain Quincey Whitmore (Jack Palance), organizes a posse and sets off into the desert in pursuit of the Apache fugitive, fully intending to hang Chato should he be captured. The posse has trouble tracking him though across the desert and begins to question if the hunt should be continued. But then when they seem to be at the end of their rope, the posse stumbles across Chato's home and more importantly, his wife and child. Now, the hunters have become the hunted.

A frequent collaborator with Charles Bronson, director Michael Winner takes a lot of grief because of his total filmography. They're not necessarily good films, but son of a gun, they're usually pretty entertaining. His forays into westerns though are pretty good, both 'Chato' and 1971's Lawman. Filmed in Almeria, typically a backdrop for spaghetti westerns, 'Chato' is a violent, dark, uncomfortable and yes, revisionist western. It isn't necessarily a movie you love, but one you watch with a sick sense of dread. This isn't the polished, clean western of the 1950s. This is a dark, filthy, world where violence and betrayal reign supreme. Horrific people in a dusty, sweaty world where anything and everything can and will kill you. If that doesn't sound like fun, I don't know what does!

A star in the 1960s, Charles Bronson became an international star in the 1970s with movies like this, Death Wish, The Mechanic and many others. What's impressive about his titular performance as Chato? Well, he's on-screen for maybe 15, maybe 20 minutes total. He says about 48 words the entire movie. This is a movie about his presence alone being the star. Bronson is ideal casting for this steely-eyed, cold, calculating and brutally efficient Apache warrior looking for revenge. The posse spends whole scenes talking about him, Chato waiting in the darkness or over the next ridge to attack, a one-man army. In the second half, Bronson strips down and wears nothing but a loincloth as he goes after the posse. The dude was 51 years old at the time and looks like he could kick anybody's ass. Like anybody. Go ahead, challenge him. It's weird that the title role is almost a cameo, but Bronson kills the part.

So who does he get around to killing on the posse? Another actor who found second life in Europe and internationally in the late 1960s and 1970s, Jack Palance. This is a great part for the grizzled actor with the perfectly, smoky (some would say evil) voice. He waxes eloquently about the Civil War, the desert, the Apaches, anything and everything. Not quite chewing the scenery, but he nibbles a bit. As for the posse, there's some townspeople (Richard Basehart, Paul Young, William Watson, Victor French), some ranchers doing their civic duty (James Whitmore, Roddy McMillan), a Mexican scout (Raul Castro) and three brothers who ranch and are looking for blood (Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite, Mr. Walton himself, and Richard Jordan). We see their unity at first, their eventual turning on each other, and then their desperate bid for survival. There's some cool names, lots of recognizable faces among the posse.

Now if you look back and read some original reviews, they were startlingly negative. I get it. It would be easy to peg this 1972 revenge western as a snuff film of sorts. Much of the second half of the movie is finding interesting ways for Bronson to kill the posse that isn't so pure, isn't so interested in justice or doing what's right. Given a chance to do something horrific, they don't hesitate. They don't flinch. We know virtually nothing about Chato, but we're rooting for him simply because he isn't the posse. And it's there where the snuff aspect comes out. Quite an ending, quite a final shot too. Know what you're getting into but a western definitely worth seeking out. Come on, how many movies can you see a man use a rattlesnake as a throwing weapon? Not too many, huh?

Chato's Land (1972): ***/****

The Stone Killer

The pairing of star Charles Bronson and director Michael Winner is no doubt best remembered for their 1974 film, Death Wish. Lost in the shuffle of the endless if entertaining sequels is that it's a pretty decent movie. The duo had worked together three times prior since 1972 though, including 1973's The Stone Killer, an interesting comparison piece compared to Death Wish. 

Police Lieutenant Lou Torrey (Bronson) is interested in results and little else. He doesn't care how or why it got done. Cases need to get solved, crooks need to be put away. Torrey is bounced from his NYPD precinct and moves west, taking a job on the L.A. police department. Transporting a murder suspect from NYC to L.A., Torrey barely survives a hit attempt, the suspect killed by a drive-by shooter. Torrey thinks back on what happened. The suspect talked -- at the time nonsensically -- of a coming hit. Could the man have been onto something? Torrey begins to investigate, and the clues lead right to the top of the Mafia.

I've mentioned this before. Crime thrillers from the 1970s have a certain charm that you're either going to love or hate with very little middle ground. They can be low-brow, aggressively violent, sexually suggestive (usually pretty obviously), and in general.....just a hell of a lot of fun to watch. That's what you will be getting here with this Bronson-Winner pairing. Bouncing back and forth between NYC and L.A., the story never slows down as Bronson's Torrey gets deeper into the case. The soundtrack from Roy Budd is an odd mix of jazz and funk (listen HERE), but it works in a ridiculous way. That low-budget, gritty, dirty feel permeates the story -- for the better -- and even when it's not a "good" movie, it's still highly entertaining.

Based off a book by John Gardner (with maybe the best title ever) titled 'A Complete State of Death,' 'Stone' gets some points for originality. Released the year after the classic The Godfather, there are similar/familiar touches of that mobster story. It was hard for every mob movie made after 1972 not to have at least some hints of it. The touches are there, but 'Stone' also has a unique streak. Martin Balsam plays Al Vescari, a Sicilian mobster with quite a bit of power who intends to exact some long-awaited revenge. His plan? Recruit disillusioned Vietnam vets with clean records, and train them to lead the assault on a mob war across the country. It's a cool gimmick, and one that's fun to watch.

Oh, Mr. Bronson, you're pretty cool, aren't you? By 1973, Charles Bronson was typically playing the same character over and over again. That's far from a bad thing. He's perfect at the stoic, silent anti-hero. His Torrey is fed up with all the protocols and rules that limit his effectiveness, and basically, he just doesn't care. He will get the job done no matter how brutal his tactics are. Like many of his parts, he gets to throw a couple wisecracks here and there, and genuinely looks like he's having fun. Considering the part he would play a year later in Death Wish, it's hard not to smile at his Torrey who is basically Paul Kersey with a badge. Also look for 1970s familiar faces Jack Colvin, Stuart Margolin, Paul Koslo, Norman Fell, Ralph Waite and a young John Ritter as a beat cop on the investigation.

In his 1970s flicks, Winner had a formula, and he sticks to it here. Action, action and....um....oh, right, action. In a 91-minute movie, he packs it in at an almost frenetic pace. An opening chase in an NYC apartment is quick and to the point to get things going. A mid-movie chase with Torrey (in a boat of a car) chasing Paul Koslo (on a motorcycle) is priceless, a true gem in the ridiculous department with Torrey's car seemingly indestructible. Watch it HERE. A final showdown at the desert hideout of the Mafia army is a solid finish as well, an entertaining finish for an entertaining movie. I know it's far from a classic, and maybe it's just a bad movie, but I liked it a lot. Watch the entire movie HERE at Youtube.

The Stone Killer <---clip (1973): ***/****  

Scorpio

There are two types of spy movies in this world, my friend. Sorry for the random The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly reference. Anyways....there is the James Bond formula; super agent who always cheats death, always gets the girl, and always wins in the end, thwarting some evil genius from taking over the world. Then there's the more realistic look at the life of a spy (okay, "realistic" in a movie sense). Betrayals, back-stabbings, back alley deals, and most likely a bullet in your head at the end of the movie. Both formulas are good, and in general it's hard to mess up a spy movie.

One that definitely leans more to the realistic side is 1973's Scorpio. Seeing this movie at the video store (yeah, I know, VHS tapes, crazy) for years growing up, I remember always confusing it with Serpico starring Al Pacino.  Who knew I had some form of dyslexia, reading what I wanted to?  Aired recently as part of Burt Lancaster Day on Turner Classic Movie's Summer Under the Stars tribute, I finally got a chance to watch this movie, separating it from the Al Pacino-NYC cop movie.  It is based in some sense of spy reality where everything doesn't always turn out perfectly. The cast is good, and the story interesting for the most part, but even then I never found myself drawn into the movie as a whole.

After pulling off a successful assassination in the Middle East, CIA operative Cross (Burt Lancaster) returns to the U.S. with the hired killer, Jean Laurier (Alain Delon), who helped him pull off the job. Years of service under his belt and top secret knowledge to boot, Cross intends to leave the CIA, but he won't get out so easy. A CIA supervisor, McLeod (John Colicos), has ordered Cross shot on sight to shut him up. Cross goes on the run, heading for Europe as he's forced to leave his wife, Sarah (Joanne Linville), behind.  He finds a surprising person trailing him. Wanting nothing more than to become a CIA agent, Laurier is blackmailed by McLeod into hunting down his mentor.  He knows him best, how he does things and is promised his position if he can take him out. In a cat and mouse game, who will come out on top?

When I saw this movie on TCM's schedule, I was psyched to finally get to see this spy flick. The cast sounded pitch perfect, the story a familiar if still interesting take on the spy genre.  Then I watched it, and something was just missing that I can't put my finger on.  The locations are good without being distracting. As he runs, Lancaster's Cross ends up in Washington, NYC, Vienna and all over Europe for quick pit stops. The story keeps you guessing, especially the biggie; why is Cross on a hit list? There is an incredibly well-made chase sequence that allows Lancaster -- still a great physical presence here at 60 years old -- and Delon to do much of their own stuntwork as they race through a high-rise construction site in Vienna.  I don't know what went wrong though. While I liked the movie, I wanted to love it. Lack of energy, too sure of itself, something. A piece is missing, and I don't know how to explain it.

The experienced veteran and the rising star newbie, a tried and true plot device that has worked countless times before and will most likely work many more times.  Director Michael Winner even used this device a year earlier in the original and underrated The Mechanic. The worry is that because the formula/device is familiar it won't be interesting, but having actors like Lancaster and Delon play the parts has a way of making anything worth watching. Lancaster is one of the coolest actors to ever grace the screen, an effortless cool that you just can't teach. The same for Delon, an actor who underplayed most of his roles. It's great to see him lash out some here. The duo is perfect in their few scenes together, men with genuine appreciation and respect for the other, both knowing one of them will almost certainly die before all is said and done.

Beyond just being cool though, the acting from the whole cast is impressive.  Lancaster makes Cross a more than capable CIA operative, one with the ability to handle himself in every situation. More than that though, he's worn down by years in the espionage business, and he wants out. Delon is the youngster who wants it all and is willing to do anything to get it. Not enough for you? A co-star from the classic The Train, Paul Scofield is quite the scene-stealer as Zharkov, a Russian agent who is both a friend and enemy to Cross. His scenes with Lancaster crackle with energy, something I found would have made it into the rest of the movie. Colicos is good as McLeod, a mystery man because we just don't know his motives. Also worth mentioning were J.D. Cannon as Filchock, a CIA agent trying to piece it all together, Gayle Hunnicutt as Susan, Laurier's serious girlfriend, Mel Stewart as Pick, a connected man working with Cross, and Shmuel Rodensky as Lang, a man Cross saved from certain death in WWII. 

In a business associated with betrayals, backstabbing and all sorts of crazy shenanigans, it stands to reason we're going to get some twists and turns in a spy movie, right? You would be right. That is where Scorpio works at its highest level. Beyond the strong performances throughout the cast, the last 20 minutes are great as one solid, rational twist is revealed one after another. We get the answers we've been waiting for, and the final shot of the movie is a shocker too.  It's been hinted at, but seeing it is quite a capper to a whirlwind finale.  The movie is good -- don't think I'm not recommending it -- but it could have been better. Stick around until the end though. You won't regret it.

Scorpio <---TCM trailer (1973): ** 1/2 /****